Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Directed and produced by: Noel Smyth and Fergus Grady, Limelight Distribution
Attention-grabbing, Gloriavale is an expose on New Zealand’s most infamous and secretive religious group founded by Australian evangelist Neville Cooper, who later assumed the name ‘Hopeful Christian’.
Exploring themes of power, greed, corruption and abuse, this is an expose on the group told through the vérité lens of those trying to hold them to account.
It received its world premiere at New Zealand International Film Festival 2022 and was selected for Cannes Film Festival Docs-in-progress. The observational documentary examines the widespread abuse inside the infamous Gloriavale Christian Community cult and the institutional failures that have allowed it to continue. With unprecedented access to the notoriously secretive community, the filmmakers follow a lone family as they mount a ground-breaking legal case against the cult’s powerful leaders.
The true extent of Gloriavale’s crimes and the cruelty of its leaders is exposed as the Ready family risk losing their home, their community and those they love for a chance to bring positive change.
Few of the characters include: John Ready is the plaintiff in the civil action case who was exiled from the community for questioning the ‘Shepherds’. John must now fight to free his wife and 12 children still inside.
Virginia Courage is Ready’s eldest sister who had snuck out of Gloriavale with her family. As a sexual abuse survivor, she must now face her fears and speak up for the sake of future young women who remain inside Gloriavale.
Sharon Ready is John and Virginia’s mother and one of the original members of Gloriavale. She fights for change from inside the community. Zion Pilgrim is an ex ‘Servant’ (an upper echelon of the Gloriavale leadership structure), who was ousted after publicly speaking out against the ‘sexual immorality’ inside.
Fergus Grady and Noel Smyth, who had previously worked together on the 2019 documentary Camino Skies, knew this was a complex and nuanced story that needed to be told with great care and sensitivity for all subjects involved.
It is the culmination of close to three years of blood, sweat and tears. Bringing the film to life proved a lesson in perseverance as they overcame lockdowns, legal dramas, new babies and the myriad of challenges that face documentary filmmakers.
- Gloriavale opens in cinemas on 3 November
