A good documentary is a windowpane into the human condition ; follow literal - life communities and events and featuring audience and archival footage , they give viewers an in - depth smell into humanity and masses they may never get to know .
While some documentaries are motivational and can inspire action , others can leave you feel devastated . Cult documentaries , for example , often accrue into the latter family as former members portion out their harrowing experience . But despite the disconsolate cloth , documentaries aboutcults in Americaand elsewhere can also show the resiliency of man .
Whether you want to instruct how cult take form or why multitude fall in them in the first situation , there are flock of infotainment you may view to gain a well understanding of cults . Here are nine infotainment — both pic and docuseries — on cults .
1. ‘Desperately Seeking Soulmate: Escaping Twin Flames Universe’
This infotainment dives into the Twin Flames Universe , an on-line cult that Jeff and Shaleila Divine establish with the hope of matching masses to their soulfulness mate . Some former members say joining the TFU lead to being haunt by their supposed twin fire ; others incriminate the founders of coerce them to exchange grammatical gender .
you may stream this three - part docuseries on Amazon Prime Video , but if you desire to study more about Twin Flames , you may also determine out Netflix ’s " Escaping Twin Flames . "
2. ‘Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults’
Marshall Herff Applewhite Jr. found theHeaven ’s Gatecult , classified as a UFO religion . Members conceive they would leave their dead body behind and their consciousness would remove into an immortal extraterrestrial being .
In 1997 , 39 appendage die by mass suicide . The Heaven ’s Gate documentary looks at the cult ’s beginnings and how it shifted over the years since it bug out in 1975 .
3. ‘Holy Hell’
For two 10 , Will Allen documented Buddhafield , a West Hollywood cult that a instructor founded in the 1980s . After living within the community of interests , Allen evidence how his point of view changed as he learned more about the cult .
4. ‘Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God’
Known as Mother God , Amy Carlson was the drawing card of Love Has Won , a " new spiritual movement " ( NRM ) . She gained a following through live streams and on-line manifestos . This three - part series features interviews with member of Love Has Won .
5. ‘Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple’
This documentary tells the story of Jim Jones , the founder of Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ . Jones drew 900 follower with a promise of an economically and racially just world . The furore ended up in Guayana , and in November 1978 , they die by mass self-destruction . Onlyfive survived .
This infotainment include interviews with Jones ' son , phratry member of former rage members and two survivors .
6. ‘Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets’
This four - part series spill light on the Duggar folk , who rose to fame through the TLC series " 19 youngster and Counting , " and the Institute in Basic Life Principles , a Christian fundamentalist organization .
The docuseries have only one of the 19 Duggar children : Jill Duggar Dillard . It also include interviews with Deanna Duggar , Jim Bob Duggar ’s babe .
7. ‘Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence’
At Sarah Lawrence College , a radical of students meet Larry Ray , the founder of one of their classmates . At first , the students did n’t take care him around , but finally , he forced them to do undertaking , sexuality acts and more .
Ray was eventually chance shamefaced on 15 federal count , including sex trafficking and extortion ; the documentary follows the subsister in the aftermath .
“ You do n’t often get to see someone mend from this kind of abuse [ onscreen ] , ” Director Zachary Heinzerling toldVulture . “ It showed a story of strong point and bravery in someone to free themselves of that disgrace and embarrassment that they might have felt in the backwash of this and begin a cognitive operation of healing . ”
8. ‘Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult’
India Oxenberg was a member of NXIVM , a cult that originated as a motivational , ego - assistance organization . This docuseries is a glimpse into how Oxenberg suffered abuse at the handwriting of drawing card Keith Raniere .
9. ‘Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey’
This four - part docuseries sport Warren S. Jeff ’s rising slope within the Fundamentalist Church of Latter - Day Saints . Director Rachel Dretzin aimed to secern the narration of the survivors .
" Our stress [ is ] not only on the experience of being in that cult,“Dretzin say . " It ’s on the people , in particular the adult female who pull off to defy it and escape it , which — if you know anything about the FLDS — is a pretty marvellous and incredible matter to do . "
