Reviews and Media on HBO Documentary Going Clear

[CommunicatorIC]

Tampa Bay Times: HBO documentary 'Going Clear' tackles the question: Why Scientology?

http://www.tampabay.com/news/scient...-tackles-the-question-why-scientology/2223024

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Eight minutes and 13 seconds into his much-talked-about documentary on the Church of Scientology, writer/director Alex Gibney hits a sweet spot, going right at one of the key questions he sets out to answer.

What is Scientology's allure?

Jason Beghe, an actor who lasted 13 years in the church, is describing his first Scientology service — a drill that made him confront another person face-to-face, eyes closed. He says it made him "go exterior," or out of his body.

"It was a transcendent experience for me," Beghe recalls in Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, which airs at 8 p.m. Sunday on HBO.

"And that made me go, 'Holy (expletive), this is — wow!'"

The same could be said of the two-hour film, which addresses the controversies of recent years as well as other big questions: Why people stay in Scientology and why they leave? It does so while hewing closely to Lawrence Wright's similarly named and widely heralded book, published in 2013.

Going Clear holds the power to connect with a range of audiences: Many critics of the church will find it validating. Casual observers will be engrossed, perhaps enlightened. And Scientologists loyal to church management will be highly offended.

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[Lulu Belle]

The Daily Beast: Why Scientology’s Cone of Silence Shattered

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/25/why-scientology-s-cone-of-silence-shattered.html

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For most of its existence the Church of Scientology grew and prospered by protecting its secrets. But it’s been tough holding on to that model in the 21st century, a notoriously bad era for powerful institutions in the secret-keeping business. That point has been amply made in recent years by top church officials turned whistleblowers, a high-profile book by Lawrence Wright of The New Yorker, and now a lacerating new HBO documentary based on Wright’s exposé. The new voices in the Scientology debate have both testified to the church’s efforts to silence its critics and, by speaking out, shown the limits of that approach. Their accounts seem to show the church losing its grip on the public narrative it once aggressively controlled.

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This article is GREAT. Read the whole thing.

(excerpt)

.......

“The ’Net changed everything and from all accounts has had a major impact on membership,” said Mark Bunker, a TV journalist and longtime anti-Scientology activist.

The Internet, of course.

Still, it’s a bit more complicated than that, Kent said. “It’s not just the Internet,” he said. Much of the momentum in the anti-Scientology movement that has culminated in the new HBO documentary comes from ex-members of the church, he said. The Internet gave them a chance to meet each other and trade stories, creating an echo effect that amplified their voices. “Former members became emboldened enough to start speaking on the Internet” about abuses they had allegedly witnessed and, Kent said, that in turn led to more defections and more ex-members speaking out.

“The big change came around 2005, when South Park did their episode on Scientology and ended it with ‘Sue Me,’ and they didn’t get sued,” said Bunker. That lessened the fear among commentators of being sued and, in a dangerous turn for any official piety, opened the group to wider ridicule. Said Kent, “The gravitas of Scientology diminishes rapidly as comedians start picking it apart.”

“The fallout from the first airing of that South Park episode was pretty stunning,” said Bunker. According to Rinder, it led Scientology to scramble to use Tom Cruise’s weight in Hollywood to get the episode quashed.

“When South Park did their program, I went to CAA,” said Rinder, using the abbreviation for Creative Artists Agency, a top Hollywood talent agency that represented Cruise.

Rinder said this is what happened next:

“The Tom Cruise card was played with CAA to get them to put pressure on Comedy Central and Viacom. Ultimately, it really backfired.

......

It just gets better and better.....

 

[CommunicatorIC]

Finally, a review that has the guts to at least mention the Nazanin Boniadi - Tom Cruise story.

Salon: Scientology and Hollywood: Tom Cruise, John Travolta and the new “Going Clear” shockers

http://www.salon.com/2015/03/26/sci...ear”_is_a_terrifying_and_illuminating_expose/

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As Maureen Orth reported in 2012 in a cover story for Vanity Fair, Boniadi, as a young medical student, was selected and made over by the church before being flown to New York for a private audience with Tom Cruise, who was at the time looking for a girlfriend. As Orth’s story reports, the Church had interfered with Cruise’s marriage to Nicole Kidman to the point of its dissolution; now, they were looking for a Scientology-friendly replacement, so as to protect Cruise’s involvement in the church (a partnership that brings Scientology legitimacy, notoriety, and cold hard cash). Boniadi and Cruise dated for a month or two before the relationship went south, and that’s when the story gets weirder. It was bad enough that the church had essentially pimped Boniadi out for an elite congregant; but after she failed to keep the relationship going, she was reportedly punished with menial labor, like being made to scrub toilets with a toothbrush.

The Interview interview, through that lens, reads like an attempt for Boniadi to reclaim her own narrative—and to distance herself from the church as much as possible. It has that effect, to be frank. Partly because the Vanity Fair story is so outlandish, it’s hard to believe; and partly because Boniadi then and Boniadi now sound like two completely different people.

That seems to be kind of what Scientology does to you, though.

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[Lulu Belle]

And the hits just keep on coming...

.....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/26/going-clear-scientology_n_6950122.html

(excerpt)

This isn’t Scientology’s first unflattering close-up. Starting in the 1970s, journalists, scholars and ex-members have written exposes, describing everything from financial mismanagement to the near-slavery conditions that some members claimed they experienced for years. The church has been the subject of in-depth stories in Time, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, The New York Times and on television’s CNN and “60 Minutes.”

In a statement published in its magazine Freedom, the church called the film, “one-sided” and “dishonest.”

But where the church once fought back with a phalanx of private investigators and attorneys who delved into reporters’ personal and professional lives in an attempt to discredit them — freelance writer Paulette Cooper was the subject of a Scientology plot uncovered by the FBI — there are signs that the church is dropping that tactic.

When the St. Petersburg Times produced a searing series about the church in 2009, the church did not file any lawsuits. A 2012 Vanity Fair story about Scientology’s supposed attempt to break up Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, its most famous member, also produced no litigation. Both Wright and Gibney have been the subject of a few videos produced by the church and a full-page ad in The New York Times refuting the film, which Wright has described as manageable.

But, as the film makes clear, the church has turned its attention away from its exterior critics and moved to the harassment of former members. Several are interviewed in the film, including Marty Rathbun, formerly the church’s No. 2 official and its chief enforcer.

Since leaving the church in 2004, Rathbun’s house has been under 24-hour surveillance by Scientology “squirrel busters” who have moved in across the street, and his wife and child have been followed, approached and harassed, he said. His wife, Monique Rathbun, is now suing Miscavige and the church for harassment.

HBO documentaries have a decent track record of prompting change in and around their subjects. Look no further than the March 14 arrest of Robert Durst just before the HBO broadcast of the final segment of “The Jinx,” a documentary that painted him as a potential serial killer. Spike Lee’s 2006 “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts” is credited with bringing greater scrutiny to the plight of the New Orleans’ devastated black community after Hurricane Katrina.

Will “Going Clear” prompt Scientology to change?

David Bromley, director of the World Religions and Spirituality Project at Virginia Commonwealth University and an expert on Scientology, says that is uncertain at best.

While the church is thriving financially, with $3.5 billion in assets, much of it in flashy church buildings around the world, membership is in steep decline. The church claims it has 8 million members worldwide, with about a third of those in the U.S. But the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey put the number of American Scientologists at about 25,000 — fewer than American Rastafarians.

The film, Bromley said, “is going to have a bigger impact” than any book about Scientology. Still, he said, “A lot of times these books make insiders more resolute. They trace the hostile message back to an individual and away from the group. They never question the organization itself. So they may just circle the wagons.”

Wright is a bit more optimistic. In an interview with Salon, he said celebrity members like Cruise, John Travolta, Elisabeth Moss and Beck must demand change, including greater transparency and openness. If not, Scientology may die with its aging members.

“What it doesn’t have is a stream of new recruits,” Wright wrote by email. “Certainly the new John Travolta or Tom Cruise is not evident, which is difficult because the church depends on celebrities to sell its product. Without new members, the church will become little more than a real-estate holding company.”

 

[ILove2Lurk]

. . .
Rinder on Fox News very soon (last 15 minutes of show).

The Kelly File

Repeats in three hours. Check your local listings.

". . . but the film is SHOCKING!!"

says Megan, who had watched it.
​

I agree.

 

[Karen#1]

On the air according to Tony Ortega on Twitter Mike Rinder on Fox News Channel with Megyn Kelly at 6:40 pm Los Angeles time, I just saw excerpts of the trailer of Going Clear and Mike Rinder.

In LA it is channel 45

Just saw the trailer announcemnt. Discussing GOING CLEAR​

​

 

[CommunicatorIC]

https://whyweprotest.net/threads/hb...ibney-going-clear.121403/page-18#post-2524215

 

[Leland]

WoW....Live stream on YouTube!!

 

[CommunicatorIC]

On the air according to Tony Ortega on Twitter Mike Rinder on Fox News Channel with Megyn Kelly at 6:40 pm Los Angeles time, I just saw excerpts of the trailer of Going Clear and Mike Rinder.

In LA it is channel 45

Just saw the trailer announcemnt. Discussing GOING CLEAR​

​

[video=youtube;V7ynm-XHpQs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7ynm-XHpQs[/video]

 

[CommunicatorIC]

https://whyweprotest.net/threads/hb...ibney-going-clear.121403/page-18#post-2524215

https://www.facebook.com/RoadToReasonASkepticsGuideToThe21stCentury

https://www.youtube.com/user/RoadtoReasonTV

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/road-to-reason---a-skeptic-s-guide-to-the-21st-century

 

[ILove2Lurk]

. . .
Going Clear movie teaser . . . just remembered.

At one point in the movie my jaw dropped and stuck open for about 15-20 seconds.

So there are some thrills and chills along the way. For sure.

Some cool 50's Theremin music too, if you're into that sorta thing.

:wink2:

 

[Gib]

. . .
Going Clear movie teaser . . . just remembered.

At one point in the movie my jaw dropped and stuck open for about 15-20 seconds.

So there are some thrills and chills along the way. For sure.

Some cool 50's Theremin music too, if you're into that sorta thing.

:wink2:

Is that Volney with an Emeter? LOL

 

[Free to shine]

https://whyweprotest.net/threads/hb...ibney-going-clear.121403/page-18#post-2524215

Does this mean we can live stream it in Australia?

 

[Elronius of Marcabia]

[video=youtube;V7ynm-XHpQs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7ynm-XHpQs[/video]

Good video thanks for posting it

Check out the reporters face at 3:30 when she talks about the stations dealings with Scientology "they lovvvvveee to threaten"

 

[CommunicatorIC]

https://www.facebook.com/RoadToReas...207520000.1427433233./807131792705236/?type=1

Pre-Game Live Streaming at:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/road-to-reason---a-skeptic-s-guide-to-the-21st-century

 

[Teanntás]

[video=youtube;V7ynm-XHpQs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7ynm-XHpQs[/video]

Powerful - well done Megyn Kelly !!

 

[CommunicatorIC]

https://www.facebook.com/RoadToReas...207520000.1427433233./805324566219292/?type=1

Pregame show at:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/road-to-reason---a-skeptic-s-guide-to-the-21st-century

 

[Smurf]

Tony Ortega: ‘Going Clear': Sara Goldberg on how Scientology turned her own daughter against her

http://tonyortega.org/2015/03/26/thursday/

Pics of Ashley at her husband's FB page: https://www.facebook.com/mepstein22?fref=photo&sk=photos

 

[JBWriter]

From the entertainment section of HuffPo...

"Everything You Need To Read Watch & Listen To Before Seeing Scientology Doc Going Clear"

Link to entire article, written by Sasha Bronner: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/...tml?utm_hp_ref=entertainment&ir=Entertainment

The article provides direct links to each of the recommendations below.


To Read: Wright's Going Clear & The New Yorker's Haggis profile, "The Apostate"; Jenna Miscavige-Hill's Beyond Belief; Beck's interview with Vulture, John Travolta's interview with The Telegraph; and, Danny Masterson's interview with Paper magazine.

To Watch: Paul Thomas Anderson's film, The Master; Tom Cruise's scientology PR vdeo; Tom Cruise's interview with Matt Lauer;
David Miscavige's 1992 interview; John Travolta's 2012 'mest' interview; South Park's scientology episode; Co$ superbowl ads; and, Anonymous' video.

To Listen: Surviving Scientology podcasts and Giovanni Ribisi's interview on WTF with Marc Maron podcast.



Thus far, all 11 comments @ HuffPo are #TeamGoingClear.

If you follow any journalists, news organizations, or celebs on Twitter, this would be a great link to send.

JB

 

[CommunicatorIC]

Does this mean we can live stream it in Australia?

Not Going Clear. The links I've been posting for the live stream is for a PREGAME (i.e., pre-show) viewing party. That you may be able to live stream in Australia.