The six-part documentary tells the story of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (later known as Osho) and the cult he built in India, which he then subsequently transferred to the tiny town of Antelope, Oregon in the 1980s. Over the course of the documentary we get the story from Rajneesh's followers (the Rajneeshees) and his deputy, Ma Anand Sheela, one of the most intriguing women ever featured on screen. She is the ultimate antihero, a woman with almost psychopathic ambition and a fervor to do anything for her guru until things become too much even for her. We also get the story from the white, conservative residents of Antelope, Oregon, who had their lives completely changed by the arrival of this strange cult.
The first few episodes make it seem like your typical struggle between conservative Americans and immigrant foreigners. In our political climate, it seems convenient as a liberal snowflake for me to side with the foreigners and get mad at the white people for being so confrontational and annoyed about these people pouring into their town. However, once you learn more about Sheela's tactics and the way this cult started to take over local and state politics to further their radical agenda, you start to understand that no one's got a leg to stand on here. Pretty much everyone involved is a monster, and as the list of crimes by the townspeople and the cult members start to escalate, you have to pause and say, "Wait, this really happened?"
That's the most absurd thing about this story. It all took place in the 1980s and yet this is the first I've ever heard of it. My mother vaguely remembered it, but I suspect that was just because of the sexual escapades of the cult (the reason they got forced out of India) and not the other craziness that ensued in Oregon. Free love is a tame scandal compared to poisoning, tax evasion, voter fraud, and attempted murder. Yeah, these people really got busy. And the documentary is full of news clips that reveal this was national news that had the country obsessed, with Tom Brokaw and the like talking about the Rajneeshees and debating how the FBI was going to take everyone down.
Wild Wild Country is a brilliant documentary, ending every episode with a compelling cliffhanger that will have you desperately hitting "Play Next Episode" so you can watch what happened to these seemingly normal talking heads who start spewing increasingly bizarre stories about this cult and what happened in Oregon. Netflix is fast becoming my go-to source for quality documentary filmmaking and I won't be surprised if Wild Wild Country picks up a ton of awards this year for captivating a nation and reminding us how quickly a charismatic leader can lead his people to complete ruin.
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