Heaven's Gate: The Cult of Cults is certainly interesting, and will probably keep most viewers' attention. However, it does get a little bogged down in the middle, as it tries to give an explanation for the different focus of the group after the death of Ti. It's dealt with in a way that would suggest that everyday (for lack of a better word) Christians would have seen the group becoming more Christian-like. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, there's a point in the second part where religious scholar Reza Aslan says that after the death of Ti there were many more parallels with the Christ-story. He said the HG followers began to change the focus (based on the direction from Ti) and had to do damage control that led to cognitive dissonance. He then claimed that's what Christ's followers did when He died on the cross. Aslan conveniently forgets the fact that Christ made it clear that he was going to die, and then rise again. Jesus said that, and the prophets of the Old Testament said that too...that the Messiah would come, be rejected by his own people, would be sacrificed, and then would rise from the dead. Apparently Aslan has never actually read the Bible, especially the Old Testament. Now one doesn't have to believe any of that. That's their prerogative. But stating broad untruths isn't helpful to anyone. Perhaps Aslan should remember that. Now, other than a lack of focus in the middle, and the use of ignorant "experts" (I'm assuming Aslan wasn't purposely deceiving viewers), this was a pretty good documentary.
Update: This is for a user named profeshalice who made this statement at the end of his or her comment:
"If people want this to be more interesting perhaps they should look to fiction."
Fiction? Really? There are plenty of non-fiction stories that are very interesting. I think what most people were complaining about was the bias nature of the doc as evidenced by using a supposed "theologian" (Reza Aslan) to make comparisons between the beliefs of the Heaven's Gate cultists and Christians. The two do not compare, and the makers of this film (HBO included) should be more responsible and objective when choosing their sources. They're the ones who were pedalling fiction here.
Update: This is for a user named profeshalice who made this statement at the end of his or her comment:
"If people want this to be more interesting perhaps they should look to fiction."
Fiction? Really? There are plenty of non-fiction stories that are very interesting. I think what most people were complaining about was the bias nature of the doc as evidenced by using a supposed "theologian" (Reza Aslan) to make comparisons between the beliefs of the Heaven's Gate cultists and Christians. The two do not compare, and the makers of this film (HBO included) should be more responsible and objective when choosing their sources. They're the ones who were pedalling fiction here.