How the BLEEP did that happen?! - Episode 19

November 3, 2017 Mark Vicente

[I recommend going in numerical order with the Episodes. They build on each other.]

Episode 30 contains the full resource list.

Continuing on the path of patterns, here's another extraordinary documentary presented by the BBC, which will may leave you perplexed and full of questions.

This documentary by acclaimed director Vanessa Engle tells the extraordinary story of a strange cult, which came to light in 2013, when a sensational news story broke about three women emerging from a small flat in Brixton in South London after decades in captivity.

Tracing the group back to its roots in the 1970s, the film describes how its leader, Aravindan Balakrishnan, a student of Indian origin, believed in an international communist revolution and created a tiny political sect that followed the teachings of China’s Chairman Mao.

The film features exclusive interviews with two of the women who escaped: Aisha Wahab, a 72 year-old Malaysian woman who was part of Balakrishnan’s group for 40 years, and Katy Morgan-Davies, Balakrishnan’s daughter, who was born and raised in captivity.

The film documents how this left-wing collective evolved into a bizarre pseudo-religious cult, where members were controlled, threatened and brainwashed, so that they were too terrified to leave.

To be continued...