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Raël: The Alien Prophet is an intriguing documentary series that premiered on Netflix on February 7, 2024. Split into four parts, the documentary follows the story of a controversial cult known as the International Raëlian Movement (IRM) or Raëlian Church.
The Netflix documentary series is primarily in French and directed by Manuel Guillon and Antoine Baldassari. They have included interviews with the religion's founder, Claude Vorilhon, who now calls himself Raël. It follows how Claude started an alternate religion (while some classify it as a cult) that follows extraterrestrial life and rejects the common notion of God.
The movement known as Raëlism has thousands of followers who believe Raël to be their leader. They are termed as a UFO cult since they believe that extraterrestrials have created humanity. The group also promotes ideals of atheism and human cloning.
Raël: The Alien Prophet on Netflix provides an insight into the world of Raëlism
Raël: The Alien Prophet brings attention to the largest UFO-based religion in the world. Founded in the 1970s by a French native, Claude Vorilhon, the new religious movement believes that an extraterrestrial species, which he refers to as the Elohim, created humanity.
Raël: The Alien Prophet features interviews with Claude Vorihon, followers of the movement, and critics of the movement. The documentary traces how the movement started by Claude generated such a large following and ultimately spread across the globe while being termed a new religious movement.
The official synopsis of the documentary series reads:
"Featuring interviews with his followers, critics and Raël himself, this docuseries traces how a UFO-inspired religion spiraled into a controversial cult."
The documentary series features four episodes that have been released at the same time. The four episodes are titled Genesis, Raël Superstar, The American Dream, and To Infinity and Beyond.
The first episode of Raël: The Alien Prophet follows Claude's alleged encounter with the extraterrestrial species Elohim in the 1970s. They named him Raël, and he then took to the media to spread the message about this new way of life. The second episode delves into how the Church of Raëlism gained widespread popularity and Raël accrued thousands of followers. It also offers a critical perspective on sexual practices within the cult.
The third episode gets into how the cult lobbies for human cloning, and the biochemist Brigitte Boisselier assumes a position of hierarchy within the cult. When she states the alleged birth of the first cloned human named Eve in 2002, it ignites widespread legal and media scrutiny.
Raël: The Alien Prophet concludes with Raël fleeing to Japan after a journalist infiltrates his base in Quebec. However, the cult still spreads, and a new prophet emerges in Africa.
More about Raëlism
The followers of this new religious movement believe that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII spurred an age of apocalypse in the world, and humanity needed to harness new scientific methods to bring about peace.
They believe that Raël is the last of 40 Elohim/human prophets who came to redeem Earth. They believe that cloning humans is the path toward immortality, and they strongly reject bringing more life to Earth through natural procreation.
However, the cult believed in liberal s*xual practices and emphasized s*xual experimentation. The followers also believe in atheism, meditation, and nuclear non-proliferation.
Catch Raël: The Alien Prophet on Netflix to learn all about the cult of Raëlism, their ideals, and twisted practices within it, which were brought to light by journalists.
