Raël – The Alien Prophet review: Human clones, sex slaves and extraterrestrial encounters uncovered in Netflix documentary about French cult

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Claude was a bit of a jack of all trades — he used to be a race car driver and a sports journalist, and also a minor pop star with a record deal. He gained the fame that he was craving after narrating on TV his story about coming face-to-face with a green-skinned alien man, with whom he had a conversation in ‘perfect French’ about an advanced human race from the future. Claude wrote a book about his ‘encounter’, explaining in grave detail what the alien had communicated to him about humankind’s place in the universe.

He subsequently refashioned himself into Raël, a bespectacled man with a mane of curly hair that would quickly recede to give him what can only be described as the “Bikram hairstyle”. Like that yogi, Raël would also find himself being accused of sexual deviance and psychological manipulation. Featuring first-hand testimony from a handful of believers, the documentary also offers commentary from a couple of investigative journalists who embedded within the cult, and emerged on the other side with terrifying stories.

While the fundamental mission-statement of the Raëllian movement was to — get this — create a physical ‘embassy’ for alien creatures to land their flying saucers at, Raël and his closest associates admitted that they probably wouldn’t be around to see this happen. But they found a way around mortality as well. Sometime in the early ‘90s, Raël launched a bogus company in the Bahamas, and appeared to fully devote himself to the creation of human clones. This, oddly enough, is the chapter in Raël’s life that the series chooses to focus on. It’s arguably the least harmful thing that he did, considering the casual mentions of child abuse and human slavery that the show occasionally drops. 

Raël would target the most vulnerable people, and feed them nonsense about alien lands and liberation, all in an effort to increase personal wealth and influence. One former follower admits that she was a ‘battered woman’ before she met Raël. Another devotee tears up at the very thought of his blue eyes. Many of the talking heads featured in the show are still deeply connected to his ‘teachings’, having either ignored or actively blocked out the inappropriate activities they likely witnessed at his communes.

In many ways — especially as far as his philosophies and his appearance are concerned — Raël is a lot like Osho. At one point in the show, a wildly offended judge watches very recent footage of Raël delivering a sermon in Japan, and remarks, “He looks like Bhagwan!” And indeed he does. But that makes sense, because for much of his life, Raël propagated — like Bhagwan — ideas of sexual freedom and material wealth. Coincidentally, he also happened to have a right-hand-woman who used biochemistry to generate the biggest controversy in the cult’s history, when she claimed to have created the world’s first human clone.

This woman, like Sheela, is featured prominently in the series. Now living in the deserts of Mexico, Dr Brigitte Boisselier, she still claims that the human clone — a female named Eve — is out there somewhere. But the show devotes far too much time on claptrap such as this, instead of examining the human fallout of cult indoctrination. Unlike HBO’s recent Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God, which focused almost entirely on poor souls that were damaged beyond repair by an equally hurt woman, or even Hulu’s Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence, which showed that cults can exist even in two-room apartments with half-a-dozen members, The Alien Prophet doesn’t investigate what made Raël who he is.

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It does, however, feature an on-camera interview with the man himself. The interview, which the show builds towards for over three hours, doesn’t exactly offer any insight into Raël’s mind, but the tone that the filmmakers take through it all is suitably sad and outraged, and more often than not, that’s enough.

Raël: The Alien Prophet
Directors – Antoine Baldassari, Manuel Guillon
Rating – 3.5/5