"Holy Hell"

I watched the documentary "Holy Hell" directed by Will Allen. Will Allen was a member of a cult named the Buddhafield for about 20 years of his life. While he was in the group he filmed their experiences.

1. The scene that got to me the most was the one about the "Knowing" ceremony that took place after 1989. The leader of the cult, Michel, set himself up on a makeshift throne in the middle of the forest. The members came to him one by one to ask him if they were ready for receive the "Knowing." He promised those that were ready a personal encounter with God. Those that weren't ready were simply sent away. The ones who he did perform the ceremony with were transformed. The way he was able to manipulate these people was unbelievable. That was when I fully understood that the Buddhafield was a cult. I also got past the point of considering Michel to be a joke to despising him. It was extremely disturbing to see the power he had over the group.

2. I was surprised by how long it took members of the group to realize that Michel was orchestrating all of this for his ego and personal benefit. Michel seemed like he had good intentions while the group was in West Hollywood but, he started to lose it even more when the group received attention from the Cult Awareness Network. I figured that many of the members would leave the group after Michel left them for months to find a new place for them to live. I couldn't believe that once he decided their new place was going to be Austin, Texas so many of them just dropped everything to follow him. Andres, as he was called then, was forcing people to basically be his servants and they even built him his own theatre for his ballets. The members of the group that were interviewed in the film all described in one way or another that they knew this group wasn't what they had signed up. Despite that, many of them stayed with Andres until they fell apart around 2006.

3. I am still questioning how Michel/Andres was able to manipulate them without using drugs. The members believed they were having divine experiences that they could only have if they were with Michel. To me it was obvious that Michel was a fraud but he had such an intense way of controlling the members. The people that were interviewed all noted that they weren't drinking alcohol or using hallucinogens.

I was left uneasy by how Michel forced women in the group to get abortions if they got pregnant. Despite that he was discouraging the members' sexuality, from the very early years Michel was practically raping several of the men during weekly therapy sessions that they paid $50 a week for. A lot of the members came in to the Buddhafield because they were trying to overcome things that they lived through. Under Michel's guidance they suffered even more psychological trauma.

Edit:

• Is there any legal action that can be taken against cult leaders? 
• Were there any members that didn't have any friends or family willing to help them after they left the Buddhafield? How successful were they at functioning without the group?
• Allen included original footage that he shot while he was in the Buddhafield. Did Michel or other members (not the ones interviewed in the film) get a say in what was shown?
• I would like to find out more about the Cult Awareness Network. If Michel was so sure that they weren't a cult, why was he so fearful of them?
• How were there members that decided to stay after all the allegations about Michel were confirmed? There were multiple men that came forward about Michel forcing them to have sex and his pornography films were found. How were they able to ignore that enough to stay?