Join Us (2007)

Director:

Ondi Timoner

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

There are thousands of cults in America, this is the story of one.

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Southern U.S. | Religion | Mother Daughter Relationship | Ministry | Religious Abuse

Cast

Raymund Melz	...	Himself
Deborah Melz	...	Herself
Joaquin Sullivan	...	Himself
Liz Shaw	...	Herself
Tonya Rogers	...	Herself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Marshall Applewhite	...	Himself (archive footage)
Karen Chrisman	...	Herself
Marc Crisman	...	Himself
Martin Crisman	...	Himself
Sean Crisman	...	Himself
Benjamin Dwyer	...	Himself
Diedra Lee Dwyer	...	Herself
John Dwyer	...	Himself
Zachariah Dwyer	...	Himself
Jorge Ederly	...	Himself
Phil Elberg	...	Himself
Steve Hassan	...	Himself
David Koresh	...	Himself (archive footage)
Robert Jay Lifton	...	Himself
Paul Martin	...	Himself
Sun Myung Moon	...	Himself (archive footage)
Patrick Provost-Smith	...	Himself
Brandy Rogers	...	Herself
Dustin Rogers	...	Himself
Parris Rogers	...	Herself
Skylar Rogers	...	Herself
Travis Rogers	...	Himself
Trystyn Rogers	...	Herself
Rick Ross	...	Himself
Charissa Sullivan	...	Herself
Josiah Sullivan	...	Himself
Kristy Sullivan	...	Herself
Daniel Wakefield	...	Himself
Victor Wakefield	...	Himself

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Movie Connections:

References Braveheart (1995)

Raises some interesting questions

At what point does the spanking of a child become a beating? At what point does a community church become a cult? Those two questions are at the center of "Join Us" wherein disgruntled members of a small church in South Carolina leave the church and wish to file charges against their former pastor. The ex-members apparently stood by while the pastor beat their children while they watched, as the beatings were backed up by verses in the Bible. The pastor even recounts the Old Testament law wherein it was permissible to stone a rebellious child to death if necessary. The pastor and his ultra-faithful wife defend all the charges against them with the wife stressing that what they did may seem "cultish" to outsiders, everything was done with the best intentions. The ex-members go to a cult deprogramming center, said to be the only one in the USA, and are encouraged to ask questions and to think for themselves once again, instead of hanging onto the pastor's every controlling word. In an attempt to entrap the pastor into admitting child abuse one of the ex-members of the church goes to see him and his wife while wearing a hidden camera and microphone. Somehow the wiley pastor never cops to the charges while being recorded. His wife is heard in a recorded phone conversation stating that the pastor has stage one Alzheimer's disease and later states that the ex-members should leave him alone because of his "sick mind." Later, in a separate conversation, we hear the pastor declare that there have been some allegations about him having Alzheimer's and then adds that those who say that are "liars!" The look on the woman's face who heard his own wife state that he has Alzeimer's Disease is priceless.

It's an interesting movie about how easily some minds can be controlled and how some churches could be considered cults but it's definitely not totally convincing, but it does raise some interesting questions.