Remember the south London slavery case that came to light in 2013? Maoist Aravindan Balakrishnan, “Comrade Bala”, had kept several women prisoner in a house in Lambeth for decades, brainwashing them and subjecting them to emotional and physical abuse. Now, filmmaker Vanessa Engle has made a documentary about it, The Cult Next Door (BBC2), which traces the story back to its origins in the 1970s, and tries to make some kind of sense of it. And it’s extraordinary.
Well, it’s an extraordinary story. But the documentary adds a lot more to what we already know, helps us to understand how this could have happened.
Engle has exclusive interviews with two of the three woman who escaped from the house. She is excellent – gently gaining their trust, while probing and being thorough. When there’s humour, she and her film aren’t afraid to acknowledge it. For instance, the story of the pizza delivery man with the wrong address who was, Bala said, the fascist state trying to provoke him and on which he unleashed the Kobe earthquake as punishment. But when more rigorous questioning is required, such as trying to find out whether one of the women, Aisha Wahab, was complicit in the abuse, Engle doesn’t hold back.
Aisha, now 72, originally from Malaysia, comes across as naive, vulnerable and exploitable – a prime target for brain-washing. The other woman, now called Katy Morgan-Davies, has a remarkable story. She is the daughter of Balakrishnan and another of his followers/victims, Sian, who died when Katy was 14. Born into captivity, for the first 30 years of her life, Katy knew no parental love, or freedom, school or friends. The people from the charity that organised the escape say that when she got out, her communication skills were equivalent to that of a 10- or 11-year-old, and her practical skills more like those of a six- or seven-year-old.
And yet, here she is today, looking after herself, at college, not just willing to talk about her experience, but able to do so candidly and articulately. And more embarrassed than angry. Suffering, and psychologically damaged, I’m sure, but there is no hatred or bitterness towards her father/captor, with whom she would like to be reconciled one day. An amazing triumph of magnanimity and humanity.
Engle speaks to other people, too, to fill in the gaps in the story. They are a colourful bunch. There’s the former Trotskyist, Paul, who is exactly how you would expect and want a former Trotskyist to be. And Sally Unwin, the old school (Cheltenham Ladies College) friend of Katy’s mother, who didn’t follow the same path as her friend. And Jon, the former copper, who told Balakrishnan: “I’m going to be watching you,” although clearly not closely enough, Jon, and raiding and closing down Bala’s Workers’ Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought only drove him and it underground. And Peter the Irish neighbour with the neat lawn, breaking down at the thought that there was a child held captive in the house next door.
Jesus, it does make you think. I’m pretty sure my immediate neighbour is not a pseudo-religious cult leader, because, well, he’s a friend, I’ve been round there many times and I have never seen any sign of any people who have been brainwashed or are being held against their will. But the house beyond that, with the curtains always closed and the outsize garden shed, that one might need some investigation.
Fortitude (Sky Atlantic) returns for a second series. But is there anyone left alive in this sinister Arctic outpost? Weren’t they all killed off, by deadly infections, parasitic prehistoric wasps and – mainly – by each other?
Sofie Gråbøl is still here, playing the governor, trying to keep some sort of order in the mayhem. And Dennis Quaid as a trawlerman is the latest big name in the cast. He won’t last long; they tend not to. In this opener, there is historic baby-eating, a spooky character who can’t be shot, supermarket violence and a rare red “blood aurora” that seems to send everyone madder than they already are. Fortitude gives off the feeling that it doesn’t know what it’s about or what’s going on or where it’s going, so what hope is there for the rest of us? I think it’s mainly about the creation of a chilling, killing atmosphere – a “blood aura” maybe. Quite good fun, but utterly bonkers.
