smastison
Joined Jul 2009
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Reviews3
smastison's rating
At the outset, let me say: I am not a Scientologist.
This film suffers from a wide variety of errors, ranging from those of omission, editorial prejudice, and a surprising unfamiliarity with Scientology doctrine.
The interviewees make incredible claims about their time in Scientology. One of the primary female participants essentially echos Nancy Many's narrative in her "My Billion Year Contract" memoirs. Further, the interviewees feigning shock concerning the Church's stance on homosexuality seem immensely suspect--some of the earliest books on Scientology explicitly lay out their understanding of it being unnatural-- how are you going to be involved in a religion for decades, and give tens of thousands of dollars, and still fail to read any of the religious texts, or seek out their doctrinal opinion on divisive social issues?
The film is obviously well produced; but painfully lacking in value. Watch this if you consider Maury as high-brow entertainment.
This film suffers from a wide variety of errors, ranging from those of omission, editorial prejudice, and a surprising unfamiliarity with Scientology doctrine.
The interviewees make incredible claims about their time in Scientology. One of the primary female participants essentially echos Nancy Many's narrative in her "My Billion Year Contract" memoirs. Further, the interviewees feigning shock concerning the Church's stance on homosexuality seem immensely suspect--some of the earliest books on Scientology explicitly lay out their understanding of it being unnatural-- how are you going to be involved in a religion for decades, and give tens of thousands of dollars, and still fail to read any of the religious texts, or seek out their doctrinal opinion on divisive social issues?
The film is obviously well produced; but painfully lacking in value. Watch this if you consider Maury as high-brow entertainment.
I am generally entertained by the apologetic religious films; however, this was bland and nearly as uninteresting as possible. The narrator is an evangelical Christian, who completely disregarded everything in the Old Testament and Jesus' references to its inherent validity.
The political overtones are tired and unimaginative. It would've been more interesting if there were some developments here. The narrator just kind of says, "Bush is a vocal exponent of Christianity; he started a few wars. Bah! No biggie."
This is a prime example of a Christian who is civil, not because of his religion; but in spite of it. Watch it if you're into these kinds of things--if not, skip it.
The political overtones are tired and unimaginative. It would've been more interesting if there were some developments here. The narrator just kind of says, "Bush is a vocal exponent of Christianity; he started a few wars. Bah! No biggie."
This is a prime example of a Christian who is civil, not because of his religion; but in spite of it. Watch it if you're into these kinds of things--if not, skip it.
This is blatant Republican propaganda; heavily edited chops of Reagan and animated satire included.
We get it: spending and dishonest government is a problem. What the film seems to miss, is that there's essentially no difference between the Republican and Democratic party. The last 20 years have taught us that the Republicans and Democrats are both willing to madly invade other countries, engage in irresponsible deficit spending, and impinge upon the civil liberties of the American people The criticism is good enough; but solutions are lacking in this film.
The animation is entertaining, the narrator is borderline obnoxious, and the facts are obviously skewed to promote a questionable political agenda. Of course, this is what the political landscape of the United States looks like to a tee; stare long and hard America--these are your "representatives."
We get it: spending and dishonest government is a problem. What the film seems to miss, is that there's essentially no difference between the Republican and Democratic party. The last 20 years have taught us that the Republicans and Democrats are both willing to madly invade other countries, engage in irresponsible deficit spending, and impinge upon the civil liberties of the American people The criticism is good enough; but solutions are lacking in this film.
The animation is entertaining, the narrator is borderline obnoxious, and the facts are obviously skewed to promote a questionable political agenda. Of course, this is what the political landscape of the United States looks like to a tee; stare long and hard America--these are your "representatives."