Originally published August 2017

It's been a while, but it's time for another documentary double review feature! This time, I watched two documentaries from HBO. The first, Mommy Dead and Dearest is an interesting crime doc that involves one of the most bizarre and complicated murder cases in the 21st century. The other, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, based on a book of the same name, was an informative overview of the religion of Scientology, its history, and its dark culture.

Mommy Dead and Dearest

Mommy Dead and Dearest is an inherently interesting documentary due to the unique nature of the case it is studying. It follows the story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard and her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard. You may vaguely recall them from news stories that were prominent shortly after Hurricane Katrina. The two of them were in the news for a while as a survivor story. Considering the number of illnesses the young girl appeared to have, it was miraculous that she had survived her own body, let alone a hurricane. Nonetheless, it was one of the stories that the news liked to focus on due to the general sympathy and pride viewers would feel for a young child with so many illnesses to survive such a disaster.

Gypsy Rose was a young teen when I recall seeing her for the first time in the news. I remember being slightly surprised that a girl with that many sicknesses lasted as long as she did and made it outside at all. It was astonishing that she had made it to her teenage years. Still, she and her mother earned the sympathies of millions in the US after the disaster and they, along with many others, were given a second chance due to volunteer efforts and donations. Gypsy Rose and her mother, in particular, were the recipients of a new home in Wisconsin as part of a general welfare-type program. Wisconsin also happens to be a better state in which to build homes for people if you don't want it to get blown away by a hurricane, just a blizzard.

Well, the documentary does go over these little details eventually, but it doesn't actually start at this point in the story. It starts with the murder of Dee Dee and her daughter is a primary suspect. Yes, her incapacitated daughter who had been bedridden most of her life with terminal cancer, not to mention, paralyzed from the waist down, was considered a suspect in the violent murder of her mother. Well, it turns out, she can walk. Also, she's not actually sick.

Immediately this creates a wave of questions about who knew what, and what the intentions were of the girl and her mother: Were they committing fraud together? Did just the girl deceive everyone? Did she actually kill her mother? Who is the real victim here? Mommy Dead and Dearest considers all these questions and goes about answering them thoroughly. Extended and estranged family members are interviewed to ask about the victim in the murder and it soon becomes apparent that the daughter, though still very involved in the frauds, was also a victim in the story.

It was surprising to me how much my opinion would shift from what I was originally thinking, simply because as soon as I thought I had seen enough evidence to support an opinion, new evidence was provided to change my perspective. The terrible nature of the experience that Gypsy Rose had to endure for years and years due to her con artist mother's selfish need for attention and monetary support was powerful. I found myself not wanting to believe she was capable of killing her mom. It is, of course, more complicated than I'm making it sound, but there's a lot to discover in this unique case. For that reason, I'm keeping things vague and the review short.

What will you learn from watching it?

Mommy Dead and Dearest leans more on the entertainment side when it comes to its being a documentary. There are still a few things you may learn in the process of watching Mommy Dead and Dearest, though it will mostly be brief fleeting details about law, medicine, and psychology. This includes:

• Details about Munchausen By Proxy Syndrome

• The physical symptoms of a person with diseases like muscular dystrophy

• How a helpful organization of volunteers and support for the sick can be a significant roadblock to doctors

• How human sexuality and its desires can lead a person to do things they normally wouldn't

• How the law can still be effective in handling such unique circumstances

Entertainment value

Pretty high. If you enjoy watching detective dramas and crime documentaries that follow the evidence to solve a case, this will likely entertain you. Even if you don't enjoy the occasional binge of Forensic Files, you are likely still to be pulled in by the unique and surprising qualities of this case.

TL;DR (Conclusion)

Mommy Dead and Dearest is a fine documentary that might have been less worthy of your time had the case it was covering not been so inherently interesting. The editing is perfectly fine. The direction is good. It does a good job of telling the story of how things got so bad for Gypsy Rose, and why a girl like her might be compelled to kill her mother after years of medical torture. It doesn't stay 100% objective in its tone and presentation of the facts, but after seeing everything the girl went through, it's difficult to stay an objective viewer. This story is stranger than fiction and worth a watch.

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

Outside of what South Park taught me in their infamous episode that had the likeness of Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and R. Kelly, I knew very little about Scientology before watching Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief. Having put the time in to watch it, I feel that I have a much better understanding of the "religion," its culture, and its roots. Going Clear is a very informative documentary that covers a lot of ground with a lot of detail about Scientology through its history and practices, as told by former members and authorities on the subject.

Going Clear follows a more chronological structure in its storytelling. In fact, the movie can be broken up into thirds. The first third focuses on Scientology's creator, L. Ron Hubbard, his early attempts to found the religion, and his efforts to keep it afloat. The second third focuses on how the group strove to be recognized as a religion and the various tactics it used to get there. The final third focuses on the harsh and cruel behavior allegedly practiced within Scientology and its culture. These practices happen to utilize abusive tactics similar to the ones that notorious cults used to keep their subjects under control.

Of the two documentaries reviewed in this feature, Going Clear was certainly the most educational and informative, yet just about as fascinating as Mommy Dead and Dearest. Scientology is a rather fascinating subject, simply because there is no other instance of a faith that is as big and as popular in the modern era, in which we can also look back at its origins without having to speculate too much. This is because its creator was alive within the past 100 years. And what a creator he was!

Going Clear does not do much to paint L. Ron Hubbard in a good light. It mentions his achievements as an author, but it also makes it pretty clear how he was something of a con artist and compulsive liar who was constantly trying to boost his own ego and make some extra money. He was one of those individuals who loathed the idea of taxes so much that he worked feverishly at ways to avoid paying them. According to the journal entries of his ex-wife, he also had propensities for irrational and abusive behavior. By the time the movie finishes talking about Hubbard, it's difficult to like him.

The con that he was so intent on achieving was inventing a religion. Say what you will about Hubbard's personality and egotism, he was very strategic in his methods of creating a religion. He was just as determined in his strategy to invent something that would make him money that he wouldn't have to pay back to the government. It started out when he wrote Dianetics, a book that was supposed to be an analysis of the mind based on facts that he made up or skewed to fit his agenda. I don't think Hubbard had a degree in Psychology, but that didn't stop him from pushing his ideals and his book into the public light. Over time, as his movement gained momentum and the IRS continued to reject his appeals to consider his group a religion, Hubbard started the travel the world to avoid paying taxes and became a full-time tax fugitive and part-time missionary.

Despite how much it all seems like an elaborate pyramid scheme, the movie brings up a good point. Had Hubbard been a real con, he would have just taken the money he was getting from his followers and ran, but he didn't. At some point, he got attached to what he was preaching and he spent a lot of time trying to legitimize this religion he had founded, as well as sort out his own mental issues. Did he actually believe all he said? It's hard to say, but he certainly seemed to appreciate the god-like status it gave him among his followers.

Going Clear does more than simply talk about Hubbard and the origins of his religion, though. It covers the Hubbard-run era of Scientology and continues on to more recent events, dating back to the 80's. It discusses his successor and the "war" Scientology had with the IRS to become recognized as a religion in order to avoid taxes. It also focuses on the influence of celebrities involved with the group, the story of how Tom Cruise became so involved, and the various abuses that seem to take place within the establishment from the bottom levels of the hierarchy up to the very top. A lot of what is disclosed is told from people who had once been members of Scientology and have left it behind. These individuals, the famous and the less so, expound on the various strategies employed by Scientology to obtain and retain control, as well as how those strategies carry over into their lives today, post-departure.

What will you learn from watching it?

Going Clear is an incredibly informative documentary that manages to stay interesting from start to finish. It moves at a steady pace and lingers on subject matters just long enough to get a general understanding before moving on to the next subject. Despite its length, it never gets dull and it ends up being pretty easy to retain the information. Some information you may learn includes:

• Biographical details about Scientology's creator, L. Ron Hubbard

• The origins of Scientology and its "teachings"

• How Scientology manages to make so much money every year as fewer people join

• The cut-throat, cult-like strategies that are allegedly employed

• Some basic benefits of the law that religions get to enjoy

Entertainment Value

Another highly entertaining documentary. The style and substance of the movie helped keep me captivated in following the stories of various former members of Scientology. The details they disclosed about the religion and what they experienced within its proverbial walls were fascinating. It's definitely a more educational film that wants to share as many details and facts about its subject as possible, but that doesn't get in the way of being interesting.

TL;DR (Conclusion)

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief is an informative and entertaining documentary that kept me interested from start to finish. While many members of the religion deny the allegations that are posed in the documentary, if you interpret them as fact, it's all very startling and surprising that something like this would be so powerful and seemingly impervious to scrutiny. Having watched Going Clear, I feel that I have a much better general understanding of the workings of Scientology than I did before and I'm curious as to how it will continue to operate in the years ahead.

Do you agree or disagree? Tell me what you think in the comments!

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