Prophet’s Prey (2015)

Prophet’s Prey (2015)

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

The Very Best

8.4

Movie

United States, United States of America
English
Crime, Documentary, History
2015
AMY J. BERG, FEMALE DIRECTOR
Nick Cave
88 min

What it's about

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.

The take

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.

Comments

Add a comment

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

Comrades, Almost a Love Story (1996)

Almost Hong Kong natives become almost lovers in this heart stirring romance drama

8.2

Problemista (2024)

Dark, weird, poignant, and funny, this debut feature by Los Espookys star Julio Torres is a modern parable of the American Dream

8.6

Spermworld (2024)

People take family planning into their own hands in this fascinating look into sperm donation online

7.3

The Guilty (2018)

A minimalist, razor-sharp thriller that will have you gasping for air.

9.0

White God (2014)

An unpleasant, bizarre, yet brilliant drama about the dark side of man and his best friend

7.3

How to Have Sex (2023)

A drunken summer vacation turns melancholy in this sober observation of teenage rites of passage

7.7

System Crasher (2019)

A tale of trauma and one of the most talked about movies on Netflix in 2020.

9.0

Falling in Love Like in Movies (2023)

A contemplative Indonesian romance film that rewrites and re-examines the genre’s conventions

8.4

Bray Wyatt: Becoming Immortal (2024)

WWE’s best effort to pay tribute to Windham “Bray Wyatt” Rotunda

8.5

Leave the World Behind (2023)

Shyamalan meets Black Mirror in this hugely entertaining, visually inventive apocalyptic thriller with a killer ending

8.2

Curated by humans, not algorithms.

agmtw logo

© 2024 agoodmovietowatch, all rights reserved.