As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

I haven't seen a documentary that crosses so many levels as this one - brainwashing, capitalism, religion, IRS wranglings, celebrity, psychopathy, abuse, deception and conspiracy - its all here in abundance. You can barely process the magnitude and implications of a moment when its taking into another equally as disturbing but about another angle entirely. I'm so glad that HBO and all involved had the balls and legal representation to produce this - and that Miscavige et al couldn't do a thing about it. The disturbing underlying implication is just how exploitable the human mind is. Once someone enters into a narrow tunnel of awareness, the installed belief systems can be engineered precisely to protect themselves - shutting out all interference and counter- evidence. That people like John Travolta ignore entirely the negative/thought-supressive aspects of Scientology in favor of their petty positives shows just how obtuse they are. The intrinsic need for power and status (Hubbard, Cruise, Miscavige) that some people have borders on psychotic in how it manifests.

Yes my summary is meant to mean more than one thing. Not sure if the Church of Scientology (self proclaimed I may add) can say the same thing about their beliefs and programs. But the documentary does point out many things that are wrong with them. And if you do a documentary, this one is a good example how to do it right.Of course a lot of things came together, former high ranked Scientology officials, who are not with the "Church" anymore. There are also people from Hollywood (Paul Haggis is the biggest name to come out of the whole thing and he's talking about his experience) in this. So while Travolta and Cruise did not comment or rather refused to be interviewed, you do see official clips, that do get commentary or stand for themselves especially in light what other things are being shown and discussed. Very informative and really well researched and amazingly put together structure-wise.Highly recommended and very interesting, even if you didn't care that much about them before watching this

If you wanted to know about Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism. You might go to a church, temple or mosque and speak to a cleric or preacher and ask for more information. They would probably give you some leaflets and pamphlets. If you were interested in converting they would ask you to attend some talks, visit some classes so you will learn more.With Scientology, it will cost you hard cash. Want to know more? We take Visa and Mastercard.Of course Scientologists are more subtle at first. I first noticed them in adverts in computer magazines for Dianetics, where you unleash the full potential of the brain. They had a picture of Einstein in the ads.First time I saw Scientologists it was in Hollywood Boulevard. They just kind of approach you by handing out leaflets. It is the first step in getting you to do some initial audits and then sucker you into buying their books and courses. They have a big building just up the road.Over the last few years, the organisation has been criticised by ex members, ex sea-org workers who have posted their critique online and on YouTube type video sites. Scientologists so keen to go on the offensive to take down dissenters have problems shutting down people in the internet age.Going Clear was an expose of L Ron Hubbard, the pulp fiction writer who embellished his own status and started a cult and planned to make as much money as he could and keep it.It was also an unveiling of David Miscavige under whose leadership they have amassed billions of dollars in assets and tax exemption status as they are classified as a recognised religion despite the bullying tactics used against the IRS and other government departments.The key revelations are by ex church members some of them who were high up in the church, even involved in high profile smearing of rivals and critics. The dirty tricks brigade of the church is really eye popping. I am surprised the FBI have not branded them as a terrorist organisation.With Paul Haggis, the Oscar winning screenwriter I was aware of his public falling out with the church especially as the Scientologists are anti gay and Haggis had two gay daughters which seemed to be the source of the friction.Their is always the suspicion that these vocal critics have an axe to grind. They are ex members who have fallen out. Some of them lied, bullied and deceived on behalf of the church. One of them publicly denied that the church beat and humiliated people to another documentary crew a few years ago and now admits he lied.The church was given a right to reply but they declined. Membership of Scientologists is apparently falling and dissent is growing and becoming more public.No doubt that this was an interesting and wide ranging documentary, maybe a little too long. I did feel that the focus on Tom Cruise did smack a little like character assassination by using clips to make him look weird. In essence it has the problems of a lot of documentaries where you feel it was slanted to do a hatchet job even though it was deserved in this case.

Scientology is a controversial, albeit not overly well-known topic in today's society. Many people ask if it really is a religion, and different answers appear. However, one thing is for sure—it confuses people. However, this confusing nature makes it, in a way, appealing. This is because people are interested. They want answers to their questions. This is what Scientology preys on.Going Clear, a documentary by Alex Gibney, is not meant to be an exposé. Instead, it is meant to give insight on what Scientology is about in order to quench the aforementioned confusion. The movie begins with many voices describing their experiences with Scientology. The sheer amount of voices is overwhelming, and in my opinion, really gives background to how many people were into Scientology. Throughout the course of the movie, many people give their insight on the topics of Scientology, and their relationship to the self-proclaimed religion is also mentioned so that the viewer can connect to them. The documentary starts off by talking about L. Ron Hubbard, giving background context to his life. The details of his life were shocking to say the least. With an abusive relationship with his wife, as well as constant threatening, emotional manipulation, and lies, his background is destructive and honestly scary.Wanting income, he created a religion, or what some people consider to be a cult. He called this religion Scientology. In this religion, people believe that people are "asleep" and they need to "go clear" by awakening themselves. To awaken, they go through auditing sessions, which are meant to help clear their traumatic experiences so that nothing is left in their unconscious. However, the sessions cost increasingly much, and slowly force oneself to reveal secrets so that they can be "relieved" of them. However, as they keep on paying more and more to Scientology and go deeper and deeper inside the ranks, they learn more and more about "Lord Xenu" and some of the more sketchy parts of Scientology. However, they can not leave the religion due to the secrets they revealed during the auditing sessions. If they do leave Scientology, they are threatened with these secrets for fear of them being released. The movie encapsulates the mental trauma people have gone through because of Scientology in an unbiased and concise manner. Both horrifying and genius, this documentary has surpassed by expectations. By providing insight to Scientology in a manner that can only be described as mind-blowing, this documentary allowed me to see inside Scientology and left me awestruck. In conclusion, I would rate this film a strong 9/10. With very little room left for improvement and almost no cons, I would recommend this documentary to anyone wanting to learn more about Scientology.