"Knocking" by David Ian Miller (San Francisco Chronicle, May 14, 2007)

by sf 13 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  pseattle2

  You know, the filmmaker always struck me as being an okay guy. I understand his point as a documentarian. But his experience was far more benign than mine was, I guess. When I was a JW, though, they absolutely put down other religions, or at least considered them all Satanic. I don't think that exhibits a willingness to co-exist. I know there are other religions like that as well. And I'm not a member of their churches either.

  The political/social achievements of JW's in the courtroom have long been obscured by their shadowy practices away from the public view. But they won't be out of that view for very much longer.
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  DT

  It doesn't sound like the director was ever baptised. He would have had a hard time working on this film if he was being ritually shunned. I can kind of see how he might decide to make a film like this and possibly reduce tensions with his mom. The problem is that you can't have a normal relationship with anyone in that cult. Even if he joined the cult, the love would still be conditional and could be withdrawn at any time.

  There are also many thousands of people who are in a much worse situation of being totally cut off from their family. Their only hope is that their relatives will leave Jehovah's Witnesses or they will change their policies or the religion will collapse. He did these victims a great disservice by making a proJW film that glosses over these facts.
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  pseattle2

  There are also many thousands of people who are in a much worse situation of being totally cut off from their family. Their only hope is that their relatives will leave Jehovah's Witnesses or they will change their policies or the religion will collapse. He did these victims a great disservice by making a proJW film that glosses over these facts.

  You know what I wish? That somebody would buy the film rights to "Crisis Of Conscience" or Joy Castro's "Truth Book". I'm a bit short on that kind of capital at the moment.
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  edmond dantes

  Knocking is not a very good piece of journalism for it to be that it needed to be balanced and show the many facets of the cult.All it is basically is a good piece of advertising and a very good PR excersice on behalf of a very negative cult.Really what the witnesses have with this film is pure propagander and if you pardon the hackneyed phrase the Witnesses "must think they have died and gone to heaven" because they have been handed a gift, but by their standards it seems a little bit two faced of them to accept the Knocking DVD if you get my drift.

  Would the producer have won accolades if he had given the Nazis the same rose coloured hues,after all we are talking about a dictatorship cult who deliver zilch to enhance mankinds many problems.