The chilling legacy of doomsday cult-turned-domestic terrorists Aum Shinrikyo is now being captured on the thirtieth anniversary of their Tokyo assault.
Documentary “AUM: The Cult on the Finish of the World,” co-directed by Ben Braun and Chiaki Yanagimoto, tells the stunning story of Aum Shinrikyo, a bunch that was based by former yoga trainer Shoko Asahara. Aum Shinrikyo later unleashed a lethal nerve gasoline in Tokyo’s subway system in 1995. The movie premiered at Sundance in 2023.
The official synopsis teases how “Japan’s police and media turned a blind eye” to the rising terrorist group that started stockpiling weapons of mass destruction from the collapsed Soviet Union. The documentary is billed as a “potent reminder of simply how harmful unchecked fanaticism might be.”
The characteristic contains uncommon archival footage and an interview with one in all founder Asahara’s former high-ranking disciples. “AUM: The Cult on the Finish of the World” is loosely based mostly on e book “The Cult on the Finish of the World” by David E Kaplan and Andrew Marshall, each of whom seem within the movie.
IndieWire’s 2023 Sundance overview famous how partially blind Chizuo Matsumoto rebranded himself as guru Shoko Asahara and “preyed on essentially the most susceptible folks he might discover” to construct Aum Shinrikyo.
“Braun and Yanagimoto’s movie makes frighteningly clear that Aum was a neighborhood menace lengthy earlier than they turned notorious on the world stage,” IndieWire critic David Ehrlich wrote, “and the entire documentary’s most painful episodes middle on the semi-forgotten individuals who died earlier than the police have been pressured to take the cult critically; not a millisecond of this film is concentrated on the particular victims of the subway assault, however there’s a heartbreaking chapter about Yoshiyuki Kono, who was falsely blamed for the check run that killed seven folks (together with his spouse and two canine) in Matsumoto the earlier yr.”
Co-director Braun beforehand govt produced documentaries “Crip Camp,” “Hearth of Love,” and “The Satan Subsequent Door” because the Senior Vice President at Submarine Deluxe. “AUM: The Cult on the Finish of the World” is each Braun and Yanagimoto’s directorial debuts.
“This can be a very delicate topic in Japan. We wished to inform the story in the best manner,” co-director Yanagimoto mentioned in a press assertion. “From early on, we had a transparent imaginative and prescient stylistically, cinematically and story-wise of what we wished the movie to be. That didn’t change. However the way it resonates now with cult actions actually got here after we began. … I feel one of many classes we are able to take from that is that nearly no person was taking a look at Aum’s darkish facet. The entire fact was proper in entrance of us. And I feel that’s what’s happening in the present day. Whereas we’re speaking about this or that political motion, there could also be plenty of potential hazard. Media tends to be drawn to one thing flashy, to get extra readers or an viewers. There may be a lot distraction and we aren’t taking note of what we needs to be taking note of.”
Braun added of Aum founder Asahara, “I feel the reality is that he was pretty one-dimensional. There’s not rather more to him than hatred and anger. What’s extra compelling is the best way the world reacted to the manipulation he brought about and the chaos he sowed. The influence he had was so particular to that point in Japan. What he was saying at that cut-off date hit onerous for lots of people. It’s not really easy to place a finger on what made him charismatic. I feel he was very savvy, a conniving predator. His transfer to Russia is an instance of that — that nation had actually collapsed and he thought, ‘I can fill a void.’ If he got here alongside in the present day, would he have the identical influence? Most likely not.”
“AUM: The Cult on the Finish of the World” will hit theaters on Wednesday, March 19 from Greenwich Leisure and will likely be obtainable on digital platforms on Friday, March 28. Take a look at the trailer, an IndieWire unique, beneath.