Sect, aliens, cloned baby… As chilling as it is fascinating, the documentary series “Raël, the prophet of the extraterrestrials” takes Netflix subscribers back to the heart of the movement and its influence.
What is it about ?
Followers, detractors and Raël himself are interviewed in this documentary series which follows the evolution of a religion inspired by extraterrestrials which has become a controversial sect.
Raël, the prophet of extraterrestrials, a documentary written by Alexandre Ifi and directed by Antoine Baldassari.
It’s worth checking out ?
For those under thirty, the name Raël means little. However, from the 1980s, he became one of the most famous media personalities in France.
Real name Claude Vorilhon, this man of a thousand lives – he was first a singer, then a journalist – gained public notoriety when he claimed to have encountered, twice, the Elohim, a race of extraterrestrials.
From this meeting a mission was born, that of making their existence known throughout the world. From then on, Claude Vorilhon called himself Raël and created his own movement to bring together those who would be tempted to believe that an extraterrestrial form was at the origin of life on Earth.
The real Raël found
We are then in the mid-seventies and the sect madness, increasingly important across the Atlantic, is gaining momentum in France. After publishing several books on his interactions with aliens, Raël became a television phenomenon.
The channels, which benefit from it, do not hesitate to invite him on several occasions, still unaware that the Raelian movement is only just beginning.
Netflix
In the style of Wild Wild Country, this Netflix documentary looks back on the history of this sect which continues, even today, to be talked about. Director Antoine Baldassari and the author Alexandre Ifi met disciples, opponents and even went so far as to find the real Raël, who has completely disappeared from the media for years, on a Japanese island.
As if you were there
With the help of a large number of archive images and striking testimonies, this investigation divided into four episodes delivers a chilling look at the power of control and that of belief. All the documentation work places the viewer at the heart of this movement, as if they were there, discovering its rituals during the gatherings.
In addition to the complex figure of the leader Raël, the series focuses, through its third episode, on Brigitte Boisselier, the guru’s right arm, known for her role in the affair of a cloned baby who, at the beginning of the 2000s , had stunned the United States.
Rael, the prophet of extraterrestrials sheds light and perspective on one of the largest sectarian movements in France. The documentary, fascinating from start to finish, is not to be missed under any circumstances.
Rael, the Prophet of Extraterrestrials is available on Netflix.