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- Netflix
- Mar 16, 2018
- Netflix
- Mar 16, 2018
Summary The Duplass brothers-produced six-part documentary series about an Indian guru who wanted to build a 64,000-acre utopia from Chapman and Maclain Way features archival footage and interviews with the people and followers in the small Oregon town.
- Netflix
- Mar 16, 2018
- Netflix
- Mar 16, 2018
Summary The Duplass brothers-produced six-part documentary series about an Indian guru who wanted to build a 64,000-acre utopia from Chapman and Maclain Way features archival footage and interviews with the people and followers in the small Oregon town.
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 8 Critic Reviews
79
100% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 8 Critic Reviews
79
100% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
It’s a challenging piece that requires the viewer to acknowledge their own reactions and then question them. In that, Wild Wild Country may be even more vital to a divided nation. It demands you see the other side.
After the six-plus hours of Wild Wild Country flies by, you won't want an approach to this story any different or shorter than what the Ways do. ... By handling this story so intelligently and by opening its heart to a very complicated idea of good and evil, Wild Wild Country has a profound, mesmerizing power itself.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 55 User Ratings
7.5
80% Positive
44 Ratings
44 Ratings
7% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
13% Negative
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 55 User Ratings
7.5
80% Positive
44 Ratings
44 Ratings
7% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
13% Negative
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
One of the best documentaries I have ever seen. It tackles important topics of minority discrimination, religious tolerance, cult formation, indoctrination, group loyalty and the dark side of the human psyche. It is very entertaining from beginning to end, and it has some amazing archival footage combined with in-depth interviews with many of the people who were there. It attempts to be fair to both sides by just showing the facts and revealing the motivations and struggles that led to the various horrible events. Whether or not it manages to tell the full story, I found this documentary to be exceptionally educational. And from a popcorn point of view, it is gripping as hell.
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SEASON 1
A remarkable and amazing story. It's interesting to see how hate was met with hate, anger with anger, violence with violence, and the whole thing came tumbling down. Antelope residents got their town back, but it wasn't the same anymore.
Compare this story to the story of Fairfield, Iowa where many of the same kind of emotions and devotion were present, in this case toward Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of Maharishi University of Management that was once Parsons College. The difference was that in Fairfield, the "Ru's" (short for "gurus") as the TM people were called, met hate with love, anger with acceptance, and chose to participate with the original Fairfield residents in creating a better community. As a result, the violence and hatred that was present in the early days in Fairfield has disappeared. The Mayor is a "Ru" who has served nine terms and been re-elected by both non-TMers as well as devoted TM practitioners.
For whatever reasons, Osho did not culture that quality of love and acceptance among his followers and so Rajneeshpuram became a Christian country club for teenagers rather than a monument to the power of his teachings.
Seems to me there's a lesson there for all of us. How will we choose to respond to those who criticize us or oppose us?
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SEASON 1
A highly pleasurable new documentary series.
Screened at the Sundance Film Festival in one exhausting, gripping gulp, it's a slice of partially forgotten history in which real life just keeps getting more and more outlandish and implausible. ... Wild Wild Country a worthwhile thought experiment in addition to a yarn that is, as the title promises, doubly wild.
Wild Wild Country ends up being a character study, an attempt to suss out whether Bhagwan and Sheela really bought what they were selling to white spiritual seekers, making millions in the process. ... That being said, the filmmakers’ tendency to skim over the more unseemly aspects of a story with many unseemly aspects to it may leave viewers wanting to know more about the wilder aspects of the case.
[Chapman and Maclain Way] haven’t given it much of a shape or a perspective--they go from one mind-blowing event and image to the next, and seem to just adopt the point of view of whoever’s talking at the moment, reinforcing it with correspondingly bright or sad or triumphant music (which becomes increasingly intrusive). Their own attitude, as far as it can be divined, appears to be a credulous sentimentality. But it is a great story, even if you just turn on the camera and let it roll.
In an effort to provide both sides of the story, the directors--especially in late, slow-motion-drenched elegiac passages full of uplifting and/or mournful music—buy too much of the pap being sold by the sannyasins. ... As a portrait of militant zeal and religious conflict, Wild Wild Country is a fascinating glimpse at the perils of fanaticism-run-amok and the contentious intersection between faith and freedom.
As documentaries go, Wild Wild Country is aces. A thoroughly detailed and gripping recount of one of the largest, most bizarre cult communities in the world, settled in a vast American landscape. The cinematography is terrific and the footage and interviews must have taken years to amass. What makes it truly great are the details of the stories that came out of the era all perfectly backed up by the major players and interesting sub-players who were involved. They tell their stories intensely, with uncanny detail, without holding back a single secret. As a story it stands astounding on its own. As it relates to real life, as always, the history rhymes with other megalomaniacal figures and organizations.
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SEASON 1
I kept expecting it to dig into whether there was any merit to the accusations of fraud and other financial misfeasance by Osho himself. it's worth watching, if only to underline what a group of rich, spoilt brats New Agers tend to be. He surrounded himself with a lot of self-indulgent professionals who, ironically, thought that their money, collectively pooled, would buy them happiness. Spirituality as consumption. The residents of Antelope come off as sympathetic even if they are/were a bunch of close-minded rural Christians. They just wanted to be left alone to live their lives in quiet and peace.
Some of the stuff these people did is pretty whacked, but that seems to be the optics and behavior of a small cadre. Sheela comes off as completely revolting. At the end of the day, the world peace these sorts talk about is peace for the well healed to do as they please and indulge their belief in their own importance.
Ultimately it presents the story well but offers little to no insight. Could have been cut by a fair amount as well. Too long with little to no pay off at the end.
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SEASON 1
I think the biggest problem with Wild, Wild Country is that it's a Netflix documentary. I'm not the most avid watcher but even I have seen enough to know there's a definite style to Netlix docs. The issue with this is that, no matter The story, its actual telling feels repetitive as it hits the same beats every time.
There is no doubt that the story behind Wild, Wild Country is interesting but the style just distracts from this. It probably could have been told in half the time and without such unnecessary drama but hey its a Netflix doc so I guess if you like that style it's fine. I am not a huge fan personally and hence 5/10.
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SEASON 1
Honestly, I found this really boring. The documentary seems to assume a lot of knowledge, and it could really have used a narrator to talk you through the events/timeline. It just zips from interview to interview and expects you to know what they're talking about. Disappointing.
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SEASON 1
I just finished watching this entire documentary and was very disappointed. It has some promise of intrigue, some interesting reveals, but it really never hits a punchline.
I think critics are getting swept up in the emotional side of it. I believe if you watch this only with an emotional angle, you will get swept up in it. Much of that is done well. But they fail to answer, or ask, so many basic questions. I've been a journalist for several years and was immediately asking all these questions at the screen, hoping for answers. I kept watching, thinking maybe they would do a big reveal at the end. Because if they didn't, this would be a terrible documentary. And they didn't.
It's basically a bunch of old footage of people acting weird in Oregon, intercut with recent interviews from people who went through it all. I think the reviewers placed too much value on the fact that the filmmakers told both sides of the story. They did that much. But they never provided anything conclusive in the end. So it all amounts to a bunch of he said, she said, then it ends. They did not delve into any deeper discussion of cults, why people get into them, or if the regular followers were actually treated well. They never explained how they got so rich. That's a massively important missing piece of the puzzle. Of course super rich people can do outlandish things. Because they have tons of money. How did they get the money? Did any crimes actually happen? Was the leader actually a bad guy? Or just a kooky old meditation leader? So many critical unanswered questions it basically becomes a story of some weird people in the mountains who lived there for a few years then left. No interesting finale, or new revelation that changes the story. This is a sentimental whirlwind much like the cult it describes.
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SEASON 1
