Wild wild country
| Television series | |
|---|---|
| German title | Wild wild country |
| Original title | Wild wild country |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| year | 2017 |
| Production company |
Duplass Brothers Productions |
| length | 64 to 71 minutes |
| Episodes | 6 in 1 season |
| genre | documentary |
| Director | Maclain Way and Chapman Way |
| First broadcast | March 16, 2018 (international) on Netflix |
| German-language first broadcast |
March 16, 2018 on Netflix |
Wild Wild Country is an American documentary series from 2018. The six episodes, between 64 and 71 minutes long, deal with the dispute over Rajneeshpuram , the controversial settlement project of Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his sannyasin movement in Oregon . The documentary begins chronologically with the purchase of the area intended for the settlement in 1981 and ends with Bhagwan's expulsion from the USA at the end of 1985. The series, which rolls up the events on the basis of interviews with different participants as well as contemporary film material, and without any individual evaluation , has been broadcast on the Netflix streaming platform since March 16, 2018 .
content
The six-part documentary series describes the course of the conflict around the sannyasin settlement Rajneeshpuram in Wasco County , Oregon. The starting point is the resettlement of the community center, which was previously located in Poona , India , to Oregon, operated by the Bhagwan confidante Ma Anand Sheela . The conflict between the new residents on the approximately 160 square kilometers large and community-acquired area of the Big Muddy Ranch near the 40-inhabitant community of Antelope led to a steadily worsening series of conflicts, at the end of which Sheela and around twenty confidants flee to Germany , the abandonment of the community settlement in Oregon and the expulsion of community founder Bhagwan from the USA. In addition to the discussion, which forms the core theme of the series, the series provides a historical outline of the Sannyasin movement.
The course of the six episodes is determined by a constant change between interview sequences and contemporary video material , which is commented on by the interviewees. The series consistently dispenses with its own viewing point of view - for example by means of its own commentary. Instead, different people involved tell the events of that time in alternating order from their point of view. A prominent role is played by Ma Anand Sheela, now Sheela Birnstiel - Bhagwan's general representative at the time and responsible for building the settlement. The Australian Jane Stork (Ma Shanti B.) has her say as a close confidante of Sheela . Other sannyasins who bring their portrayal to the individual episodes are Bhagwan's former lawyer Philip Toelkes (Swami Pren Niren), Sunny V. Massad (Ma Prem Sunshine) as press spokeswoman at the time and Francoise Ruddy (Ma Prem Hasyaaka), another prominent member of the Community. On the side of the residents or opponents of the settlement comment on the events: Margaret Hill, former mayor of Antelope, Jon Bowerman, Kelly and Rosemary McGreer as other residents of the place, Robert Weaver, deputy US prosecutor for the District of Oregon and Weaver's superior Charles Turner.
The events are essentially presented chronologically. The first of the six episodes - only marked with consecutive numbering - shows how the conflict between the Sannyasin newcomers in the area of the Big Muddy Ranch and the residents of the nearby community of Antelope slowly builds up. In addition, the first episode deals with the history of the community in Poona, India. The focus of the second episode is on the political moves to establish Rajneeshpuram as an independent sannyasin settlement with the associated city rights . The third episode of the documentary series deals with the expansion of the conflict to instances in the state of Oregon as well as the attempt staged by Ma Anand Sheela to influence the political composition of the county administration by means of the organized influx of recruited homeless people . The content of the fourth episode is Sheela's controversial leadership style, internal power struggles in Rajneeshpuram, culminating in an assassination attempt on Bhagwan's personal doctor George Meredith (Swami Devaraj) and the attempts by the Sheela district to attack the population of the county capital The Dalles with salmonella pathogens in order to manipulate the upcoming county elections in this way. The subject of the fifth episode is the escape of Sheela and her circle to Germany as well as the investigations of the FBI and state authorities against the municipality, Sheela and her close confidants as well as sect founder Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. The last episode finally describes the course of the investigation against Bhagwan and his deportation from the USA. As a quasi-finale to the narrated story, the episode reports on the further course of the movement up to the death of Bhagwan or Osho in 1990.
Production and broadcast
According to their own statements, the directors , the two brothers Chapman and Maclain Way, came across the subject by chance. According to the previously completed sports documentary The Battered Bastards of Baseball in Portland, Oregon , an archivist from the Oregon Historical Society approached them in 2014 and told them about 300 hours of archive material about the grotesquest story that had ever happened in Oregon. Chapman and Maclain Way would have been astonished that the Rajneeshpuram events - unlike the incidents in Jonestown and Waco - had little awareness of them. The planned documentation was planned early on in the direction of series format. The two sifted through the existing footage, which consisted partly of news material from Portland , partly of amateur footage and promotional material of the Sannyasin movement. After reviewing the film material, the interviews were planned and carried out. First of all, Ma Anand Sheela, who now lives in Switzerland , was on a contact trip to get to know each other. The actual interviews took place a year later over a period of five days.
The organizational framework was provided by the Los Angeles- based production company Duplass Brothers Productions, operated by the two brothers Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass . For the soundtrack , mostly quieter tracks in folk , indie rock and singer-songwriter styles were selected. The soundtrack also includes pieces by the performers Bill Callahan , Bill Fay and Damien Jurado as well as the Canadian formation Timber Timbre . The documentary series premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in early 2018. The streaming service Netflix took over the broadcast, whereby the six episodes of the series - as is common practice with Netflix - were discontinued in one piece and have been available there since March 16, 2018.
Media coverage and criticism
The meta- criticism portal Rotten Tomatoes determined a consistently positive response and, based on 40 reviews, gave it a score of 7.8 out of 10; the average user rating was 4.4 out of 5 possible stars. Overall, the positive overall rating was often accompanied by critical comments on individual aspects of the topic - for example, that even a relatively detailed documentary series such as Wild Wild Country could only show an excerpt of the topic. Reviewer Nick Schlager from the online news portal The Daily Beast characterized the subject matter as an insane episode in recent American history, an almost paradigmatic story "about religion, weapons, militias, cults, wiretapping, fraud, murder and individual and communal sovereignty". As a drawback, Schlager chalked up the makers that the series gave the commune protagonists involved too much space to present their version of the story without being contradicted. The Film Inquiry site found the conflict between the municipality and the conservative environment excitingly staged. The core of the series is the portrayal of the conflict between two forms of life , which escalated in the course of the conflict. The ambivalence of the community leader Ma Anand Sheela is particularly well portrayed.
The British Guardian classified the presentation as balanced. This is given in particular by the fact that Wild Wild Country constantly changes camps and thus the viewpoint. Matthias Dell emphasized in his criticism at Deutschlandfunk Kultur the “force and the will to have an effect” . Dell: “There is a lot in what we have today: The culture wars , this form of racism - we don't want these people here! - also this game of politics that is played out through the media. And last but not least, questions like gender - because this woman, Sheela, is an incredibly interesting person who grapples with a lot of American men. ” Dell's conclusion: As a historical document, Wild Wild Country is definitely “ a very interesting series about the America we know today ”.
Kolja Haaf also stated in the Süddeutsche Zeitung that the series represents a timeless conflict - a story that actually belongs in school books. On the one hand, the series clearly shows how the municipality is increasingly slipping into criminal machinations. On the other hand, she directs her critical gaze on the rural residents who do not want the sannyasin commune and who go to the barricades against them. Haaf: “Wild Wild country cleverly contrasts the two points of view and reveals that this is not just about a conflict between two worldviews. But also about a certain pattern of human group behavior that is in many current debates and disputes: The young and innovative get together and want to move forward, while the rest feel taken by surprise and are afraid of slipping into insignificance. What you see from the outside may be competing progressive and conservative positions. But it is almost always about how social resources and recognition are distributed within a society. "
Wild Wild Country finally received positive responses from the portrayed themselves. According to statements by the two directors, the ex-municipality manager Sheela Birnstiel saw the hatred and prejudice to which she was exposed at the time well documented. Residents of Antelope, on the other hand, praised the film because it showed the danger of cults and the pressure they would have been under when they threatened to take over their city. The directors, on the other hand, outlined the work on the documentary as instructive for themselves. Sheela Birnstiel, for example, found her charming and funny despite her bias due to the previous research . In her opinion, the positioning of the interview partners is also interesting in retrospect. While the former community attorney Toelkes is still a sannyasin in his heart, the Australian Stork sees her time in the community very critically in retrospect. Sheela occupies a middle position between these two positions. The two directors ultimately characterized the movement as such as one of adults who would have joined it voluntarily and in full consciousness. Your impression - according to the filmmakers in an interview published in March 2018 on the society news portal Vulture : You would be wrong in assuming if you attribute the influx of movement to forms of brainwashing .
Individual evidence
- ^ "Wild Wild Country": TV Review | Sundance 2018 . Daniel Fienberg, Hollywood Reporter, January 24, 2018 (Engl.)
- ↑ Wild Wild Country: Where Are They Now? , Kenny Herzog, Vulture, March 27, 2018 (Engl.)
- ↑ Wild Wild Country . Short episode information on tvguide.com, accessed on August 18, 2018 (Engl.)
- ^ A b The Wild Wild Country Directors Still Wonder Who Is Right and Wrong, Too . Interview with the directors Chapman and Maclain Way by Jeff Chaney, Vulture, March 30, 2018 (Engl.)
- ↑ Wild Wild Country . Entry at IMDb, accessed April 30, 2018 (Engl.)
- ↑ Wild Wild Country Soundtrack , listing of the soundtrack track list at what-song.com, accessed on August 18, 2018 (Engl.)
- ^ Festival Program: Wild Wild County . Film screening on the Sundance Film Festival website, accessed April 30, 2018 (Engl.)
- ↑ Wild Wild Country: Season 1 (2018) , Rotten Tomatoes, accessed August 18, 2018 (Engl.)
- ↑ Inside the Crazy Sex Cult That Invaded Oregon . Nick Schlager, Daily Beast, December 3, 2017 (Engl.)
- ↑ Wild Wild Country: A True Story That Seems Stranger Than Fiction . Kristy Strouse, Film Inquiry, March 23, 2018 (Engl.)
- ↑ Wild Wild Country review - Netflix's take on the cult that threatened American life . Sam Wollaston, Guardian, April 11, 2018
- ↑ Documentary series about Bhagwan: When the Ashram moved to Oregon . Interview with the film critic Matthias Dell by Eckhard Roelcke, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, April 8, 2018
- ↑ Documentary series "Wild Wild Country": A story that should be in school books . Kolja Haaf, Süddeutsche Zeitung, April 13, 2018
Web links
- Wild Wild Country in the IMDb (Engl.)