Joseph Szimhart

I viewed this impressive, honest documentary after a reference to it in "Institutionalized Persuasion: The technology of reformation in Straight Inc., and the residential teen treatment industry" by Marcus Chatfield (2014). In years past, from 1986 through 2000 or so I made my living as a cult deprogrammer/interventionist, so the nuances behind the abuse exposed in this film were not beyond my comprhension. Over the years, I have interviewed and helped many former victims of teen "treatment" centers where leaders take on boot camp drill instructor roles. To be brief, to me the film hardly exposes the worst of what happened at Escuela Caribe and hundreds of "christian-based" schools like it. Yes, the staff references the Bible and posts Jesus as a "model", but what I saw as prayer amounts to blasphemy--prayer has no meaning without an expression of right action as a result. Escuela Caribe since its inception was just wrong. I commend then student filmmaker Kate Logan for her brave insight after initiating what was a positive approach to the school, then finding the "right" story by the end. Neither the Left nor the Right in government wants to touch this problem of "cults" and brainwashing as so much government, reform movements, and church activity is already rife with cult-clan-silo-partisan behavior. Any law that defined what an abusive cult system is would most likely backfire into too many aspects of society. Do not be surprised if your congressperson will not respond. What we have to combat this flaw in social relations are brave voices in education, good investigative reporters, and fillmmakers like Logan.

More than about survivable climate change, Don’t Look Up cuts to your personal death. The movie seems to further E Becker’s classic The Denial of Death and every human strategy to avoid delay prevent or survive (salvation, anyone?) the inevitable. I laughed a lot watching this. But, with Becker, the deal is this: What did you do to leave a worthy legacy that benefitted others?