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Prophet’s Prey (2015)Prophet’s Prey (2015)

Prophet’s Prey (2015)

An incisive documentary on Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints cult leader Warren Jeffs

Crime, Documentary, History

best
THE VERY BEST

8.4

movie

United States, United States of America
English
Dark, Depressing, Discussion-sparking
2015
Amy J. Berg, Female director
Nick Cave
88 min

Synopsis

rotten tomatoes
imdb
wikipedia
Filmmaker Amy Berg sheds light on the sexual, financial and spiritual abuses heaped upon members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by their former leader, Warren Jeffs.

Our Take

8.4
Jenna Gordon

Prophet’s Prey is a documentary on the sect known as Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints and its leader, Warren Jeffs. Claiming to have inherited a direct connection to God, Jeffs has used this pretext to control a closed society of thousands of individuals on a shockingly personal level, as well as marry dozens of underage girls and harvest the community’s financial resources on behalf of “the church.”

The subject is deftly handled by filmmaker Amy Berg (Deliver Us From Evil). Here she presents most of the story via interviews with the people whose tenacity was instrumental in exposing  Jeffs. Woven throughout the film, too, is the haunting, disembodied voice of Jeffs himself, in recorded words to his followers, along with film footage of present-day FLDS communities. What emerges is the picture of a terrifying madman who still wields a disturbing amount of power over thousands of active congregants. Absolutely riveting.

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