User reviews

We've all passed the well intentioned folks in the street asking if we want to take a free stress test, or a personality test. That can't be a bad thing right? In this crazy world we all want to be able manage our stress levels, or work on our character flaws in order to succeed in life. In case you didn't know the test is the first doorway into the cult religion of Scientology.

Going clear gives us an insight into the founding, and the dark practices that go on behind the scenes of Scientology. Where L Ron Hubbard, was a selfish failure of a man possibly with delusions of grandeur who founded an obscure and weird religion, Going Clear reveals that the man who succeeded him after his death is a power mad tyrant by the name of David Miscavige.

Using Lawrence Wright's book as a basis for the research, Alex Gibney has crafted a very engaging documentary, utilizing talking head interviews with people who have been through the wringer of Scientology cut together with archive footage from multiple sources exposing the very core of Scientology. Many of the interviewees were people that had reached the highest ranks within the organization, some of them talking very candidly about the abusive practices that they were involved with on both ends; the giving and receiving. With all this going on we also see how of millions of dollars gets funneled to the privileged few at the top and how the church of Scientology can skirt the tax laws to keep all of its ill gotten gains for itself.

Of course no documentary about Scientology would be complete without commenting on it's two celebrity superstars, John Travolta and Tom Cruise. Whereas you may pity Travolta who seems to be somewhat trapped, Cruise has become quite the poster boy for the religion. Going Clear raises some important questions as to whether or not Tom Cruise is aware of the inner workings of Scientology and how much he knows about the abuses towards the rank and file of the organization.

What is most frightening though is the lengths Scientology will go to to protect its image. Hubbard wrote that the church should go on the offensive against it's critics and not be defensive, and you will see in Going Clear some of the low bottom feeding tactics Scientology uses to keep the followers in line and how it seeks to control defectors from the religion.

Gibney reserves his most scathing criticism for Miscavige, the man currently at the top of the religion, and no punches are pulled showing him to be controlling, abusive and manipulative. I won't spoil the scene for anyone who hasn't seen the documentary, but the psychological musical chairs game he plays with his some of his leadership gives us a brief look into his twisted mind.

The only thing I wish that this documentary showed was some rebuttal and defense from Scientology members, however the credits tell us that many of the top people within Scientology, Miscavige and Cruise included were invited to be interviewed, but all declined. to be on record. This is unfortunate because it would have been interesting to see what high ranking members would say in their defense of all the allegations that Going Clear makes against them.

Going clear is an important documentary in that it shows us the dangers of being sucked into a cult. Lessons from this could be applied to any personality cult religion. If you know people that are in Scientology. Maybe they have 'Disconnected' from you then this film will at least show you why your friend or family member is acting this way. Anything that helps us to understand and warn us against an unhealthy life choice is a good thing and Going Clear does just that.

Documentary on the "church" of Scientology and its teachings. The first half of this is all about L. Ron Hubbard the founder of Scientology. It goes into detail about his life and beliefs and how he formed and developed the "church". The second half documents how the "church" changed and grew and used mind control and drew people into its beliefs...and wouldn't let them go. It gets into detail about their two star recruits--John Travolta and Tom Cruise. Travolta gets off pretty easy but Cruise comes off as a maniac. It also has interviews with former "church" members and their tales and revelations are nothing short of horrific.

Maddening and scary documentary that shows exactly what is going on with Scientology. People can say this is a pack of lies and dismiss it...but why is this so-called "church" not suing them for libel? Also the director and writer of this are former church members so they know what they're talking about. For many years I remember walking around Boston and I was approached by a handsome young man or a pretty young woman and asked if I wanted to take a "personality test". I always politely said no and went on my way. That was how Scientology used to recruit people. They always approached young men and women, got them to go to their offices (Boston had--and still has--a chapter) and started to indoctrinate them. The most disturbing thing about this is there is extensive footage of Scientology conventions that look and sound like Nazi rallies! Everyone should see this.

I thoroughly enjoyed this program. Who better to describe the inner workings of the "church" than former members? You can say that they're all disgruntled, and have a beef with Scientology, and rightly so. They had the presence of mind to realize what a sham it is. One estimate of the required coursework necessary to achieve "clear" cost in excess of $300,000. A true church is proud of it's doctrine, and doesn't charge members to learn about it. That fact alone separates Scientology from the mainstream religions. So the church should expect that some of the people they've scammed will eventually have a problem with it, and expose it for what it is....a business. Great job, HBO!

It's about time the truth of what goes on in Scientology behind closed doors is revealed in a mass media format. This documentary has opened up the flood gates, so all of the world can hear first- hand from ex-members what this cult is REALLY all about. Believe everything you hear and see. The abuse is completely accurate. Sea Org members (staff) are slaves and at the whim of their sadistic masters...anything goes. I know this first-hand; I was one of their slaves. This documentary is a must see!

This movie lays out and proves through engaging interviews with disaffected members that Scientology is like any powerful organized "religion." It's run by a few "untouchables" who hold the reins to all the power. Those few who are not held accountable for their actions, believe the human code of ethics does not apply to them. Their reasoning is the end justifies the means. To keep control, dehumanizing tactics are necessary to control the rank and file. The film plays an important role in documenting the eyewitness testimony of the many inhumane abuses that occur in this organization. Cloaked in secrecy and hidden from the light of scrutiny, the executives of this cult do as they please. The physical, mental, and emotional abuse is like a POW camp. I just finished reading the book "Unbroken" and the stories I heard in this documentary remind me of what happened to Louis Zamperini when he was under the control of "The Bird." My hope is that this film opens up a dialogue for a call to action to help those who have been at the mercy of the "few."

I was involved with Scientology from 1978-1990 and encountered some of the human rights abuses that Alex Gibney exposed in his documentary. The Sea Org people, who sign Billion Year contracts, bore the brunt of the mistreatment and are well represented in this film. Most former members will know of details that were not included in the show, but the topics that became the focus received a more complete treatment as a result.

The humanity of these survivors shown through in each interview and should evoke empathy in anyone willing to accept the truth in the story. I never felt that someone was embellishing or seeking attention; in fact, quite the opposite.

A huge thank you to HBO for having the guts to air this and not back down.

Based on the non-fiction novel by American author Lawrence Wright, this documentary exposes the history of the "Church" of Scientology (CoS). Its main sources are interviews with eight former members of the organization.

While it has already been widely understood that the CoS has cult-like characteristics, this movie provides details which are shocking. Whether it is devious litigation to maintain tax-free status or the great harm imposed on members (and non-members) for not towing the line, this documentary has the occasional effect of a horror movie. It's all the more horrifying knowing the real-life consequences, not only for the interviewees but also for the many unknown others who are currently being harmed and others yet to be in the same situation.

The interviewees are candid about what lured them into the organization and how good it was for them in the beginning. These people are the most inspiring part of the movie. Not only are they frank about their regrets but they show great courage in doing what they are doing especially as they continue to be "punished" for all they have exposed.

It is an excellent documentary, interviewing people that have been down through the void and scheme of scientology, so it carries a lot of weight.I found it really amusing and thorough, especially the way things about the religion are explained.It provides 2 hours of great amusement, 2 hours that will consume you totally. We are all interested in learning more about the "mistery" that surrounds this cult movement,and how it has obtained so many followers, and even more the colossal fortune. Watch it, it is worth the time spent....You'll learn a thing or two about how easily a person can be manipulated...Even the smartest one of us.

With Scientology as a documentary subject, you pretty much know what you're in for. Not like there's a lot of love outside of Hollywood for these people. This isn't going to be a love fest. Even still, "Going Clear" goes to some pretty shocking places. Abuses of its members, unscrupulous scare tactics, a hard-on for aggressive litigation; doesn't sound like much when you read that, but it's the frankness of the testimonies from former members that really make it frightening. This is beyond scathing.

The movie's kinda silly when it's about L. Ron Hubbard and the iffy beginnings of the cult/religion/what-have-you, but once it gets to Tom Cruise's involvement in the organization, Scientology just becomes a dark and twisted snakepit of paranoia. David Miscavige, the head of the church, is a true-believer of the scariest kind - only, whether that's in the philosophies that Hubbard espoused or the thirst for tyrannical power is anyone's guess. No one wants to be on that guy's bad side.

This is some sinister stuff, but also utterly fascinating. Not sure it's something I want to sit through again anytime soon, but it's highly watchable from start to finish.

Definitely recommended.

7/10

Seriously, you have to wonder what kind of dirt they have on these Hollywood stars (Cruise, Travolta) to keep them towing the company line like they do.

There are a number of documentaries about this having accumulated since the 60s, but the phenomenon is that each new documentary reveals new more shocking facts about the business and its mentality than the previous ones, apparently because the material is still accumulating. There is very much important data from earlier documentaries missing here, many key persons are left out of the picture, which nevertheless is completed by the new ones appearing, corroborating all previous testimonies. It's a vitally important documentary, most of all because in the world society we are living in today so many, if not the majority of people, are not aware that it is an age of brainwash, and they still haven't learned to protect themselves against it. What you marvel at in this documentary, which many of the participants honestly do, is that they keep swallowing the racket for years before they can bring themselves to accept that they have been swindled, in most cases of their lives, which they don't realize until their lives are lost or completely devastated. In an effort to concentrate on the good things in Scientology I wrote an article some years back where I posed the open question - what went wrong? Apparently everything went wrong from the beginning, the founder having no self-criticism and no objective distance to what he was doing, but simply himself first of all falling a victim to the delusions of his own science fiction fantasies. Of course, there must be something good in Scientology, there must be a corn of truth in it somewhere, but whatever once was good and even of some worthwhile philosophical common sense and rational wisdom was flooded by the bolting derailing vicious circle of greed fueled by unrestricted paranoia, the constant validation of which seems to be the very substance and force of the organization.

For anyone who has read Lawrence Wright's book of the same name from which Going Clear is based, or whoever has seen the South Park episode Trapped in the Closet, the subject of Scientology and the insane 'beliefs' of its dwindling members will have no doubt inspired many a conversation, as well as a state of utter dumbfounderment. Alex Gibney's thoroughly-researched and extremely enlightening documentary doesn't add a great deal of new information that couldn't previously be found with a few keywords in Google, but it does condense a detailed undressing of its subject into a thrilling 2 hours, and puts this dangerous cult on a huge stage for the whole world to see.

Gibney seems the perfect film-maker to pull this story apart and try to examine how one book by a prolific science fiction author and his subsequent God complex managed to draw in so many to create one of the most powerful 'religions' in America. As the talking-heads tell us (spoken by the likes of former Scientologists Paul Haggis, Mike Rinder, Jason Beghe and Marty Rathbun), they were lured into the promise of complete emotional detox, achieved by undergoing a series of 'auditing' sessions, in which the subject confesses his or her sins while an E-meter monitors their emotions. To progress along the various stages of the path to total clarity a payment is required, until they've paid enough to read the truth - that an intergalactic dictator named Xenu brought his people to Earth, dropped them into volcanoes and nuked them, and the spirits of these aliens pass into our bodies which cause spiritual and emotional harm.

As Paul Haggis delicately puts it as he describes reading this for the first time - "What the f**k!?". That anyone would believe this complete nonsense dreamt up by a writer of pulp fiction (never mind paying for the privilege) is an obvious topic of fascination for Wright and Gibney. To help us understand, we are given a mini- biography of church founder L. Ron Hubbard. Eerily familiar to anyone who saw Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance in The Master (2012), Hubbard was a charismatic, magnetic story-teller, but also an increasingly unhinged maniac, prone to violence and psychological manipulation, who became addicted to his new position as a prophet. Scientology was an abusive cult even at this point in time (slave labour and humiliating punishments were not uncommon), but when Scientology lost its founder, the ambitious and paranoid David Miscavige took over.

This is when the church became extremely dangerous, garnering power enough to take on the IRS for tax-exempt status and win, and throw most of its high-ranking members into a set of double-wide trailers known as 'The Hole' where they have fake confessions beaten out of them and are kept sometimes for years under constant observation. It's a gob-smacking story of threats, violence and manipulation that will leave many with fists clenched, and Gibney certainly knows how to tell a detailed story at an exhilarating pace. He even manages to squeeze some sympathy out of Hubbard and the followers of Scientology, portraying the former as a man clearly degenerating into a state of complete madness as the years went by. The refusal to participate by the likes of Miscavige, Tom Cruise and John Travolta speaks volumes about this institution and its increasing paranoia, so it's about time they put on a pedestal for the entire world to see. Reports suggesting that membership numbers have dwindled to 50,000 (it was previously in the millions) means that the film at least ends on a positive note.

An incredibly captivating, thoroughly entertaining & downright unnerving documentary that deconstructs the inner-working of the Church of Scientology, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief is an in-depth look at its history, its rise from a cult organisation to new religious movement, its belief system, the role of celebrities who are part of it, and its long- standing allegations of psychological abuse & exploitation that occur within the church.

Using archive footages & interviews from former Scientologists who describe their very own experiences when they were part of it, the story of Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief is told in three segments. The first part follows these ex-members as they recount how they came across it. The second gives a brief overview of Scientology and also skims through the life of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. And the final act brings forth the dark stuff & ruthless measures the church takes to silence any criticism.

Written & directed by Alex Gibney, Going Clear is riveting from the first frame to the last and only gets more unsettling as the plot progresses. While it inclines more towards uncovering the disturbing secrets of this new religion that still remains shrouded in mystery, it also says a lot about the absurdity & dangers of blind faith, as evident in every religion, and illustrates how people are manipulated into joining these belief systems that promises a solution to all their problems but soon begins to strangle them with its entrapments.

Although what it offers is clearly a one-sided perspective, it looks as if it's got enough data to support its claims against the Church of Scientology. Almost every argument it puts forth feels like a result of endless research & extensive investigation and the various accusations made by its interviewees, comprising mostly of former members of the church, gives those existing rumours an added weight. While it certainly sheds more light on things that usually don't get to see the light of day, much of it can still be applied to every religion in existence.

However, what makes Going Clear such an intriguing sit isn't the content it has in store but how all of it is presented to the unsuspecting & curious audience. It's informative, in a way, to people who aren't much familiar with this new religious movement but it's also one damn good entertainment, something only few documentaries ever manage to excel at. The story also addresses the roles famous celebrities like John Travolta & Tom Cruise have played in promoting the religion and the special treatment the church bestows them with in order to keep them around.

From a technical standpoint, there isn't really anything to complain about this documentary. It's crafted with a razor-sharp intent, seems to have done all the background check before making its accusations, the re-enactment sequences may seem a bit exaggerated but then, it is as per the ex-members' confessions, more or less. Its three segment narrative gives it a more refined & easy-to-follow structure, Editing is definitely one of its biggest strengths and the interviews with these former Scientologists is wholly engrossing. And much of it is made possible by Gibney's impeccable direction.

On an overall scale, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief is a masterly crafted, cleverly assembled & expertly told exposé of one of the most controversial subject matters in the present world. As revelatory as it is enthralling, this picture has the charged intensity of a thriller and considering the Church of Scientology's notoriety for filing lawsuits against its critics, it's truly a bold piece of documentary filmmaking that does exactly what it set out to do plus the blatant criticism it received from the church prior to its release only helped in providing it the publicity it required. A powerful, discomforting & spellbinding work of non- fiction cinema, Going Clear comes strongly recommended.

I wanted to turn this documentary off not too far into it, but kept watching as little tidbits of information made their way to the surface. Unfortunately, again, I found myself wanting to turn it off, but instead just let it play in the background while I did some work on my research paper.

This documentary is boring. All you need to do is youtube this same subject on anti-scientology, and you will find MUCH better information and much more entertaining documentary films on the subject matter.

Don't waste your money. They really had a chance to gather all of the information available on the subject out there and put something excellent together. Unfortunately, it seems they spent more time and money on getting good songs for the doc rather than composing a documentary film that not only informs, but entertains as well.

Boring. Bland. Bleh.

Again. Don't waste your money. Youtube it.

Alex Gibney's Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief is such a fantastic documentary because not only does it root itself in facts in an attempt to summarize the Church of Scientology, its founder L. Ron Hubbard, its rise to the mainstream, and its many controversies, but it also strips down its content to its most basic ideas of man and humanity. Gibney examines man's desire for purpose in the world, and a compelling need to feel significant in the grand scheme of the universe, whilst juxtaposing the ideas of cults and cultic imprisonment and their pursuit for those lost souls who are searching for meaning. Gibney handles all of these elements extraordinarily well, and gives us the rare documentary where we emerge with an immense amount of new information and have a takeaway theme to attach to it all.

Going Clear is divided into three specific acts: the first concerns high-profile celebrities who were once a member of the Church of Scientology before leaving, such as Spanky Taylor, Paul Haggis (director of 2004's Crash), and Jason Beghe, the second concerns L. Ron Hubbard's life and how the publication of his bestselling book Dianetics led to the creation of Scientology, and the third act shows the church's notorious allegations for abuse, harassment, and misconduct, most of which perpetuated by its current Chairman David Miscavige.

This structure, and Gibney's liberal two hour runtime, allow for the church to be explored not only in a sense that adheres to and respects chronology, but allows for surmounting tension to build from a pacing standpoint. By the time the hour mark rolled around, I was completely immersed in this story, going from knowing relatively nothing about the church, remaining blissfully ignorant, to becoming hungry for more information. A great deal of this lies on Gibney's structure and depth of research, all of which churns up confirmation through news articles, fact checks, and testimonies from primary sources, but another portion is thanks to his presentation, which is reliant on suspense and gradual tension in a way that makes the documentary interesting rather than manipulative.

The interviews with former church members also do an exceptional job at detailing the church's different levels of involvement in Scientology, as well as their methods, demystifying what we've heard in the past and cutting through lingo to give us digestible information. For example, we learn that Scientology is rooted in condemnation of war, insanity, and criminality, imagining a world where everyone is a like-minded, mentally capable individual that can't be compelled to carry out such senseless violence. There are people known as auditors, who help people allegedly detect the mass of their own thoughts (something science has yet to prove) and have them discharge their emotions to make them in a complex state of human realization. Auditors use devices known as "E-meters" to help achieve such grandiose ideas, working with a machine that's part lie detector in the way a small needle glides through a scale of numbers, again, allegedly detecting brain activity and thought mass.

The more Gibney paints Scientology, and the more ex-church executives, members, and officials discuss it, it all seems as if Scientology is unproven "pseudo-science" that operates with cult-like devotion in the way it sucks people, particularly the lost and the wayward, in young, works to make them see that they have a purpose, and fighting to keep them loyal to the church at every cost if they dare try and leave. Other interesting elements of the film come in the detailing of Hubbard's life, as we hear from accounts of his wife that he was emotionally abusive towards her, as well as money-hungry, essentially creating a religion to gain an income and not be burdened by governmental tactics. These documented pieces of fact are enough to turn any potential Scientologist away from the church and never look back.

But why, Gibney asks, do celebrities like John Travolta and Tom Cruise, as well as hundreds of thousands of other individuals willingly flock to read Hubbard's teachings and hear Miscavige's fiery sermons if all these ideas circumvent into unsubstantiated assertions and the religion's creator has enough dirt on him to be labeled a phony? Again, it all comes back to the idea of man seeking a purpose in his life, which Gibney bravely articulates. We hear people like Beghe, Taylor, and Haggis talk about how all they wanted when they were young was a sense of life that the world had yet to provide them, and took pride in Scientology's teachings of such complex, human ideas that were foreign to them. It wasn't until they witnessed numerous acts of abuse and cruel manipulation for themselves that they made the decision to leave the church, many of them still being harassed by Miscavige's watchdogs to this very day.

The final main idea of Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief I have yet to present is the one proposed from its title. The concept of "going clear" in Scientology refers to the alleged erasing of one's conscious, which, in a Freudian context, where Scientology seems to get a lot of its ideas, means erasing all traumatic events, suppressed memories, and crippling thoughts from one's head. This state of "clearness" allows for a person to function unburdened by past experiences and look forward positively in a new way unheard of prior to being introduced to concepts of Scientology. If this was the weirdest idea spoken about in Going Clear, it would still be a documentary well worth seeing, but the fact that it digs well beyond the surface and explores the subject with an unforeseen level of depth makes it a truly fantastic piece of documentary filmmaking from one of the finest living documentarians today.

I didn't know much about Scientology before, but been awaiting this documentary for all the publicity it generated. And I wasn't disappointed. It unfolds rather slowly, but reveals details and time line of Scientology in way that makes sense for someone like me who knows little about it. I just wished I had read up about Scientology beliefs before watching, as I didn't quite understand the whole aliens reference, and sci-fi beliefs they have as part of Scientology. I wondered if this was really part of their beliefs or the documentary was exaggerating it. Turns out it's all factual! The whole of 2 hours I was just going, 'wtf?!!', and the intensity only escalates as the time line and events unfold. It was occasionally borderline cheesy, especially when the interviewee emotions seemed a bit forced. But overall, it's well written and the interviewees do a great job of narrating their experiences.

This documentary is an extraordinary one, and has been attacked by Scientology for the simple reason that it exposes many of the destructive and sociopathic policies it mandates because they are Hubbard's orders, now etched on apocalypse-proof stainless steel plates.

The only defense the 'church' can field is bold-faced denial and (as per Hubbard's unchangeable orders) relentless attacks on any who speak against it. It may come as little surprise that the 'church' actually provides specialized training and drills to help its spokesmen deliver blatant lies more believably.

The moral justification for telling these lies is built-in to Scientology and separates it from every other 'religion' except for (predictably) Satanism, namely the fact that there is no overriding moral code forbidding murder, bearing false witness and the like.

Hubbard wrote materials expressly for the public intended to give the appearance of morality and decency, but ultimately, whatever profits the 'church' is Good and whatever 'impedes' it is Evil and no holds are barred where either is concerned. The result is the nightmare that is Scientology.

I have to say it was very emotional to watch and that everyone's testimonies of their experiences in the Org rang completely true. My son was whisked away in the middle of the night on his 18th birthday with promises of money, fame and a career and what ensued for him was more horrific than anything they mentioned in the documentary. It took a year for my son after "escaping" to even talk about what happened and he is still recovering and in therapy 4 years later. I tried in vane to get him out including working with a cult expert, the church cut off all contact with us and I could not even talk to him or contact him. FYI, my son has a genius IQ and he was living with his Dad (my ex) at the time,who became a devout member of the church after our divorce and complicit in the "brain washing" of my son. I am hoping this wonderful and truthful documentary will help others escape and/or never get involved with the Church of Scientology. My son tells me it ruined his life.

I finished this movie with more disappointment than revelation. Maybe it's because I live in the UK - where several other programmes about Scientology have aired throughout the years. But this film didn't really tell me anything new. Some of the Hubbard stuff at the beginning was interesting, (struck me as a sociopath) but it never really seemed to get to the nub of the issue. And at the end of the day, despite perhaps the intentions of it's leader, Scientology sure does seem to behave like most other religions in the world. I mean the Catholic church introduced confession as means of collecting more money. What in the world is different between that and Scientology fleecing it's participants for audits and larger levels? Yes, it does have that niggling problem with what exactly it's about - but if your stated goal is making individuals better, one at a time, through what is basically a psychoanalyses process, that must suffice. And that's the part that no one seems to point out - that essentially this is a religion at this point. A deeply screwed up, hypocritical, often abusive, religion - just like the rest of them. The other bit that was missing is asking the various interviewees just what it was that they either WERE getting or thought they were getting out of it. Because these people were in it for decades - they obvious did think they were getting something out of it. AND - a truly unbiased mind would have to ask if perhaps they actually DID get something out of it. Despite some pretty horrific stories of manipulation and abuse at the Gold Camp, these people are not crying wrecks of humanity. Quite the opposite - they seem like quite centered and clear individuals. Rathbun actually left and set up an independent auditing service (which is why the church hounded him so harshly and for so long) and yet the film actually left that bit out. Rathbun still believes in the efficacy of the auditing process. So it wasn't unbiased enough for me and nor did it delve deeply enough into the motivations of people involved. I would have liked to see a section on what we know of brain-washing and how it compares to the auditing and general Scientology processes. I would have liked to have seen more background on Miscavige - another raving sociopathic loon. Perhaps it's too difficult to get this information still - but at this point it feels necessary in understanding what's going on with this organisation.

After watching this phenomenal documentary, I sigh in relief at what I almost catapulted myself into years ago. I, like many others, was drawn to the word of L. Ron Hubbard as a young woman. What he said in his books resonated with me at a time when I felt lost in the world.

Watching the documentary and what people went and are still going through makes me compare the similarities between Scientology with the failed Jamestown incident. Comparing the two in the way they seem to brainwash people into "drinking the Kool-Aid" makes me wonder that we, as humans, can be so weak minded to give-up all the things we have, for hundreds of years, tried to overcome.

This documentary tells first-hand accounts of horrors that many of us now can only just shake our heads at. Most of the people in this documentary were high ranking members of Scientology and it makes me wonder, what about those who do not have the money to attain stardom or OT XV? They do tell of the situations people who go against this supposed church and again I wonder, are there members of Scientology that were once former CIA agents, extensively trained in non-bloodied torture?

I can only hope that many people see "Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief" and realize that there are still "institutions" out there that can be so bold as to claim to be a church, while harassing and trying to defame former members. Scientology claims to want peace, but they are creating wars secretly, and we better wake up and see them for what they are sooner, rather than later.

This is like a primer for people that know nothing about Scientology, its origins, practices or high profile cases. The more you know about it, the less interesting it gets because there's very little original discovery in the documentary.

The beginning was very, very interesting. The first 48 minutes had me glued to the screen. It is a biography of LRH. The rest of it, if you're old enough or read enough, is all from the news.

I am totally partial to this documentary: over the years I had read a lot of articles so there was nothing much for me to chew. I liked that it makes a strong use of prominent former scientologists and that digs into L. Ron Hubbard personality to reach what is to me the main statement about Scientology :

A. "The best way to make a fortune is by creating your own religion" (said L. Ron Hubbard, a libertarian who hated paying taxes) B. L. Ron Hubbard had a deranged personality and Dianetics was his attempt at self-therapy. Unfortunately his guru-like charisma branched out to a real cult he was able to cash in on... and most of all benefit from the group therapy.

The weakness of this documentary, which follows a very chronological storyline, is that these quintessential findings are lost in the middle. And since the director switches between various witnesses he finds himself unable to dig into the "prison of belief." Paul Haggis spent 35 years in it and cannot begin to understand what happened.

On one hand this is an essential aggregation of facts so that people have an opportunity to understand what is means when a religion strongly suggest that you can become a better person by giving them money. On the other hand it offers nothing to empathize with such victims by describing in detail the psychological elements at work that make people want to believe and then fear rejection from the group.

In this film I did not see any solid information on what's going on with Scientology right now, today. Everyone in this film seemed to have been a member years ago. Where were the interviews with current Scientologists? Also, everyone Gibney showed seemed to have an ax to grind -- ex-wives, former executives, people who ran away from Scientology, etc. If you are doing a documentary on the Republican party you would probably talk with some current Republicans, not just folks who moved on to the Democratic party or turned Independent. For solid documentary work I look for example to someone such as Ken Burns and his body of work. I have many friends who are Scientologists and I do not see in them or their lives what this film purports to show. I am open minded enough to look closely at anything before I make a decision about it, whether that be a documentary film, a religion or a political party.