In “Blessed Child,” the director Cara Jones interrogates her relationship with the Unification Church, the religious movement — widely regarded as a cult — founded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Jones grew up as a devoted member, but her attitude changed with her first marriage, which eventually led her to leave the group.
Jones was not alone in her conflicted feelings. Her brother Bow, who is gay (and serves as this documentary’s cinematographer), grew up steeped in the movement’s homophobia. He says he always felt “at war with” himself and is “still not happy” about his sexual orientation.
But, at least at the time of filming, their mother and father remain church members, a dynamic that interestingly divides Jones’s sympathies. Cara’s father says the couple wouldn’t feel good if their daughter portrayed the church negatively, but that they support her making the film. Her mother adds, with a laugh, that she assumed she “would probably be one of the villains of this story.”
“Blessed Child” could only be made by someone caught in that maddening push-pull. Jones’s former affiliation presumably helped with access; adherents seem to trust her, and some clips are credited to the church. It also gives her a complicated, at times surprisingly sympathetic outlook on the cult.
But while “Blessed Child” makes no pretense of extending its purview beyond memoir, Jones, perhaps because of her insider’s perspective, leaves certain basic questions (how do church members normally interact with apostates?) unaddressed. She also keeps much of her own story, particularly the years between her college-age doubts and the present action, offscreen.
Blessed Child
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 14 minutes. Rent or buy on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
