Saw My Scientology Movie, a Louis Theroux documentary about the notoriously bizarre and secretive Church of Scientology. He of course doesn't get any church members to relax their guard around media personalities, but he does have prominent ex-member Marty Rathbun to help him out and, funnily enough, the documentary becomes much more revealing about Marty than it is about Scientology. Scientology has been covered before by many people. South Park did an episode about their sci-fi-tinged creation myth, and many news crews have done filler pieces about the it. Like those, this one also has the requisite (but endlessly entertaining) shouty Scientologist-baiting, the examination of the razor-wire ringing their compound.
But Marty remains the most interesting part of the film for me. At one point Louis ironically calls him a "disgruntled apostate", over-enunciating the words for maximum humor, but Marty turns sour "Why would you call me what the church calls me?" and "I'm not disgruntled. I don't even care." This sudden, unexpected churlishness suggests that he hasn't really moved on. It (and other, later scenes) suggests he's still fighting against the church not purely out of altruism, but out of some sense of shame or embarrassment.
Don't get me wrong, I completely approve of Marty's actions. The church of Scientology is very very very creepy. I'm just intrigued by Marty's guarded demeanor and motives. I don't think he's being sinister, it's just hard for him to open up about his feelings. At one point he lashes out at Louis, asking why he asks the same questions over and over. Is he looking for inconsistencies? Marty is an embattled guy with a dark history inside the church. He's a very interesting subject. The Scientology stuff is interesting too, especially the stuff on the character of the current pontifex, David Miscavige. He would be a yet more fascinating subject but, alas, he has enough money and power to avoid cameras for now.
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