The authoritarian mind. And the fucked up one.
And cults. There are hundreds and hundreds of them. And they all revolve around the same thing: rooting “I” in the Whole Truth. Here on earth and then later [for most] after “I” dies. It’s not what you believe that counts nearly as much as that you believe. In something, the one thing said to be really true.
Especially in the modern world. Here “I” is tossed and turned, yanked about, drawn and quartered…sent tumbling about in so many conflicting directions. Give it something to make that vertigo go away and the weakest of minds will almost always jump at it. Here virtually every aspect of your life is ritualized. You do what you do because it is necessary in order to be connected to the Whole Truth.
The “leaders” of course can have many motives: money, sex, power…or even actual “spirituality”.
This one is just particularly bizarre. And bursting at the seams with subtexts.
On the other hand: Lots of these folks are very intelligent. And they have insights into human psychology that is not entirely irrelevent regarding anyone. Oh, and some have motives that are, well, ulterior.
And then there’s the end of the film. What the fuck are we to make of that?! It’ll blow your mind. Well, it blew mine. I don’t know if it enchanted me more than it pissed me off.
wiki
Manohla Dargis writes in her review in The New York Times: “Nobody is gutted in Sound of My Voice, a smart, effectively unsettling movie about the need to believe and the hard, cruel arts of persuasion. But over time the men and women who meet in a mysterious house in an anonymous Los Angeles neighborhood – where they shed their clothes and cleanse their bodies in a ritual – are opened up bit by bit, wound by wound, until they’re sobbing and laughing, their insides smeared across the carpet.”
Did she see the end? Start here:
wired.com/underwire/2012/05/ … interview/
trailer:
youtu.be/W20Fl5m5FdM
SOUND OF MY VOICE [2011]
Written and directed by Zal Batmanglij
[b]Timothy: Be thorough with the soap.
…
Klaus: Now, let me say a few words to you new folk. No sudden movements. And no questions for tonight. The first night is always the most difficult. But as our other members can attest an unforgettable experience.
…
Maggie: Open your eyes I want to show you something. You see, the anchor is the sign of the traveler. And the number 54 refers to where I come from. You see, I come from 54. 2054. Your future.
…
Peter: What’s the matter?
Lorna: Nothing.
Peter: You’re, like, shaking.
Lorna: I’m not shaking, Peter. I’m a little racy.
Peter: It’s just a bunch of crap, Lorna. They’re weak and they’re looking for meaning. You know, those people are suckers. That’s it.
Lorna: But what if she is?
Peter: What? From the future? Nobody is from the future.
Lorna: Well, then who is she?
Peter: She’s a con artist. She’s dangerous. That’s why we are making this film. We have to expose her before she has all those people killing themselves.
…
Narrator: Peter Aitken likes math, reason, himself. Things he can count on. When Peter was 12, his mother was diagnosed with cancer. A longtime member of a New Age Cult she believed that modern medicine shouldn’t intervene in her faith. She died on the eve of Peter’s birthday, while they were both asleep. Peter awoke 13 and motherless.[/b]
Dasein: everyone of us has a backstory.
[b]Peter [into a recording device]: Maggie says that the future is already written and that her members are the chosen ones.
…
Narrator: Lorna Michalson. Lorna was left to an unchaperoned adolescence of movie premiers and club openings. Lorna had her first hangover at 12, her first intervention at 16. By 23 she was burnt out, tired of playing entourage. So Lorna cleaned up her act. Tequila shots replaced with wheatgrass shots. But in the end, it was one addiction traded for another.
…
Joanne: Don’t be worried. Maggie’s tests will get harder. But if you pass, then you were meant to be with us. Then you’ll be ready when it begins.
…
Joanne: We’ll be alright though. Maggie is taking us to a safe place.
…
Maggie: Do you know what’s in that apple? Logic. Bitterness. It’s intellectual bullshit. You’ve already eaten the apple. That’s what it means to grow up. The question is: How much of it can you get rid of?..How can we purge ourselves of shame, of self-hatred…and rise to our callings as chosen ones?
…
Maggie [of Peter]: Do you want to know what I see? An anal-retentive prick. Who can’t dance, who can’t breathe. Probably can’t make his girlfriend come because he’s so self-involved.
…
Maggie [to Peter]: Who took you’re power away from you? Who made you feel so powerless you’ve become obsessed with control? With thinking everything through instead of feeling anything. Who? Who hurt you so much you never wanna feel that way again? Was it your father? Was it your mother?
Peter [fiercely]: Shut up! Shut up you fucking cunt!
[Maggie doesn’t flinch]
Maggie: What are you hiding from me, Peter? Did she abandon you? She leave you to start another family? Was she a whore?
Peter: I’ll hit you. I’ll hit you in the face.
Maggie: What did she do to make you so angry?
Peter: Shut up. This is so stupid.
Maggie: What did she do to you.
Peter: She gave up. She died. I was a kid. She gave up. She died. Everybody happy?
[Again, Maggie doesn’t flinch]
Maggie: What happened next.[/b]
Then she claws all the way down to the bone. Or does she?
Lorna: I guess I’ve never seen you cry.
Peter: Those weren’t real tears.
Lorna: But they weren’t fake.
Peter: Yes, they were. They were fake tears. She’s a megalomaniac, Lorna.
Lorna: She knew things about you.
Peter: No. She didn’t know anything about me. She asked questions about me. She wanted to be right and I let her think she was.
Lorna: So all that stuff was…?
Peter: It was not true. Come on, of course it wasn’t true. I’m Sorry. I’m sorry if I scared you but I had to do what I had to do to get us out of there.
Now you are not sure where this is going.
[b]Lorna: Peter, I just feel like we’re in over our heads with this whole thing. We started out wanting to make a documentary on cults. And now we’re in one?
Peter: Yeah. That’s investigative journalism.
Lorna: But she’s dangerous, Peter. You said so yourself.
Peter: What do you want to do, go back to our normal lives? That’s fine, we can do that. I can teach all day. You can stay home and write and surf the web. But somewhere in the Valley there is a woman living in a basement who claims to be from the future. She’s actually amassing followers. These people who believe that she’ll lead them to salvation or whatever. And, yes, she’s dangerous…but we have to see this thing through all the way or we’re chumps.
…
Peter: Uh, why is Joanne teaching you how to shoot a gun?
…
Maggie [swigging a forty and lighting up a cigarette]: I’m from the future, Peter, I’m not a saint.
…
Peter [after Maggie shows him a picture of a little girl – one he teaches – in a school yearbook]: This is Abigail Pritchett. I don’t understand.
Maggie: I need you to bring her to me.
Peter: Uh…are you joking? What would you want with an 8 year old girl?
Maggie: Don’t worry about that.
Peter [flustered]: Well, theres no way that I’m bringing a little 8 year old girls in to this basement. That’s…
Maggie: Then perhaps you and Lorna should stay away from “this” basement as well.
…
Maggie: I just need to see Abigail Pritchett.
Peter: Why?
Maggie: Bring her to me and stay, or don’t and go.
Peter: You are asking me to kidnap an 8 year old child. I need to know why.
Maggie: She’s important.
Peter: How?
[long pause]
Maggie: She’s a very bright little girl.
Peter: What do you want with her?
Maggie: Just to see her.
Peter: For what?
Maggie: Because I need to.
Peter: Need to? Who is she?
Maggie: Abigail Pritchett is my mother.[/b]
Trust me: Abigail is a very strange little girl. I’m thinking: Uh, oh, is this heading down into the realm of the supernatural?
[b]Lorna: So?
Peter: So, she wants me to bring her one of my students…Abigail Pritchett.
Lorna: Did she say why?
…
Lorna: How did they even know that she worked at the school?..I think we should go to the police.
Peter [pretending to be talking on the phone]: “Hello, Officier Randall, I’d like to report a time-traveler living in a basement somewhere. I don’t know where exactly…”
Lorna: They want you to bring them an 8 year old girl. That’s kidnapping.
…
Lorna: Let me get this straight. You’re actually considering bringing them the girl?
Peter: No, No. But it’s a test. If we don’t do this, they’re gonna kick us out.
Lorna: Are you listening to yourself?
…
Peter: I’m willing to go all the way.
…
Lorna: Maggie. I see the way you look at her, Peter.
Peter: You’re kidding right? Are you really jealous of that fraud.
Lorna: Why not? She’s beautiful. Mesmerizing. In 15 minutes she brought you to an emotional orgasm that I have never seen in 3 years, Peter.
Peter: “Emotional orgasm”. What the fuck is that?
Lorna: You tell me.
…
Lorna: You know what I think, Peter? I think it’s you who is the fuckup. You haven’t logged tapes or captured any fucking footage in weeks. Yeah. You don’t give a shit about making this documentary. This is about Maggie. You’re now willing to do anything for her.
…
Carol: Lorna?
Lorna [startled]: How do you know my name?
Carol: I think I can help you restore Peter to his senses.
Carol [after giving Lorna a photo to look at]: You know her as Maggie. Her real name is Shelly Whipple.
Lorna: And who are you?
Carol: Carol Briggs. I’m with the Justice Department. Maggie is wanted in Sacramento for armed robbery and in Fresno for arson.[/b]
Okay, I never saw that coming.
[b]Lorna: I’m not walking back into a smakepit.
Carol: All you have to do is help us lure the snake out.
Lorna: I’m sorry. I am done.
Carol: Have they asked for a kid?
Lorna [startled again]: Yeah, a little girl.
Carol: That’s part of their con. Did they say what they wanted her for?
…
Carol: Can you keep a secret from Peter? Then I’ll tell you what they really want her for.
…
Abigail: Who is she?[/b]
Yeah, exactly.