The series that will not please Jehovah's Witnesses
In contemporary culture, a return to fascination with the religious and its iconography is becoming evident. Rosalía and her album Lux have been the most visible and global example. But in recent years there has been a surge of expressions of liturgical inspiration and spiritual imagery in the world of fashion, advertising, and music. Sometimes with purely aesthetic pretensions and other times as an emotional resource to appeal to transcendence and feelings of devotion and ecstasy. Sacred language in a pop and kitsch version is conquering secular spaces. We even heard yesterday how a priest blessed the new RAC1 studio and recited the Lord's Prayer as if it were a broadcast from the Church.
This inertia contrasts with an opposite trend in the documentary genre, which is increasingly interested in uncovering the inner workings of religious communities with dynamics of control and abuse. The HBO platform is one of those most insisting on this critical scrutiny. First with El minuto heroico, which exposed Opus Dei; then with Marcial Maciel. El lobo de Dios, which recounted the atrocities of the congregation of the Legionaries of Christ. And now, newly released, Surviving Paradise. Beyond Jehovah's Witnesses. This new three-part production collects the testimonies of former members of this confession who have united to warn about the labor exploitation, coercion, and control they exercise over their members. As has happened on previous occasions, the documentary will not be well received by the Christian organization.
Many years ago, it was common for Jehovah's Witnesses to knock on doors to proselytize and sing the praises of a supposed paradise that would welcome their members when the end of the world arrived. They distributed a magazine called Awake! which, on its cover, depicted sunbeams emerging from between clouds, idyllic landscapes, and harmonious human communities. In Surviving Paradise, we discover what lay beyond that home evangelization work. The series, simple yet effective, is structured into three episodes and plays, perhaps too seriously, with this celestial aesthetic. The first episode explains the faith, hierarchies, and community life, to help understand the recruitment and isolation process of its members. The second shows the dynamics of surveillance and coercion, financing systems, and abuses. And the last explains the difficulties of disengaging from the organization and the fight in court.
Surviving Paradise captivates thanks to this narrative arc built from the protagonists' accounts, which progressively delves into the sordid and hidden side of Jehovah's Witnesses. It's like seeing the other side of what we've always heard called. In a time of religious fervor, it's good to touch ground from time to time.
