The Source Family

source: The Source Family

A bit of 70's nostalgia. It's very much like most cult groups around that time. A contradictory older man reinvents himself and is elevated by rebellious kids who believe they're on a path to a higher purpose. Of course it's all BS, it's an opportunity to take drugs, rock out, and have sex with strangers (under age strangers). No matter the warning signs the panties just drop. Back then there were so many groups/cults getting around it was almost a competition of "we're the chosen ones!" I think the best thing to come out of the cults is studying the the way youth can be manipulated with hope and promise. The free life they come for, offered by their leader, always becomes far worse than where they came from, in this case it wasn't able to truly get that far. Drugs and mantra go together like peas and carrots. But, you can't deny that feeling of family and love they created.

I found it messy, not enough explanation. It felt like a collage of facts with not much background or contest. I don't even start on the members...what a bunch of wealthy losers with no real purpose or direction. Very cheap documentary.

It happens that western mind takes some ideology from the east, form it in its own way so western people can understand it and then don't know what to do with the product in the end. The whole western concern is about doing but the eastern approach is more about being. This fellow got into some spiritual practices such as meditation and kundalini yoga but chosed to have a harem and as we see he didn't know what to do in the end so tried to finish himself by jumping from the glider. People like him pick, copy paste some ideology and gather some lost souls around themselves but nowhere are close to someone like OSHO. However life was much fun back then. As a documentary it was a weak job in my opinion.

This documentary is excellent as a time-machined view back to the 1970-1975 California lifestyle as lived by a strange cult that was financed by a successful Los Angeles restaurant. It is very interesting to see so much unpolished archival footage. Thankfully it isn't "animated" or enhanced in the tacky way that other documentaries have done (In The Realms Of The Unreal). Videos, photos, and audio recordings fill-out this movie so well, that the viewer almost feels as if they are a frequent visitor to the Source Family's housing compound. Many modern interviews, both respectful and regretful, make for great color commentary on the events as they were lived by the participants. And, amazing to see Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) attest to the greatness of the ?music? produced by this group. Songs are played and concert footage is shown (Beverly Hills High School 1973) so that the viewer can then decide on the musicianship. Both great and goofy, this movie has moments of clarity as well as opaque clouds of hazy gibberish. Luckily, the commune leader invested in recording equipment so that history can judge the transcendent quality of everything. Or the disposable folly of it all. But, there it is. A current Family archivist plays a major role in providing the raw materials seen on screen. Thankfully, the movie-makers do not inject their own viewpoints too heavily. Supposedly the Family numbered about 140, and only a fraction of that number is interviewed. Ultimately, this movie is well worth seeing for anyone interested in cults, leaders, charisma, messiahs, hippies, hucksters, astrology, orgies, the 1960s-1970s, free love, psychedelic music, communes, utopias, and hang gliding.

This movie kicked ass and I wish it were longer! I'm fascinated by the cult mentality. The fact that there's this hive mind of acceptance. As a true crime nerd I was shocked I'd never heard of this commune. I'm very excited to show this movie to my friends.

Just seems to justify their behaviours and the cults tactics. Sad that even now most seem to be still taken in by it all. This film is far not nearly critical enough and takes to long to look at the danger it was from the beginning. Cults and religions only divide people.

People always wonder, why would someone join a cult? How could someone give away so much of their freedom to get nothing back into return? A few minutes into watching this film and your answer will not be so clear. The Source Family was an attempt at creating a utopia. Between a famous health food restaurant on the Sunset Strip to an outlandish rock band and constantly being surrounded by gorgeous women, you can see how their leader, Father Yod, started to believe he was some sort of prophet. This isn't one of those documentaries made by people ready to laugh and not understand the mindset of the group. It was inspired by the book The Source: The Story of Father Yod, Ya Ho Wa 13, and The Source Family, which was written by Isis Aquarian and Electricity Aquarian and edited by Jodi Wille (who co-directed this film with Maria Demopoulos). Once the group flees to Hawaii, things get out of control, leading to their demise, as well as the death of Father Yod. All of this is captured on film, as the Source Family recorded everything. Even more amazing is that so many members of the group have gone on to lead amazing, fulfilling lives. Between the music, a large amount of actual footage and the way that it's all sewn into an engaging storyline, this documentary does more than unfold. It inspires. If I were alive in the early 70's, I wonder if my spiritual journey would take me to a group like the Process or the Source Family. When we were young, a journey to the Krishna Temple of Gold in West Virginia was enlightening and frightening at the same time. So were the many visits to churches and shrines across the country. At times, I wish that I could find that childlike wonder and worship that adulthood seems to take away. That's why I don't laugh or wonder why anyone joins a group like this.

The movie was interesting and lesson in that you shouldn't get sucked into these goofy groups with a charismatic leader. Reminded me a little of reading about Ayn Rand's in-crowd "the collective," until the end, then it reminded me a lot. There is something about getting people at a young age and feeding them some inside knowledge that keeps them for life. Of course the interviewees are self selected, I would guess there are members out there who feel fooled and ridiculous for falling for all of this non-sense and didn't want any part. At the end we find out these people are not overly upset being the minions of a kooky sex cult leader, they even use the knowledge gained to be life coaches and whatnot, furthering the unreality

It is only near the end of the film that you realize that its whole orientation is bizarrely supportive and even advocating in favor of one of the most well-known cult of the 70's. This movie is about a despicable crazed man, as poisonous and manipulative as most cult leaders, and at no point during the movie filled with a soundtrack of the trashy and unbearable hippie music the cult "produced" will a strong catharsis critique be heard against the pathetic group of young and beautiful brainless lost children lead by a middle-ages ex-convict who calls himself nothing less than "God".