Wild Wild Country Review: Cult Bad, Racists Also Bad

Watching Wild Wild Country is a well . . . wild experience, especially for me though. After all, I am a liberal atheist who has had a close family member once be a part of a cult that followed Meher Baba, an Indian guru who is obviously comparable to the Indian guru in this film, Bhagwan.

Wild Wild Country is a limited documentary series that tells the story of Bhagwan's cult. They moved into Oregon and began to build a commune city. The conservative neighbors were uncomfortable, and escalation built to violence, poisoning, fraud, arrest, attempted murders, and much more.

I probably watched the series with a bit of more open-mindedness to the cult than the average viewer. As an atheist, I tend to see little difference between certain cults and widely accepted religions. Something I found infuriating this that its obvious no one would have had a problem with the cult if Bhagwan was just replaced with Jesus. While the cult was still overall bad to me, the people against it definitely were not worth siding with, as they idiotically compared the commune to a concentration camp and the guru to Satan.

There were inspirational aspects to the cult, such as the fact that they did turn a place that was just desert into land that could produce food and wildlife. I also am a sucker for love and community and these people did appear to really have each other's backs and put their talents to work. The strength and the true spirit to me was, as usual, was in the people. Their hippie dippy nature reminded me of my parents when they were in their 20s, so I could not help but have some love for them and their desire to live in a new and un-conforming way.

However, I was definitely not a fan of the guru. He would stand on a podium and enjoy the attention while telling his followers he was not a leader or to be worshipped. Immediately, it became apparent that his actions and words never matched. His love of wealth left a bad taste in my mouth (I like shiny things too but this was a motivation you don't want in a guru). It was also clear he cared for himself most of all, abandoning his followers multiple times and denying them any sort of transparency. In fact, the only thing that broke his silence was spite against a woman.

That woman was Sheela, who was the most interesting person in the whole documentary to me. Many called her evil, and she was behind most of the bad cult things. However, I was utterly in awe of her bulldog personality and story. This small

Indian woman could do anything she put her mind to. and wow was she an equal mix of terrifying and amazing. She was utterly loyal to the guru but eventually cut ties (which was a relief). Her interviews would have me at the edge of my seat. Definitely the best perspective in the documentary.

But Wild Wild Country was not just about the cultists. There was also the American citizens that wanted to kick them out. I pitied them a little, as it was sad to see their small town get turned upside down and their old hangouts get bought out and turned into something unfamiliar. However, my pity would quickly end the moment they opened their mouths.

Some weren't so bad, but the bad ones really had me reeling. Some mentioning wishing they could kill Sheela. Others thought the commune was full of satanic worship. Of all the possible commune issues to choose from, they seemed to dislike the idea of free love most of all. All Republican, all fearing what they can't understand and stubbornly not wishing to learn more. When Sheela, in one of her bulldog statements, said they deserved to be taken over, she had a sick point. To final nail in the coffin of me failing to relate to the citizens of Antelope was that the commune land was replaced by a Christian camp.

One last point that made this documentary extra wild for me was the fact that my father is really into making, researching, and helping out sustainable communes, and they do exist. However, this one performed the biggest mistake my father has always said to me, "Communes will fail if they get too big," and holy shit was this one huge. It was a city, and that made it fated to fall. Sustainable communities that work are small, and thus more easily transparent and controllable. Of course, they also really screwed up in terms of PR (it was not just the fault of the Antelope residents). If they put in effort, they likely could have facilitated and met a compromise with the people of Antelope. However, they felt it easier to hang onto their pride and just be enemies.

In conclusion, Wild Wild Country has two "wilds" in its title for a reason. The outside conservatives community and the cult were both flawed in their own ways. When I talked to a friend, she mentioned she wished the documentary interviewed someone less crazy, someone who can examine the situation from a level-headed perspective. For better or worse, the series leaves that job to the viewer.

I am scoring this series a four out of five. It certainly made me hungry for more cult docs.