The Profit.

thingy
SuperfanGold Member
thingy's picture
Posts: 1022
Joined: 2007-02-07
User is offlineOffline
The Profit.

I just found out about this movie so I thought I'd share it with everyone else.  Essentially it's a fictional movie that takes the piss out of scientology, and they got a court order to stop its distribution. 

Quote:
The Profit is a feature film written and directed by Peter N. Alexander. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in France in 2001.[2] Distribution of the film was prohibited by an American court order which was a result of a lawsuit brought by the Church of Scientology, although the filmmaker says that the film is not about Scientology. The Disinformation Book Of Lists and The Times have characterized The Profit as a banned film in the United States.[3][4]

The film was described by its producers as a work of fiction, meant to educate the public about cults and con men. It was widely seen, however, as a parody of the Church of Scientology and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. The main character L. Conrad Powers leads an organization called the "Church of Scientific Spiritualism", and many elements about both the Church portrayed in the film, and Powers' life have been compared to Scientology and Hubbard. The film was mainly produced and shot in Tampa Bay, Florida, and the cast included actors from the area and cameos from a few Scientology critics.

The Church of Scientology did not think favorably of the piece. Representatives from the Foundation for Religious Tolerance of Florida came to protest the film, and the film's producers asserted that they were harassed by Scientologists. Initially, representatives of the Church stated the film had no resemblance to Scientology, but later the Church initiated litigation to block the film's distribution. As a result of a 2002 court order from the Lisa McPherson case, a Pinellas County judge blocked further distribution of the film in the United States. According to the film's attorney the injunction was lifted in 2007, but distribution is still blocked due to a conflict with one of the producers, Bob Minton. The film generally did not receive positive reviews from local press, and reviews in the St. Petersburg Times criticized over-the-top acting, and noted that the director should have instead produced a non-fiction documentary piece if he wanted to educate others about cults.

Anything to further piss of scientology can only be a good thing.

More information.

Torrent.

Organised religion is the ultimate form of blasphemy.
Censored and blacked out for internet access in ANZ!
AU: http://nocleanfeed.com/ | NZ: http://nzblackout.org/


magilum
Posts: 2410
Joined: 2007-03-07
User is offlineOffline
It's a corny-ass movie, but

It's a corny-ass movie, but its jarringly anachronistic look is consistent with Scientology itself. FYI, the Zack Carson character is likely based on Jack Parsons, an aircraft engineer (IIRC) who was involved in an occult group called OTO (hmm, OT... OTO... I wonder... oh well!).

BTW, anyone notice the Scifag ads that are appearing on this site, on YouTube, etc? LOL.