Wild Wild Country

Wild Wild Country

TV-MA

netflix

Almost too outrageous to be true – this captivating true crime docuseries tells the unlikely story of an Indian cult in America

The Very Best

9.8

TV Show

United States of America
English
Crime, Documentary
2018
CHAPMAN WAY, MACLAIN WAY
George Meredith, Ma Anand Sheela, Osho
67 min

What it's about

When a controversial cult leader builds a utopian city in the Oregon desert, conflict with the locals escalates into a national scandal.

The take

Wild Wild Country follows the relocation of a hippie cult from India to Oregon in 1981. You haven't heard of Wasco Country? Nor had anybody else back then. This ghost town with a handful of god-fearing inhabitants, soon became Rajneeshpuram, the cult's new homestead, home to a thousand disciples, and the subject of nationwide media attention. Spoiler: the town's old residents did not think much of it.

Will there be debaucherous orgies, long-haired drop-outs, preaching and chanting? Yes. But, through historical footage and interviews with contemporaries, including Ma Anand Sheela, the power-hungry secretary of the orange-clad guru, you will also be absorbed by chemical weapons and attempted murder, one of the biggest immigration fraud case in US history, and, of course, the mysterious and not-so-mysterious ways that a charismatic cult attracts and manipulates its followers. Across six one-hour episodes, this Netflix miniseries by brothers Maclain and Chapman Way gives a captivating, exhaustive, and powerful account of one of the stranger moments in American media history.

Comments

Incredible. It’s more thrilling than most thrillers, and yet it has the added value of a true sociological / historical study. The Duplass brothers are geniuses.

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