Waiting for NESARA Movie Review

After reading the filmmakers' description of this documentary, Waiting for NESARA sounded absolutely irresistible. The film follows a group of mostly excommunicated Mormons called The Open Mind Forum who believe that a “secret law” called NESARA (acronym for National Economic Stabilization and Recovery Act), will, when it's finally publicly announced, "mandate sweeping governmental changes" (such as abolishing the IRS and forgiving all privately held credit card debt). Best of all, the law will also "expose George Bush as a reptilian alien responsible for the September 11th attacks, bring the return of Jesus Christ in a UFO to rule over the newly formed “constitutional” U.S. government, and distribute billions of dollars of previously hidden wealth to everyone in the group." Incredible!

After that kind of build up, all you really want to do is learn more. Is NESARA based on anything real, or is it the product of the group's leader's brain? Who are these people besides being NESARA nuts, and how did they come to believe all these outrageous things? Who's behind this wild new pseudo-religion, and what is he/she gaining from it? There's a really fantastic story to tell here. Unfortunately, NESARA doesn't even ask these questions, much less answer them.

This lazily constructed documentary is a one-trick pony, consisting only of interviews with a handful of delusional Forum members and devoid of any real substance that would give you a full picture.

To their credit, the filmmakers have provided some fascinating snippets of NESARA kookiness that will blow your mind. NESARA is explained to the audience almost entirely by the group's leader "Jim," who explains that the Forum is only one of many groups of believers under the leadership of St. Germain and a prophet-like woman who calls herself the Dove of Oneness, who updates all NESARA-folk via a website and answering machine messages. We also meet several of the other members: "Art," who's purely in this for the billion-dollar handout that comes after the NESARA rapture, several folks who very earnestly point out clouds in the sky as "spaceships," and another woman whose family won't let her talk to her grandchildren because she believes she has a "personal UFO" that follows her and looks out for her.

As a huge fan of Errol Morris' Vernon, Florida, I love to listen to the ramblings of these crazies. But this film really could've been great with more perspectives. What do these people's families have to say about their relatives' beliefs? What does the manager of the KFC, where the group has its regular meetings, think of what's going on in the restaurant's back room? When you think of all the missing points of view and background, you can start to see why this documentary leaves a lot up in the air.

The film's website touts, "We hope [the film] brings up questions about faith, desperation, poverty, hope, money and debt in today's America, and how a new religion is born." I was definitely hoping for the same, but instead, I got a documentary that can be taken about as seriously as its nutty subjects.