What will we trade for our dreams and beliefs? What are we willing to lose, to gain something we believe and have been told in our culture, is the highest thing we can attain? Anyone on a spiritual path or seeking a deeper level of interactions in their lives rather than the surface way in which humans have been taught to operate, needs to contemplate this move. Here is a group of seemingly loving, intelligent human beings that gave up their every-day, 'normal' lives, in order to attain the state of God-realization they were promised. They said they knew it resembled a cult, but because it was modern, fun, and focused on spirituality that they sought, they didn't worry too much about that until the leader's demands became too much for them. Even with personal, sexual abuse they stayed not only because the idea of "surrendering" to you master was manipulated and twisted in their minds, it was also likely because the community acted as a loving, supportive, family situation that many had never experienced up to this point. They stayed for that, even when the teacher was obviously no longer operating in the manner in which he had begun.
It's a cautionary tale of not just cults, but how humans operate when they grab onto this perfect ideal in their minds, be it the perfect life, the perfect marriage, the perfect home, or fill in the blank. The religious doctrines have more directly related overtones, but what is your religion asking you to do, to stay a member? What personal freedoms do we give up to keep the pieces of our dreams from falling apart or flying out the door? This is ultimately a story of awakening, and for some in the group it was more painful than for others. But when you commit to a life of awakening, it's never easy while it's happening, and clearly it occurred in the hardest way ever for some of these group members who traded innocence and trust for the experiences they got out of being in the group overall. How and why do we give away our personal power, and free will and get locked into group think? It seems like more and more as "unbaked" spiritual teachers show up in yoga, meditation, gurus, etc. we need to look closer at when and where do we draw the line - and call it out instead of keeping it secret, as these members did to preserve the sanctity of the rest of the group. If others had known of their suffering, it all would have ended much sooner. Another lesson? Perhaps, hard to say. But what I do say, from the path of awakening, is take what you need for your personal awakening and move on. Stay attached to none. Holy Hell is critical is showing, not telling the story of the frog in the boiling pot of water. When is it time to jump to your freedom? Contemplative movie, and I have a hard time not coming back for another viewing... I get more from it each and every time.

This documentary is well-constructed and honest. It is a story told by those that lived through being in an abusive cult and came to have good lives afterwards. Thank you sharing and may this help others in some way.

Cult leaders only need to present a lifestyle that appears better, or even just different than a prolonged, agonizing death in a cubicle to lure in slaves. I'd like to tell myself I'd never get fooled by an obvious charlatan like this, but there are times in my life where I might have fallen for it. I worked for a privately held corporation that utilized cult leader tactics to paint the CEO into a quasi-supernatural business yogi, complete with a set of "nine principles" each employee had to proudly display on their desk, which were essentially commandments. People ate this garbage up because the CEO was giving them something they wanted, money. The people in this documentary were manipulated in the exact same way, only they were seeking spirituality instead of money. If we examine our society, I think we'll find it full of cult leaders who mistreat people in similar or worse ways, and that's probably why the documentary is so fascinating.

I've watched this documentary multiple times, but now seeing it again for the first time since a breakup of an 11 year relationship with a bipolar narcissist. I can completely relate to a lot of the things they were saying like giving up your own ambitions, rationalizing everything, etc etc (even the part about the cult leader madman's eyes changing & face changing when they turned against him - I witnessed first hand of this happening and it's the absolute freakiest thing) I am so happy about how wonderful their lives have turned out and if I could meet each of the former members of this documentary and hug them, I would. These are some of the most awesome, amazing people - I can feel it through the screen. You didn't let anything that happened break your spirit. Love this documentary so much, it's always been one of my favorites but especially now close to the heart.

Groupthink is a powerful dynamic that pretty much is experienced in smaller doses by everyone at some point. One's individual preferences or interests are subdued in order to keep one's standing or sense of belonging in an association of others, but what's weird is it can be subtle and even unconscious so that it's not clear that is what is happening until in hindsight. In this film it's horrifying to see it to such a degree that one's life passes you by for 22 years and then you awaken from the programming one day to wonder who actually made all those critical decisions in your life.

Jaime/Michel/Andreas/cult leader is well portrayed as spellbinding, captivating, and all things to different people. I could completely see how his talents and charms allowed him to woo followers while compensating for his megalomania and psychopathy. It's so creepy how the "devil" shows up as everything you want initially to bait you and then as a matter of course switches to demanding control freak. Say what you want about malignant narcissists, but they are astoundingly astute at tapping into and reading people's most unmet desires and approximating a temporary fix for that itch that will then cost the targets of abuse more than they could ever begin to calculate.

The interviewees appeared candid, generous spirited, and interesting in their diversity. It seemed naturally convincing that there was indeed a sense of community built up between these old friends in the manner they committed to participating in the documentary for Allen. Plus, it's a fortuitous mix that his film making skills had an inside look all those years of the ever changing tune of the leader's whim. Well done and a timely expose on a relevant subject.

I believe that this documentary was supposed to be made for a specific reason. This doc. is very powerful, I am grateful for the courage of all of these blessed people who made & participated in helping to make this film! The Lord Bless you all-I prayed for you! I am a Christian, but not by force of my family, only I too was steeped in new age occult through a boyfriend. I never could get into all of the practices of millions of "gods" and gurus etc. The whole nine yards. I remained unattached to it all! Then I became a multi (not even close) multi millionaire through an engagement to another man in Downtown Chicago who was an famous architect, but that worsened my life.(too long to explain) A girl prayed with me to receive Jesus into my heart after a battle w drug addiction & a very strange life of surreal-ness! When she prayed w me, The Lord showed up! Amazing that he would do that for me, and all of this confusion about "gods" , drugs, lies healing arts, metaphysical blah blah blah let me! I became one of the most compassionate people & advocate for the poor in the world using my own money (and I have lots of it) Jesus gave me a brand new heart-took every wicked thing out of my memory . All I can say is that the emptiness that the human race goes through can only be filled up by Jesus-He's the Creator after all-intelligent Designer-Divine Order everywhere you look. Entropy is caused by man's sin & really darkens this planet/universe-that is exactly why the man got away with what he did & might still be doing!

Good example of how a cult operates. Several missing things stand out at first viewing: there are no large breasted women in the cult, and there are no minorities in the cult, and the viewer is left to deduce why this is(the cult is a reflection of the leader) Anyone can be recruited into a cult group and this group follows the pattern set down by Margaret Singer (psychologist) in her youtube video: What is a cult and how does it work. The recruitment technique of love bombing is used and shown, the phase two, the enslavement of followers through disdain is only hinted at(the filmmaker said he turned off the camera when the leader was being verbally abusive) and not shown, and phase three the rejection and hatred of the leader is shown. Overall a good movie adding to my list of techniques used by narcissist cult leaders of how to recruit and enslave others. New to me was positive and negative sexuality of cult groups( this one was negative, that is sex is bad.) financial support through members contributions and not through a salaried position, young men do not understand that they are being corrupted when the leader sodomizes them. asking themselves "what just happened?" in the "knowing ceremony" the leader is seen rubbing the forehead of followers who report hallucinations afterwards like an LSD trip (suggesting that LSD was used by the leader on the members.) and the reduction of the male members masculinity by the leader.

A riveting documentary about a classic psychopathic cult leader who is still alive and still culting here in Hawaii. If you want to SEE how a psychopath takes control of the minds and souls of otherwise wonderful people, watch this movie. This movie can save years of horror and suffering if people see it. It's an inoculation. Every teenager should see it to be warned about a largely unknown, very real and devastating danger. Most people have an inaccurate idea of what actual psychopaths are like, and if you don't know, you're vulnerable. There's a good chance you or someone you know should see this movie. Estimates are that from 1 in 25 to 1 in 100 people are full blown psychopaths. They are literally all around you.

And it's a great movie as a movie. Fascinating, uplifting as well as horrifying, very moving, not a false note or boring moment, and great editing. Will Allen is a brave and honest man, a great storyteller and a very talented filmmaker.

It's a work of genius and will outlive us all.

P.S. Cult members here in Hawaii are about to start posting negative reviews to discourage you from watching the movie. Don't let them.