Hacker Cinema
A
1998 · Film · documentary · 136 min
Part of The Aum Shinrikyo Collection
Directed by Tatsuya Mori
Roughly chronological, from 3/96 to 11/96, with a coda in spring of 1997: inside compounds of Aum Shinrikyo, a Buddhist sect led by Shoko Asahara. (Members confessed to a murderous sarin attack in the Tokyo subway in 1995.) We see what they eat, where they sleep, and how they respond to media scrutiny, on-going trials, the shrinking of their fortunes, and the criticism of society. Central focus is placed on Hiroshi Araki, a young man who finds himself elevated to chief spokesman for Aum after its leaders are arrested. Araki faces extreme hostility from the Japanese public, who find it hard to believe that most followers of the cult had no idea of the attacks and even harder to understand why these followers remain devoted to the religion, if not the violence.
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2 comments on Hacker News
It's a great record, and the chanting is impressive. The same people also put out a single for Aum Shinrikyo which was terrible (although the "A"[*] documentary and it's sequel are fascinating if you want to know what happened after their prophecy failed.)
You can also hear the Church Universal and Triumphant on Negativland's Escape From Noise as "Michael Jackson," giving a lecture about the evils of pop music (also on Sounds of American Doomsday Cults.)
[*] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(1998_Japanese_film)
Best way to understand Aum Shinrikyo is to watch the two ungooglable documentaries about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(1998_Japanese_film) and A2.
No different than other cults. A bunch of once aimless people who found purpose by subsuming their existences to the will of a venerated man (who teaches yoga in his apartment.)