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HBO: Why did you make this film, and pull back the
curtain, so to speak, on this secret world?
Noah Thomson: This is a personal journey. There were
questions that I didn't have answers for, so it
was a journey that I was gonna take. And
being that I'm a filmmaker, I figured I'd
document it with a camera in hopes that
other people would understand it as well.
HBO: The church you were raised in--and
eventually left--has been described as a cult.
Would you agree with that description?
Noah Thomson: I'm hesitant to call it a cult, although a lot of
people have in the past. I think it was a new
religious movement, or a sect of sorts. We
lived by ourselves. It was our own sort of sub-
culture, and society. I think that most kids
weren't told that much about the outside
world, and because of that they became
curious. And then I think you get to a certain
point in your life that you begin to question
things, and that's what did it for me. I
wanted, I guess, more options and more
opportunities that the group didn't seem to
offer. And in talking to other people I think
that that was one of the catalysts for a lotta
people leaving.
HBO: One of the things that you document so
interestingly is emotional fallout that many
people in that group experienced.
Noah Thomson: Well, the founder, obviously, was very
sexually charged. This was an era in the
family when there was a lot of sexual liberty.
I won't say that everyone in the group
necessarily followed these sexual liberties, but
there was an era where a lot of
experimentation took place. I know for a fact
it did not continue indefinitely. Kids of a
certain age during that era, a lot of 'em, not
all, but many, experienced advanced sexual
play or molestation, or perhaps even worse.
Statistically more boys committed suicide
from that group. And the women, a lot of
them become strippers and work for the sex
trade industry. But, I'd like to make it clear
that not everybody during those days, and not
everyone that grew up in the family
experienced that. But at the same time, this
is a story about the people that were hurt by
people within the group, including the
founder.
HBO: What do you hope people will take away from
watching the film?
Noah Thomson: As I said, this was a personal journey. And if
you watch the film, some of the questions
never get answered. I think the overall
message, if there is one, would be that at a
certain point you have to let go and move on
with your life, and not necessarily forget
about it, but learn how to deal with your past
and your history, and move forward and try to
be productive. I mean you can't get locked in
time. I think that some of the sadder stories
in the documentary are people that weren't
able to move past some of the things that may
have happened to them. Secondly, I think
that the message to parents, and people
within the family, that your kids still love you
despite what may have happened in the
group, perhaps they didn't even know about
it. I mean the group was communal and a lot
of different people took care of the children,
so, it's sort of like these things happened, but,
you know, we forgive and we try to move on.
This documentary is not an overview of the
entire group. You can liken it to the Catholic
church, you know, I mean they're all over the
world doing some pretty amazing deeds. But
that's not to say that some of the people in the
Catholic movement have not violated laws and
hurt people in the process. I'm not trying to
make a commentary on the group as a whole.
I decided to represent the downtrodden. And
that's what this movie is about.
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