HBO - Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

Glad I spotted this.

Will watch during the week!

Harvey Low Fat Milk wrote: »

Just finished it there. I read the book it's based on pretty recently so the revelations weren't as shocking second time round but it was good to put faces and voices to names.

It would probably be more powerful if one hadn't read the book. I remember there being quite a few OMFG moments in the book yet no big reveal in the doc. But as you say, it was nice to see the faces. It's worth going back to watch the John Sweeney films again to see how they fit into the harassment.

One aspect of the book that wasn't as explored was the foundation of Dianetics and early life of Hubbard which I found especially interesting and how the cultural and historical context played such a part in it. But definitely worth the watch, Gibney is a very talented documentary filmmaker and I think he gets a lot of the main talking points of Wright's book into the film.

On a side note, even though it's a cult it definitely has one aspect of a church down. The inherent uncoolness and squareness of the church is just like any other religious institutions.

Agent Coulson wrote: »

I hadn't read the book, I had seen a couple of other doc's that were linked in this one.

It was interesting look inside a very public secret society/cult/religion.

One of the issues the book covers well, and it's touched on in the film, is the fact that though Scientology is totally batsh*t crazy, when you put the foundation myths of other religions beside it, they're all pretty nutty too. It also wouldn't be the first religion to be filthy rich and obsessed with money, treat it's members badly and have it's power concentrated in a very small cabal.

If you liked the film, get the book - but make sure it's the US version, I think the lawyers were at the UK edition. Some stuff about a short actor who likes couches.

The ebook I have is the 2013 AA Knopf / Random House edition from New York, so I think I have the right one. I'm about halfway through the book but took the time to watch the documentary tonight. Some other interesting things in the book but missing from the documentary:
- when LRH married Sara in 1946, that was his second marriage: he had married Polly in 1933, and was still married in 1946, making him a bigamist.
- no mention of how he tested Dianetics on friends and colleagues such as Robert Heinlein. It wasn't entirely original, borrowing from Jung and Korzybski.
- they glossed over the Sea Org's adventures a bit e.g. they nearly succeeded in taking over Morocco in 1971, but ended up on the wrong side of the failed 1971 coup. LRH had a heart attack, recovered, crashed his Harley-Davidson on Tenerife, recovered, had a small stroke, recovered ... no wonder he gave up on the high seas.