Children of the Cult
A victim of the Rajneesh movement investigates the sexual abuse of the children within communes across the globe.
Image courtesy of Dartmouth Films.
This is not the first documentary to be made about the Rajneesh movement which was founded by the Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh who died in 1990. But what might sound to be a case of undue repetition is in fact the very reverse of that. The 2018 Netflix film Wild Wild Country was an exposé that took the form of a mini-series but in presenting a critical view of the cult and its emphasis on sexual freedom it said nothing of the issue which is at the heart of this new piece made by Maroesja Perizonius and Alice McShane. The focus here is firmly on the sexual abuse of children which was so prevalent within the movement.
Perizonius is Dutch but her mother took her to India at the age of six and for the next seven years her childhood saw her caught up in the cult. In 2004 she made a short feature about those years entitled Communeland and now comes this lengthier work. For this she and her colleagues (among them the film’s consultant producer Lily Dunn whose father had been in the movement) sought out others now anxious to speak about their own experiences of being abused and traumatised. The Rajneesh movement may have started in India but it has grown into an international body and has continued to this day despite the death of its founder although it now takes the form of offering yoga and meditation programmes at Osho Meditation Centres spread over eighty or more countries. Although Perizonius herself was introduced into the cult in India her experience of it continued in England when she attended its ashram at Medina in Suffolk where its highly sexualised world was no less in evidence. Medina is touched on here but the location most strongly featured is Antelope in Oregon where the movement established a community in 1981.
Those speaking up on camera include Prem Sargam who recalls what she was subjected to in Antelope. Others who tell of the pressures on them are anxious that the truth be known but on occasion when telling it find themselves emotionally overcome (that even happens to Perizonius herself at one point). Most of those speaking out are females introduced only by their first names but there is one male included too, Dickon, who describes what he went through when brought into the cult at the age of twelve. Other contributors include the journalist Win McCormack who wrote with deep concern about the movement and its work in Oregon back in 1987 and John Silvertooth who was the mayor of Antelope. In addition, we hear various people accused who when contacted either refuse to admit anything on camera or indeed at all while others simply put the phone down. Only one brave individual is ready to appear and to say to his shame that as a young man he was once persuaded to take advantage of the sexual freedom encouraged but never repeated it. However, the most startling on-screen statements come when Ma Anand Sheela, a senior at the establishment in Oregon who has agreed to be interviewed, refuses to accept any responsibility for the sex that occurred there involving youngsters. She puts it this way: "If it happened it was the children's choice”.
Judged as filmmaking, Children of the Cult is an admirably professional piece of work. The tone is exactly right, the issues stated frankly but without ever feeling inappropriately probing at the expense of the interviewees. Furthermore, any temptation to play up the drama when it is fully capable of speaking for itself is fully avoided. It might be thought that 76 minutes is short measure for a feature film but its length ensures that it never becomes repetitive and is always to the point. In this respect the directors and their editor, Ella Newton, must share the credit. It is the case that Children of the Cult is the kind of small-scale piece that would play just as well on television as on the cinema screen. However, what it has to say deserves to be said and to say it openly for the camera may even have given some ease to those seen here who are still evidently coming to terms with a childhood that involved them in behaviour beyond their control. As one person puts it, when you know of no alternative you have no means of recognising it as not being normal. Altogether this is a well-considered and intelligent piece of work dealing with these matters a way that becomes emotionally involving for the viewer.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Featuring Maroesja Perizonius, Prem Sargam, Erin, Sarito, Rosalind, Binu, Dickon, Leela, Deksha, Ma Anand Sheela, Win McCormack, John Silvertooth.
Dir Maroesja Perizonius and Alice McShane, Pro Ben Ferguson and Victoria Hollingsworth, Ph Jamie Welham, Ed Ella Newton, Music Andy Price.
DM Productions for IT-Dartmouth Films.
76 mins. UK/Italy/Switzerland/Netherlands/USA. 2024. UK Rel: 4 October 2024. Cert. 15.
