Children of the Cult

Refusing to let a story of heinous abuse die, this scalpel-sharp doc slices into the deep tissue of a (somehow) extant free love cult to find something seriously rotten beneath. Directors Maroesja Perizonius and Alice McShane investigate the Rajneesh movement, a cult led by a guru called Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (aka ‘Osho’), that spread its malignancy into more than 30 countries in the 1970s and ’80s. Osho and his orange-clad believers dressed up a culture of child abuse in the hippie trappings of mysticism and free love. Children of the Cult delivers a passionate #MeToo message through the testimony of those grown-up but still haunted kids. It’s not a fun watch but it’s a must-see for anyone into vivid, Louis Theroux-esque investigative filmmaking.