This is less an in-depth investigation into the Church of Scientology than an entertaining but highly contrived string of scenes featuring Louis Theroux kicking an anthill and then watching the inhabitants react. Although he interviews several high-profile defectors from Scientology – most notably pugnacious former enforcer Marty Rathbun – Theroux’s approach is largely stunt-based. Using Rathbun as an adviser, he stages recreations of the world behind the fortified walls of the Scientologists’ compound. But to what end? It’s played more for humour than for the mounting discomfort generated by a similar technique in The Act of Killing. In the absence of interviews with current Scientology members, Theroux hovers around the entrance to the headquarters, trying to charm a few words out of the bristling security detail. It’s a device that owes a debt to Michael Moore’s bumbling everyman persona. Ultimately, this is an amusing, eye-opening film. However, the one thing we do take from it is that the Church of Scientology is no laughing matter. The definitive film on the subject remains Alex Gibney’s Going Clear.
