All Motion Graphics designed and animated by Konstantin Brazhnik

This was a presentation for Jeremy Gibson’s Game Design Workshop class of Fall 2011 at USC School of Cinematic Arts. We were assigned to come up with a downloadable content expansion that we could pitch in 5 minutes. Our presentation took a little inspiration from imagery in the news media.

URL:  http://www.mydoorstepdinner.com/

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URL:  http://www.brianharke.com/

I recently had the pleasure of watching a little known film titled JOIN US directed by Ondi Timoner (infamous for DIG! and We Live in Public).  The film was apparently released back in 2007, but got swallowed by the onslaught of religion-centric documentaries like Jesus Camp and their imminent flop at the box office.  Honestly, I don’t know who ever thought these films might have a wide appeal.  I saw and loved Jesus Camp, but anyone who saw it knew that a majority of this nation would either outright reject it or rather go see a Pixar or Dreamworks movie with their kids.  Trailing on the heals of these disasters, Ondi Timoner couldn’t find a distributer anywhere and eventually distributed the film independently.

Now, I am not saying that JOIN US is the national, 4-Quadrant hit that some people apparently thought Jesus Camp was going to be, but it is a fantastic film that got swept away by a widespread panic that reached even the most indie distributers over films with religious subject matter.  What’s sad is that although the characters in JOIN US indeed belong to a religious group, the film is actually about their awakening to the non-religious, universally cult-like mechanics of their organization.  These mechanics, as Ondi points out with a slew of former cult members and cult sociologists, are actually virtually identical in all cults throughout history regardless of their chosen literature (or lack there of).

Ondi Timoner - Director of JOIN US | Founder of Interloper Films

Unlike the mass gathering of the evangelical Christian sect of Jesus Camp, in JOIN US a small group of four families worship in a modest congregation in South Carolina.  The film opens on their arrival to Wellspring, the only accredited live-in cult treatment facility in the world.  With one of the most engaging, and sometimes overwhelmingly, emotional opening scenes in all of cinema, JOIN US plunges into the characters the same way that the filmmakers had met these individuals in real life; distraught, panicked, and on the run.  With a dizzying set of therapy sessions, group discussions, and interfamily exchanges, Ondi reveals the depth to which these families had to sink to get here.  Some of them are ready to pack their bags and return immediately to what others are describing as a mad man’s cave.

Through continued sessions with therapists and psychologists, we as the audience get to learn the classical mechanics of cult culture.  What is most scary is that each individual trait doesn’t sound that foreign or strange at all!  In fact, at every new detail I learned, I pinpointed a person or a situation in my life that contained similarities to these characteristics; from college fraternities to middle school cliches to Facebook.  One of the many gems from the 2 and a half hour long Q&A that followed was learning that this film was instigated with Ondi’s disillusionment at America’s 2004 decision to re-elect a president who had engaged us in a multi-decade military conflict on a lie and destroyed the hefty financial surplus that he inherited.  Ondi couldn’t believe her eyes.  She asked “Are we all in some kind of Cult here?”  Though she didn’t end up answering this question explicitly, she did stumble across an insanely interesting subject matter that probably shed streams of light on her query anyways.

Tanya is perhaps the most complex and ultimately lovable character in JOIN US.

What is perhaps most refreshing about JOIN US is that we witness a real and difficult awakening.  Ondi lets us in on some of the most intimate and shocking moments of these family’s lives.  Through a montage of home video, archival footage, modern day 8mm footage (that carries with it the archival quality), and veritae scenes we are brought so close to the complex relationships between the children, their parents, and the specter of a man that they escaped from.  After two weeks at Wellspring, the families gather the energy to finally confront their past.  Leaving the clinic, I felt the same uneasiness and lack of resolve as the characters only to discover that the battle has yet to begin.  What is strange is that in a lot of ways, I felt like this is where the film actually began.  For me, the second half of the film turned out to be the hidden gem that Jesus Camp lacked.  Before your eyes four families transform and confront the demons that have plagued and shaped them their whole lives.  For the first time in their lives, they learn to think for themselves and decide what is best.  The journey is truly personal and heart-wrenching.

My rating?  I will give it an arbitrary 5 stars out of 5.  Check out the trailer below and buy it on iTunes or through their website http://joinusthemovie.com/.

Also be sure to take the Cult Test on their website and find out just how culty we all can be