Top 10 Movies Inspired by Scientology
10.
Phenomenon (July 5, 1996)
Jon Turteltaub’s Phenomenon follows George Malley, a kind yet otherwise unremarkable
man living in northern California.
On the night of his 37th birthday, he witnesses a blinding white light in the sky.
Afterwards, he becomes a genius with an eidetic memory, extraordinary intellectual stamina
and telekinetic power.
He attempts to use his newfound abilities to help his neighbors and woo a local single
mother.
However, the government becomes involved after he accidentally decodes a top secret military
cypher.
When he is taken to a hospital, the true nature of his gifts are revealed.
It’s no secret that the film’s lead actor, Travolta, is a devout Scientologist.
However, the film also seems to reflect different teachings of L. Ron Hubbard, such as the freeing
of one’s inner mind, the ability of the “freed” individual to heal others and
a general distrust of the government and modern medicine.
Additionally, consider the fact that in Dianetics, Hubbard explained how devout Scientologists
have “complete recall of everything which has ever happened to him or anything he has
ever studied.”
Suddenly, Travolta’s perfect recall in this film takes on an entirely new meaning.
9.
Schizopolis (September 13, 1996)
More well-known for films like Erin Brockovich and Ocean’s Eleven, director Steven Soderberg
has also created a number of experimental independent films.
One of the most famous is Schizopolis, a fascinating film about the destruction of human communication
and the dissatisfaction brought on by societal conformity.
Told in a frantic stream-of-consciousness style, the film’s main character is Fletcher
Munson, an employee of Theodore Azimuth Schwitters, the head of a religious movement known as
Eventualism.
The Eventualism offices are depicted as a suffocating hell of office cubicles, pointless
busy work and abusive managers.
This isn’t too different from allegations brought forward by former Scientologists who
have accused the organization of abuse, citing “assaults, threats and virtual slavery.”
8.
Bowfinger (August 13, 1999)
In this film, Bobby Bowfinger is a wannabe film producer desperate to bring his dream
picture, a ludicrous sci-fi thriller entitled “Chubby Rain,” into fruition.
Problem being, his distributor won’t support the film if it doesn’t star Kit Ramsey,
the hottest action star in town.
However, Ramsey, an extremely high-strung and paranoid follower of a new religious movement
named MindHead, won’t agree to do the film.
So Bowfinger decides to shoot the film without his knowledge, making his actors approach
him on the street and shout gibberish at him.
Because MindHead is essentially a thinly veiled parody of Scientology, which purports to help
its members “keep in control” against neurotic delusions of alien invaders, Ramsey
begins to believe that he is actually in a sci-fi invasion film.
Writer and star Steve Martin has since denied that MindHead is based on Scientology.
But the comparisons between the two are impossible to ignore.
The most prominent comparison concerns how both MindHead and Scientology give special
attention to recruiting and caring for celebrities.
As one former Scientologist explained, “There were also numerous financial and course-related
benefits that celebrities received.
Money and the art of selling Scientology were crucial differences that the ordinary public
Scientologist experienced compared to celebrities.”
7.
Battlefield Earth (May 12, 2000)
Perhaps the most notorious film on this list, Roger Christian’s Battlefield Earth has
gone down in history as one of the biggest financial and critical flops in film history.
Based on the L. Ron Hubbard novel of the same name, the film follows a human rebellion against
an evil alien race known as the Psychlos, who had conquered and enslaved the Earth 1,000
years ago.
In addition to starring noted Scientologist John Travolta, the film also parallels many
of Scientology’s teachings.
The most prominent is that mankind has been enslaved by an alien species and that humanity
must rise up against them and free themselves.
It’s also worth mentioning how the alien species’ name is a transparent reference
to psychiatry, a practice which Scientology teaches is destructive.
The Church of Scientology has even gone so far as to accuse psychiatry of being at the
root of most of the world’s problems, such as terrorism.
As one Scientology museum claims, “Research into the engineers of terror atrocities show
a dominance of psychiatric and psychological practicing and the typical tools of their
trade: drugs and coercive methods.”
But even that doesn’t match the vitriol with which L. Ron Hubbard savaged psychiatrists,
writing in a 1968 press release: “[Psychiatrists] act like the mad scientists in a bad old-time
movie.
The true medical doctor is ashamed to be associated with them.
The psychiatric idea of man is a Godless, soulless piece of meat.”
Reading between the lines a bit, we’re guessing he didn’t like them.
6.
The Profit (April 1, 2001)
Peter N. Alexander’s The Profit is a parody of Scientology that centers around L. Conrad
Powers, the leader of the “Church of Scientific Spiritualism.”
The film mocks several different aspects of Scientology, such as the e-meter (a tool used
during “auditing,” a form of counseling,) the organization’s clashes with the IRS,
and their use of prominent celebrities as a means to gain support.
However, the film’s thinly-veiled parodies were a little too thinly-veiled, and didn’t
go unnoticed by Scientology.
The Church successfully filed a lawsuit, which prohibited the film from being distributed
within the United States.
5.
The Bridge (September 10, 2006)
Much like The Profit, this entry doesn’t have a happy ending.
Unlike it however, Brett Hanover’s The Bridge did not bother with parody or satire.
Instead, it directly confronted the Church, telling the story of Ronnie Miscavige, a disillusioned
member of Sea Org (a section of the Church of Scientology composed of its most committed
members.)
The film was made with the help of former Scientologists and was extremely critical
of the Church.
However, after the film was released Hanover removed it from the Internet and withdrew
his support of it.
MSNBC journalist Mark Bunker said that it appears that Scientology had managed to “coerce”
Hanover into silence.
4.
Until Nothing Remains (March 31, 2010)
Niki Stein’s Until Nothing Remains is a German film about a couple who get recruited
into Scientology, get brain-washed and become financially devastated.
Apparently based on the real-life experiences of a German convert, the film was a major
hit on German television, pulling in well over 8 million viewers on the day it debuted.
Naturally, the film was opposed by the Church, who managed to broadcast a 40-minute rebuttal
the day after the film debuted.
3.
The Master (September 1, 2012)
Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master examines a young World War II veteran named Freddie
Quell who falls in with a religious movement referred to as “The Cause.”
The movement’s teachings are a dead ringer for L. Ron Hubbard and the Church of Scientology,
naturally.
Anderson himself confirmed this by stating “this flamboyant character — a self-described
author, sea captain, physicist, and philosopher — was inspired by L. Ron Hubbard.”
Additionally, Phoenix gives one of the performances of his career in this fascinating film that
examines just how movements like Scientology can grow from crude movements to worldwide
organizations.
2.
Oblivion (April 10, 2013)
One of Hollywood’s most prominent Scientologists is none other than Tom Cruise.
In Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion, he plays Tech 49 Jack Harper, a repairman who works
to maintain fusion power generators in a post-apocalyptic Earth ravaged by an alien invasion.
However, it turns out that he is the brainwashed clone of an Earth astronaut, and the generators
that he repairs are actually controlled by a massive, alien artificial intelligence that
has enslaved most of mankind.
The idea of an brainwashed humanity enslaved by aliens is, of course, one of Scientology’s
main features.
The original transcript by L. Ron Hubbard explaining the OT III stage of Scientology
included this anecdote: “[Xenu] caused people to be brought to Teegeeack (Earth) and put
an H Bomb on the principal volcanoes (Incident 2) and then the Pacific area ones were taken
in boxes to Hawaii and the Atlantic Area ones to Las Palmas and there “packaged”…Various
misleading data by means of circuits etc. was placed in the implants.”
1.
After Earth (May 31, 2013)
Based on a story by lead actor Will Smith, After Earth follows a father and son tandem
who crash-land on Earth, a thousand years after humanity was forced to flee from the
planet.
When Smith is badly injured in the crash, his son must find the missing emergency beacon
so they can be rescued.
However, in the thousand years since humanity left Earth, every living thing on the planet
has evolved into monstrous killing machines, which tends to muddle up plans significantly.
Many have argued that the film demonstrates teachings and imagery associated with Scientology.
As The Sun’s Grant Rollings explains, “The film’s tag ‘Danger is real, fear is a
choice’… may be a first clue to the Scientology subplot.
For bottling up fear and emotion is something that former Scientology admit they were encouraged
to do.”
Claims that the film may be influenced by Scientology could have some veracity, considering
Smith’s ties to
the organization.