In a few seconds, there is something to be caught up in: a dynamic montage, testimonials each more incredible than the other, the depths of a harsh American state and cowboy hats… But above all, a dark story of fundamentalist and polygamous Mormon movement (The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), whose multimillionaire leader allegedly manipulated an entire community, exploiting women and children, in particular through forced marriages and sexual violence. Keep Sweet: Pray and Obeyor “Pray and shut up” in VF, is the new documentary series from Netflix which is causing a lot of reaction on social networks.
It’s not the only documentary based on stories of cults, gurus, or fuzzy movements that Netflix has produced and uploaded to its platform. In recent years, documentaries based on real events have been a huge success, from the tinder scammer to Fyre-Festival Passing by Gregory, on the famous French news item. Spectators are passionate about news items, sordid stories, and even more that includes the paranormal or the incomprehensible, such as stories centering on cults and spiritual movements.
Why are we fascinated by these stories?
To understand this enthusiasm, we must return to the very essence of these marginal movements, whether sectarian, spiritual or conspiratorial. “When we see this type of movement, we find these people a bit eccentric: we say to ourselves that they lack knowledge, a critical sense. As if to believe in the incredible, one had to be a diminished human being… Which is false” analyzes Romy Sauvayre, sociologist of science and belief, professor at Clermont Auvergne University and at the CNRS. On social networks, for several years, fashion has been for True Crime, these YouTube videos or podcasts relating various facts and stories of serial killers. According to the sociologist, this attraction for sectarian movements stems from the same fascination: “Anything that comes out of the norm is challenging”.
The craze is double when it includes sordid stories, notably of pseudo-healers, sexual violence, macabre rituals. “The manipulator, in general, has always fascinated. Psychology has been interested in it since the 1950s! To be manipulated is to allow oneself to be guided against one’s well-being and one’s rationality,” recalls Romy Sauvayre. Often, these documentaries are based on stories that are more than twenty years old, “the generation effect makes it possible to forget, and now we can talk about it again,” explains the sociologist. If we add to that a charismatic character, and an effective narration, it’s bingo assured of good news.
Netflix-style storytelling
Because we don’t tell a story on Netflix like in a classic television show. The format of the documentaries produced by the platforms is calibrated to hold the attention of the spectators and keep them until the end, by adding entertainment to reality. The editing is thus super fast and meticulous, reconstructions are sometimes set up, and testimonies mingle with archive images for more realism.
“Testimonials in particular make things more real, and therefore more immersive,” notes Romy Sauvayre. If we add already extraordinary stories, playing on the fears and existential questions of human beings (life, death, love, religion, money), we have all the elements to obtain a cultural production that will fascinate the spectators. However, the narration and editing of these documentaries is the result of a bias: many people had criticized the narration of the documentary on little Grégory, accusing him of giving an opinion on the presumed culprit, while the The case has still not been clarified by the investigators. We must therefore continue to take these documentaries for what they are, that is to say a cultural work with a situated point of view.
And now, what are we looking at?
This article may have revived your desire to immerse yourself in extraordinary true stories, from news items to investigations that are hard to believe. Small selection of Netflix documentaries that caught our interest
Keep Sweet: Obey and Prey
Dozens of young girls in pink dresses, with their hair dressed to the nines, rescued from a ranch in the southern United States. And at its head, a polygamous fundamentalist leader who manipulated and abused hundreds of people for more than thirty years. This documentary mini-series in several episodes is chilling, and fed with archive footage and extensive testimonials.
Our Father to All (Our Father)
One day, a young American decides to take a DNA test… And finds herself with more than ten half-brothers and half-sisters decimated in the country. Quickly, they realize that they have one thing in common: they are all the result of artificial insemination, practiced by one and the same doctor.
The Keepers
This is the story of two fifties who try, thanks to a Facebook group and their knowledge of budding detectives, to elucidate the murder of one of their former teachers, a nun in a school for young girls. And who discover, along the way, many hidden secrets. Warning, this documentary contains scenes of sexual violence.
The Kings of the Scam
He is a character like you rarely meet: Marco Mouly, sometimes gambler, sometimes crook, with a well-asserted gab, is one of the kings of the Belleville district. This mind-blowing documentary shows all the tricks of more than fifty years of more or less well concealed scams. We laugh a lot, and we can even find ourselves having a little empathy for someone who has been in prison for several years.
Wild Wild Country
This time, we go to yoga, positive energies and bioterrorism: the documentary Wild Wild Country looks back at the installation of guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his thousands of disciples in a conservative village in the United States.
The Women and the Assassin
A French story to finish, and not the most cheerful: that of the serial killer from eastern Paris Guy Georges, who killed and raped several young girls in the years 1980 to 1990. The documentary follows his capture through the figure of two women, one a police chief, and the other the mother of one of the victims. Please note that this documentary deals with issues of sexual violence.