Full Movie Reviews
Rating of
3/4
Scientology - It's even crazier than you thought!
Indyfreak - wrote on 12/30/2015
Like other expose styled documentaries, Going Clear's biggest flaw is that it's too short and you want more from it. Like anything that director Alex Gibney made, it's unsettling and a scathing indictment of its subject matter. It is prudent enough to first go back in time and lay the blame on its founder L. Ron Hubbard, a figurehead who presented himself as an international man of mystery, a renaissance man, and a visionary. In truth, he was a hack writer, a wife beater, and most likely a mentally unbalanced con artist trying to get rich instead of religion. Those who inherited his legacy are no better and the celebrities who espouse allegiance are portrayed as unwiting pawns for the most part. It is distressing to see such a bizarre and odious organization is given so much leeway.
Rating of
3.5/4
The Message is Clear - Who Will Listen?
Chris Kavan - wrote on 09/16/2015
Superb documentary from Alex Gibney that takes a big chance. I am not a fan of Scientology and never have been - but one thing they do have is money. Money equals power and those in charge of Scientology know this - Going Clear exposes some hard truths, some that have been told, but this goes deeper and it doesn't pull its punches. Interviewing former members (some of who were very high up the ladder) and some former famous members (like director Paul Haggis and actor Jason Beghe), it really makes your skin crawl. Scientology is not a religion - heck, I don't know if it's even a cult, it's more like a corporation - one given free reign to blackmail, abuse, break up families, pay slave wages, harass and get away with so much more - all under the guise of "religion". Maybe this film will …
