Fantasia Film Festival 2020 Screening – Eternal life is attainable through science and sensuality in Yoav Shamir’s 2020 film The Prophet and the Space Aliens, screening as part of the virtual Fantasia Film festival. The documentary explores the relativity of religion, and while some may be turned off by the uneasy parallels that the film draws (and the blasphemy and the slight racial insensitivity), the controversy found within this film can be overlooked by its dedication to an interesting focus subject and how the media portrays the rise of a modern-day prophet like Jesus.

“The killing of the prophet today is done through media” torts one follower in defense of her leader, Rael, a French prophet who believes humans were created from alien DNA and that human cloning is the way to achieve eternal life. Rael invites Israeli documentarian Yoav Shamir to receive an award in admiration of his documentaries Defamation (2009) and Checkpoint (2003), and with his curiosity thoroughly peaked, Shamir decides to make a documentary about Rael and his dedicated followers. During his trip, Shamir seemingly becomes disillusioned with the cult leader and enlists the help of UC Berkeley professor and renowned historian Daniel Boyarin to gain further understanding of Rael’s place in the grand scheme of religious history.

The world is not without its contemporary prophet-claimers, Nostradamus comes to mind, or maybe more appropriately in the case of this movie, Marshall Applewhite and Jim Jones, but none of them ever got to star in a documentary about themselves. Going into the film blind and knowing nothing of this religion, The Prophet and the Space Aliens would make a convincing mockumentary, but even after figuring out that the incredible scientific capability claims and the promotional video clips that this religious sect has to offer are real, I was still wondering whether The Prophet and the Space Aliens was something like I’m Still Here (2010) and was just really dedicated to keeping a straight face. A quick google search of “Raëlism” will prove that such events covered in this documentary did happen, though.

It seems unheard of to have a new religion established in this day in age, and the documentary poses the question: what if someone were to have made a documentary about Jesus while he was alive? The film sees fit to shoot in a way that answers this question, showing the good and especially the questionable actions of a prophet on a quest to further spread his small religion centered around love, non-violence, and freedom. Though Jesus is the catalyst for Christianity not much is known about his personal life, so in exploring the prophet Rael in the film, director Yoav Shamir ensures that he not only shows Rael’s current life as a leader but also his life before becoming Rael when he was Claude Vorilhon, a mere man. Along the way, the movie compares Raelians with Mormonism, Christianity, and Catholicism, giving historical insight and splicing in the commentary of a critical outsider’s perspective.

Though I found it slightly questionable how black bodies were fully displayed while non-black bodies were fully displayed only when in black-face (and otherwise got some cover) I can chalk it up to typical insensitivity, as the film at least makes a compelling story, capturing the absolute love in the faces of his followers and exploring science and aliens as the foundation of the movement’s origin story. If you are a Raelian you may not like this critical and slightly derisive documentary, but if a cross between an episode of Ancient Aliens and the documentary I Am Not Your Guru (2016) sounds good to you, then The Prophet and the Space Aliens is definitely one to watch.

MOVIE RATING – 7 out of 10