Documentary Notes: The Source Family

First off, I think I am seeing a pattern here. I'm attracted to documentaries about music or weird people. That seems to be the running theme. . .

Now on to The Source Family.

This is a feature length documentary about a "cult" back in the early 1970's called The Source Family. They were a group of young, hip, beautiful people living the life in Los Angeles. It was started by a man named Jim Baker who created his own hedonistic brand of religion. The film documents the beginnings of the group and the awful death of this leader.

The director obviously had "ins" with the members of the group that are on camera. It seems for the most part a giant fluff piece about this history. However, through the second half of the film, it unwinds a bit and you begin to see the dark and creepy parts which led a lot of people to call them a cult.

One of the most remarkable things about this film is the amount of documentation that is available. They had an in-house filmmaker/photographer throughout the entire time of its existence. Also, Jim Baker and other members of the household were also musicians. There are hundreds of audio tapes from meditations and records from the band that was formed from "family members".

The director uses Jim Bakers voice through these recordings to engage the viewer with his personality. A viewer can somewhat understand why these people were drawn to this man. He was a very charismatic person who for those looking for alternative spiritual guidance could easily be swayed by his tone and discourse.

As I mentioned before, towards the end of the movie you begin to understand why this cult unraveled. One woman who was officially Jim Baker's 1st wife (until he declared that Polygamy was the way of their people) was hurt by his actions. He began to treat her horribly and eventually she left the family...

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I will write more soon. . . need to digest this a little more.