Raël: The Alien Prophet is a four-part docuseries that examines the movement — most would call it a cult — called Raëlianism, founded by Claude Vorilhon, also named Raël in the 1970s. He found the movement based on the notion that an alien being named Elohim is responsible for everything on planet Earth and the universe. His theory was mostly in line with the idea of intelligent design, which is scientifically based, but ascribes that everything on earth isn’t created at random, that there’s a being or beings behind it or designing it.
Opening Shot: A scene of a man clad in black, with a pendant that contains the Raëlian symbol, which is a swastika inside a Star of David.
The Gist: The producers of the series speak not only to Raël himself, but to a number of people who have been with the Raëlians, some of them for 30, 40, or close to 50 years. They talk about how they connected with Raël’s message, especially the science behind it (even if it was pseudoscience), especially when he went on a popular French interview show in the mid 1970s to talk about his theories.
In the first episode, the more idyllic first years of the movement were discussed, with the Raëlians talking about how Raël helped them open up and feel free, including exploring their bodies via public nudity — there was even an exercise where people examined their anuses! — and the establishment of a campus called Eden, where people could explore their humanity, sexuality, multiple partners, etc.
But Raël’s followers also noted that he would talk about his sexual conquests, and try to quell jealousy among the members, though he was a deeply jealous person. But the other aspect of the movement was Raël’s desire to promote human cloning, which is why a member named Brigitte Boisselier, who had a PhD in chemistry, rose through the ranks of the organization quickly.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? There have been many, many docuseries about cults, but the one that comes to mind immediately is Heaven’s Gate: The Cult Of Cults.
Our Take: Most of Raël: The Alien Prophet plays out like 90% of the cult-oriented docuseries we’ve seen, with interviews with former or current members waxing rhapsodic about the early days of the movement, before the people in charge grabbed too much power or their narcissism spiraled out of control. Then we start hearing about the darkness, the sexual misconduct, and even the people who lost their families or their lives due to their loyalty to the cult this movement turned into.
The only difference between this docuseries and most others is that Raëlism is a very European movement. There aren’t many cult series we’ve seen that talk about people examining their anuses in an effort to appreciate the beauty of their own bodies, and there aren’t many of these series that show people romping around a compound in the buff making love to random other naked people. Those scenes were slightly startling, but they were a good illustration of just how and why people continue to be loyal to Raël after all of this time and all of the controversies. There was something not just in his message but about the community that was being built.
We do wish the first episode took a little more time to have some outside observers discuss just what it was about Raël’s message that connected with so many people and why he seems to continue to hold sway with these people, despite the problems. It felt a little too credulous and reverent of Raël and his views, which made the first episode a bit monotonous after awhile. But it did do the job of setting up the cult’s bad stuff by giving us most of the “good” stuff (depending on your view of movements like this) first.
Sex and Skin: Lots o’ nudity in this show. At least we didn’t see people examining their anuses.
Parting Shot: Raël sits down for his interview and we hear him say, “I’m 74 and still breathing.”
Sleeper Star: None of the Raëlism members that were interviewed in the first episode stand out from each other, though they were all interesting.
Most Pilot-y Line: We did see a bunch of pixelated faces in much of the Eden footage, though their bodies were visible. Wonder how tough it was to get people’s permission to show their faces, and why didn’t the producers didn’t think that showing bodies without faces was just as invasive.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Raël: The Alien Prophet is mostly the same story we’ve seen before in other cult docuseries, but its European twist makes it interesting, and not just because of all the nudity.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.