Holy Hell Thoughts

The movie I watched this week was Holy Hell (2014) dir. Will Allen. This film was about the time Will Allen spent with a spiritual group called the Buddhafest. I think the scene that caught me off guard was a scene where a member of the group recounts one of the experiences she had. She recalls the months where her father was dying and how the leader of the group Michel Rostand forbid her from seeing her father. She talks about how she would buy her plane ticket to go see him, then she would cry for hours and hours, before ultimately canceling her flight. This scene in particular made me feel just so heartbroken for her. This situation had happened decades before and yet you can see how it still affects her to this day. To the point where she had to stop talking to let herself cry. You can see firsthand how she still feels the guilt of this, years after. And that is truly heartbreaking. 

Something in Holy Hell that caught me off guard was the scene where they talk about “ The Knowing. “ The Knowing was Rostand showing the people of his spiritual group God. The past members explained what it was like going through The Knowing. Some compared it to being on a days-long acid trip. You actually see footage of the beforehand process of The Knowing. This was an almost vetting process, where you would see Michel and he would tell you if you were ready or not. The specific clips show the members going to see Michel alone and during that he would tell you if you’re ready to see God or not. You see these people walking away from Michel in tears. I think this caught me off guard because of the sheer amount of trust they put in this man. How they trusted anything he said without one single question. It is something that catches you off guard if you’ve never been in a situation similar to that.

Something that remains after viewing is how Michel Rostand is still able to get followers? At the end of the movie, you get to see Michel with his new group of followers that he has gained. Although the Buddhafest was not a documented cult case like The Manson Family or even The Children of God. There were still so many harmful accusations that surround both the Buddhafest and Rostand himself. It is just so strange to me that people would still leave their lives to follow this man. 

Including research in a summary could seem like a good thing but could actually hurt your summary in the long run. It could end up turning more into a review than a summary. If you get too into detail or add too much information that wasn’t in the film, it can change from a summary into a review. That is how doing extra research can sometimes hinder the process of writing a summary about a film.