Director Alex Gibbney conducted detailed and complete interviews with eight former Scientology apprentices and used their oral narration as the main narrative of the film, interspersed with Scientology leader David Miskivitch and Hollywood artist and Scientology believer Thomas. Public speeches and media interviews by Cruise Mapother IV and John Travolta
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With the help of some precious video materials, Alex Gibbney explored the mystery of the founder of Scientology and found that he was full of delusions and conceit. He was first known in the 1830s as a prolific science fiction writer. However, in 1950, he published "Danity", and the book became a bestseller. In his book, he first proposed that "self-help" books could help with treatment. These principles were very popular until the 1870s. In Scientology, he used his cosmic flicker to package these ideas as core theories. He combines reality, fantasy and pursuit of revelation, and this fusion reflects the extreme instability of his emotions, and even reflects his violent tendencies-the film records a time when he lied to his wife that the child was dead, and then used this To manipulate his wife. at the same time,He is also a habitual offender who evades a lot of taxes.
Through something called "auditing"of the initiation ceremony established a Scientology. This ritual combines traditional psychotherapeutic links, Catholic confession rituals and the "101 room visit" depicted in George Orwell 's " Nineteen Eighty-Four ". During the ceremony, the "auditor" asks the participants and records their answers in a device called "E-meter" invented by Herbots, while the interviewer digs into his own inner secrets when answering And trauma. Haggis is a member of Scientology who has taught for 35 years. He left teaching in 2009. Haggis said that the process of "auditing" made him feel refreshed and happy, just like sweeping away all the toxins in his heart. Alex Gibbney believes that Herbert's so-called treatment is actually just a superficial imitation of Freud's psychotherapy. After being completely denied by regular psychologists, Herbots began to disdain to associate his therapy with Freud. However, it is mentioned in the film that Scientology's "audit" is fundamentally different from traditional psychotherapy: Scientology will use the secret information obtained during the "audit" to coerce members and prevent them from withdrawing from education. It is mentioned in the film that John Travolta is still in Scientology for this reason. As for Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, Alex Gibbnet released a video in the film-Thomas Cruise Mapother IV held a birthday celebration on board of Scientology. Cruise is considered a "faithful believer" in the dark, staying in the church because of his friend relationship with Miskevich, and knows very little about the affairs of the church.
The film also includes-The Internal Revenue Service of the United States does not intend to treat Scientology as a true religion. Miskevich asked his thousands of faculty members to sue every official in the bureau, so The tax bureau had to surrender and put Scientology on the tax-exempt list.
In an interview with Alex Gibbney, Matti Loughborough, who has been active in the center of the base camp as Miskevich’s right and left hand, said: Miskevich used Scientology's abusive rituals to oppress those who are loyal to him. The administrative staff of the People's Republic of China forced them to confess some unreasonable crimes, and would be humiliated by him if they did not do so
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