Join Us (2007)

Director:

Ondi Timoner

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

There are thousands of cults in America, this is the story of one.

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Hypocrisy | Brother Sister Relationship | Mother Daughter Relationship | Faith | Deprogramming

Cast

Raymund Melz	...	Himself
Deborah Melz	...	Herself
Joaquin Sullivan	...	Himself
Liz Shaw	...	Herself
Tonya Rogers	...	Herself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Marshall Applewhite	...	Himself (archive footage)
Karen Chrisman	...	Herself
Marc Crisman	...	Himself
Martin Crisman	...	Himself
Sean Crisman	...	Himself
Benjamin Dwyer	...	Himself
Diedra Lee Dwyer	...	Herself
John Dwyer	...	Himself
Zachariah Dwyer	...	Himself
Jorge Ederly	...	Himself
Phil Elberg	...	Himself
Steve Hassan	...	Himself
David Koresh	...	Himself (archive footage)
Robert Jay Lifton	...	Himself
Paul Martin	...	Himself
Sun Myung Moon	...	Himself (archive footage)
Patrick Provost-Smith	...	Himself
Brandy Rogers	...	Herself
Dustin Rogers	...	Himself
Parris Rogers	...	Herself
Skylar Rogers	...	Herself
Travis Rogers	...	Himself
Trystyn Rogers	...	Herself
Rick Ross	...	Himself
Charissa Sullivan	...	Herself
Josiah Sullivan	...	Himself
Kristy Sullivan	...	Herself
Daniel Wakefield	...	Himself
Victor Wakefield	...	Himself

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Movie Connections:

References The Incredibles (2004)

Whole Story seems bogus Michael? Hardly!

his e-mail is in response to Michael McGonigle's comments about "JOIN US".

Michael,

While I found your response to be very well thought out and detailed, I think that you miss the mark on your analysis of how the parents could allow their children to undergo unnecessary beatings and other forms of abuse, with the excuse that they were simply following orders from their cult leader. You, in the end, feel that the blame lies squarely on these parents for allowing such acts to occur. You feel that there is no excuse for their failure to take action, or better yet, their inability to disobey an immoral order.

The power of the mind is incredible Michael. Consider the men and women who blow themselves up in order to become martyrs, as well as followers of terrorists who through following orders, commit the most atrocious of acts to their fellow human beings. These people have families and loved ones too, but yet they are willing to give all that up in the name of the faith. This faith, needless to say, has been acquired by merely believing the opinions of a few. The followers of Pastor Melz are in the same way long-time believers of his word, to the point of self-sacrifice. Also, don't forget that people like Pastor Melz often seek out the vulnerable and somewhat "save them" thereby earning their unquestionable trust and faith.

Mind control is real Michael, and so long as another human being is subjected to it, that particular person loses the power to think rationally, and can then not be judged in a rational manner, as you do. However, this isn't to say that there is no hope. Information is power. It is exposure to the outside world that gives a wake-up call to Pastor Melz's followers, who in turn begin to question his practices, and for the first time in a long time, think rationally. For many such people, it takes certain triggers or flags before they can "snap out of it".

In conclusion, while I find that you have certain valid points, I think you miss the mark when you deem it bogus that such events could actually take place.

Your thoughts......

Thanks for your informative and interesting post anyway,

Cheers,

Emily

P.S. I am currently working with Ondi, at Interloper Films.