MY SCIENTOLOGY MOVIE - Review By Greg Klymkiw - "Act of Killing - Lite" on Scientology

Louis Theroux - Brit Michael Moore sans Bulk.

My Scientology Movie (2016)
Dir. John Dower
Scr. Louis Theroux
Prd. Simon Chinn
Starring: Louis Theroux, Mark Rathbun, Andrew Perez, Jeff Hawkins

Review By Greg Klymkiw

"One of the systems of faith that are based on the belief in the existence of a particular god or gods, or in the teachings of a spiritual leader."
- The Oxford Dictionary definition of the word "religion"

Founded by the dreadful and prolific Science Fiction pulp writer L. Ron Hubbard and presided over by the enigmatic David Miscavige since Hubbard's death in 1986, the Church of Scientology has taken more than its fair share of volleys over the years, including the brilliant fictionalized fantasia The Master by PT Anderson and Alex Gibney's searing documentary Going Clear.

Examining the aforementioned Oxford definition of the word religion, in addition to the various film exposes, including My Scientology Movie, I really do have to wonder what finally separates Scientology from any other religion, whether it be Catholicism, Christian Fundamentalism, Judaism, Islam and any other major/minor systems of faith. Scientology, like all the rest, feels it is the best religion, places emphasis upon recruitment, needs to survive upon financial support from its followers and is not without cult-like leaders and/or elements of cultish indoctrination.

With My Scientology Movie, Director John Dower, Producer Simon Chinn, Host/Star/Writer Louis Theroux and chief commissioning entity, the BBC, were obviously denied access to the inner workings of Scientology and have taken their cue from the in-your-face (and decidedly entertaining) shenanigans of Michael (Roger and Me) Moore and the extremely visionary film artist Joshua Oppenheimer (The Act of Killing, The Look of Violence), to craft this lightweight, often amusing, occasionally chilling bit of shock journalism.

To the former, Theroux blunders about Los Angeles in his oh-so-Blighty fashion on the outskirts of various Scientology headquarters and to the latter, orders up auditions with young actors to play Scientology types in scripted and improvised recreations of speeches, presentations and alleged actual inner workings of the Church.

Young actors portray Scientology officials in recreations.

Host Theroux is accompanied through most of the film's cheeky gymnastics by former high-ranking Scientologist Mark Rathburn who left the Church, exposed its inner workings and was, not surprisingly, discredited by the Church itself. Via Rathburn, we get a sense of his own experiences within the organization and an even greater sense of how his life has become severely beleaguered since his break from Scientology. He comes across, probably to the chagrin of the Church, as an extremely sympathetic figure. Much of our empathy for him, however, comes more from Theroux's annoying and eventually badgering of Rathburn, attempting to get the man to respond to his own "complicity" in events and actions of the past.

One cannot fault Theroux for being a journalist, but one can certainly question his methods in the film, especially as they relate to Rathburn. Firstly, the movie inadvertently exposes how investigative journalists will try to be "friends" with their subjects in order to get what they want out of them. If My Scientology Movie was a film, as opposed to what it is, little more than reasonably watchable TV-style doc-journalism, this fascinating aspect of what makes investigative journalists do their job, might have elevated the proceedings considerably if it had been less (and seemingly) inadvertent.

Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, Theroux's timing and methods to address Rathburn's "complicity" in the actions of the Church, seem so fumbling and wrong-headed that we can't help but feel for the former Scientology big-wig. At one point Theroux, in a somewhat smarmy and definitely clumsy fashion, uses information and points-of-view from letters he's received from the Church's lawyers to needle Rathburn. This not only pisses Rathburn off, but us as well.

Granted, Theroux interviews another former Church official Jeff Hawkins, who not only adds considerable insights to the proceedings, but states unequivocally that he believes Rathburn has been hiding more than a few skeletons in the Scientology Closet. As a journalist, Theroux is bound to act on this. That's the theory - the practice, however, is something else altogether and backfires on him. This kind of recoil is what will give the Church of Scientology considerable ammunition to discredit the movie itself.

I couldn't really blame them.

Andrew Perez as David Miscavige - Star Turn!!!

The film as journalism barely gets a passing grade. As a film, it registers a "gentlemanly" grade of "B". This is no work of artistry, voice and vision (like, say, Joshua Oppenheimer's great, important films). Still, My Scientology Movie gets points of the old-college-try variety for its dramatic reenactments - not because they're especially good, but because the actor they've chosen to play Scientology's topper David Miscavige, Andrew Perez, is undeniably charismatic and rivetingly scary.

His recreations of public Miscavige speeches go well beyond simple Rich Little-like impersonations, he genuinely creates a "character" of considerable human dimension. In the fictionalized dramatic recreations of the Church's inner workings, Perez dazzles so astoundingly that one wonders why he's not already on the road to the same kind of superstardom that celebrity Scientology church-member Tom Cruise is on. Perez is clearly a great actor. The camera loves him and I think audiences would love to see him in more movies (as opposed to what seems to be his only role since making this movie, a bit part in some TV show).

Hell, if Miscavige ever chose to produce his own approved biopic of himself, he'd be well advised to sign up Perez for the role. The kid exudes power and charisma, and that's what Miscavige has in spades.

This is not a bad picture by any means. It has elements that do provide considerable entertainment value. At times, the movie even flirts with Oppenheimer potential. There are a few sequences where Theroux is filming Scientology types as they are filming him in turn. These duelling cameras moments come close to capturing the kind of picture this could have been, if it had been a real movie made by real artists - not just another glorified TV documentary.

THE FILM CORNER RATING: *** Three Stars


My Scientology Movie is a Kinosmith release. Canadian playdates include:
February 6 & 8 Victoria Film Festival, Victoria, BC
February 17 – 23 Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, Toronto, ON
February 24 – March 2 Globe Cinema, Calgary, AB
March 3 – 5 Salt Spring Film Festival, Salt Spring, BC
April 14 – 18 Bytowne, Ottawa, ON

INDIA'S DAUGHTER - Review By Greg Klymkiw - Rape & Murder in Delhi, a Nation's Shame

In anticipation of the upcoming 2015 Toronto Hot Docs International Festival of Documentary Cinema, here's my review of INDIA'S DAUGHTER by Leslee Udwin. The BBC Doc, which focuses upon Jyoti Singh's gang rape and murder on a bus, was originally meant to air worldwide on International Women's Day. India, the country in which this heinous act took place, a country with a deep-seeded history of hatred towards women, banned the airing of the film by an official court injunction. The sick, cowardly acts of the rapists were matched by that of the Indian government. Though the film has been aired and uploaded via social media, it is such an important film that I urge everyone to secure an official DVD copy from the important non-profit media arts organization Women Make Movies.

Jyoti Singh (left), final words to her mother before dying:

"Sorry Mummy. I gave you so much trouble. I am sorry."

Mukesh Singh, convicted rapist (right):

"A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy."

India's Daughter (2015)
Dir. Leslee Udwin

Review By Greg Klymkiw

In India, the official government statistics reveal that a woman is raped every twenty minutes. These are the rapes that are actually reported. Most of them aren't. The stories of suffering are silenced by culture.

There is, however, one story we all know. It can never be forgotten.

On December 16, 2012, in the city of Delhi, Jyoti Singh, a 23-year-old medical student and a male friend boarded a private bus after seeing a movie. The male friend was beaten and the young woman was dragged to the back of the bus where she was gang-raped by six men and physically assaulted with a combination of punches, kicks, bites and a metal rod jammed up her vagina until it pierced through to her intestines, pulling pieces of her insides out when it was ripped from within. The couple was tossed out of the bus and left for dead. Jyoti survived for two weeks before succumbing to her deadly injuries in hospital.

India's Daughter details the events of that night, the subsequent country-wide protests demanding that violence against women stop, the investigation, trial and sentencing, plus interviews with the irredeemably ignorant defence attorneys and the straight-faced evil of one of the rapists.

Most importantly, I think, is that the film presents a face to its victim through the loving words of her parents and leaves us with her indomitable spirit which has become emblematic of much-needed reforms on every level.

It won't be easy, though, if the interviews with supposedly educated men are any indication of what must be fought.

One of the defence lawyers, A.P. Singh steadfastly stands by the idiotic statement:

“If my daughter or sister engaged in pre-marital activities and disgraced herself and allowed herself to lose face and character by doing such things, I would most certainly take this sort of sister or daughter to my farmhouse, and in front of my entire family, I would put petrol on her and set her alight.”

Another defence lawyer, M. L. Sharma, offers this "poetic stance":

"A female is just like a flower. It gives a good looking [sic], very softness performance [sic], pleasant. But on the other hand, a man is like a thorn. Strong, tough enough. That flower always needs protection. If you put that flower in the gutter, it is spoilt. If you put that flower in a temple, it will be worshipped."

Of course, what the moron is really saying is that women must stay at home and only enter out of doors when accompanied by a parent or husband. If the woman just leaves freely, then she is a slut who must be punished by men who are naturally there to rip them open with their thorny appendages.

M. L. Sharma - Defence Lawyer and irredeemable moron.

The centrepiece of the film are the utterly grotesque interviews with one of the convicted rapists, Mukesh Singh, who spits out bilious nonsense blaming women for rape. In all earnestness he tells us how Jyoti should have quietly submitted to her "punishment" in that bus, but that her screams, cries and attempts to fight back are the reason she is dead. Even more sickening is when he suggests that a metal rod was not used upon her, but the more humanitarian alternative of a screwdriver wrapped in a hand towel. He blames her for struggling as one of the rapists shoved his arm deep in her vagina to remove the offending implement and with all seriousness, he refers to the screwdriver pulling out her intestines as an "accident".

In spite of these and other horrific statements, Udwin's film is full of so many instances of simple beauty (albeit always tinged with deep sadness). Many of these moments are courtesy of interviews with Jyoti's mother and father - describing Jyoti from birth to early adulthood. They share so many lovely stories about their child's sense of love, her generosity and most of all, her intelligence and desire to work in the medical profession. Though the family is poor, they sacrifice everything to send her to medical college and Jyoti makes it clear that when she completes her internship, she will take care of her parents forever.

It's moments when the father and mother describe tiny details of Jyoti's childhood that we're moved so profoundly: the smallness of her hands, gripping her father's finger, her gorgeous smile, always bringing joy and happiness to those around her. When we get a description of how Jyoti as a young adult pursues and overpowers a young thief only to shower him with gifts, food and money, making him promise to never steal again and to make something of himself is juxtaposed by Udwin with descriptions of India's poverty and how so many children - through sheer hunger - are forced into lives of crime by circumstance.

One seldom experiences a film which instills feelings of anger, frustration and helplessness that just as quickly transform into softness, understanding and, yes, love. This is one hour of cinema that will have you in its clutches as it exposes humanity in all its facets.

Finally, India's Daughter works as a document of a life, a horrific event and as a plea to end the madness of sexual assault and misogyny - not just in India, but throughout the world. And yes, Jyoti is as much a daughter of India as she is a human being who just tried to make a difference. We need more of her kind.

THE FILM CORNER RATING: **** 4-Stars

India's Daughter is available on DVD via Women Make Movies.

GREG KLYMKIW interviews JOHN BOORMAN on QUEEN AND COUNTRY at ELECTRIC SHEEP

Greg Klymkiw Interviews the legendary director
JOHN BOORMAN about QUEEN AND COUNTRY,
the sequel to his much-beloved Hope and Glory
at Electric Sheep Magazine. Read it by clicking HERE