I re-upped on the old HBO in prep for Game of Thrones next week and one of the first things I watched was a new doc from them called Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief. It’s, no surprise based on that subtitle, a take-down of the Church of Scientology told with a lot of interviews with ex-members including Hollywood stars, regular folk, and people high in the church hierarchy.

The film briefly covers the life of L. Ron Hubbard and the history of the church but is far more interested in their use of celebrities, their abuses, and their modern incarnation. Which is fine, what’s going on now is more important than what it was in the 1950s. I personally just wanted to see more about Hubbard since, yeah, he’s a pulp sci-fi writer who created a religion that people apparently believe in. I read some of his books that he published in the 80s (Battlefield Earth and his 10 book Mission Earth series) and I found the idea that this guy who had been the founder of a church for 30 years at that point was still pushing out genre fiction.

Anyhow, the movie is still very interesting though it runs long and starts to feel (rightly so) like a hit piece. It is a hit piece and since the Church wouldn’t talk to the film makers, it’s a one-sided movie. They could probably have talked to some rank-and-file believers – I’m sure they’d have talked (or possibly not – that might make them heretics).

The problem is that they do focus a little too much on the celebrity angle because that’s going to be something we, as the audience, can identify with. Tom Cruise and John Travolta, you guys! They so crazy!! This was kind of low hanging fruit that most people are already familiar with from tabloids and news reports. It is a useful reminder that Tom Cruise is a little bit nuts.

Less known were some of the stories of abuse and kidnapping from regular folk which is disturbing. However, some of the stories started to sound a little unbelievable like the person might have an ax to grind (which I’m sure they do) and were being a bit hyperbolic. Or maybe they weren’t… it’s hard to say.

But I can’t argue the fact that they had a few very key members of the church who were interviewed and they had archival footage of them as part of the church. Yes, they could be telling tales out of school but at least we know they were intimately familiar with the church. Some of their stories seemed crazy too though but maybe that’s because it’s all legit straight-up bonkers.

So, yeah, it’s an interesting documentary and certainly watchable but at 2 hours long and nothing but bashing, it started to feel a little stretched and a little redundant. It’s still worth checking out though, especially if you aren’t familiar with the Church. Oh, and yes, they do cover Xenu and the secret sci-fi alien history of the Earth.

Score: 77