Articles tagged with "gloriavale"

Devotion: Obedience or Betrayal is the newest entry in what could legitimately be considered a world-famous-in-New-Zealand subgenre of Gloriavale documentaries. The three-part series directed by Nicole Rittenmeyer, and executive produced by Dame Julie Christie, is frustrating to watch, and overall is a boring mess. Some producers live by the adage of “all attention is good attention”, but when the subject is a religious community in which children were sexually abused, that is a stance that commits a real disservice to the survivors.

By which I mean I recommend watching a new documentary called “Gloriavale”, which focuses on the infamous religious group. I most definitely don't recommend converting to their religion and moving to the Gloriavale compound on the South Island. I went to a Film Festival viewing of the documentary yesterday, before general release to cinemas next week, and there was also a fascinating Question and Answer session afterwards with some of the filmmakers and subjects of the documentary. Here's the trailer:

It's me again, Mark, for a third week running - as Craig is unavailable to do the newsletter again. This time it's COVID, and I can't blame him at all for not wanting to write a newsletter while getting over it.