Blessed Child

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Blessed Child

2019

1h 14m

Documentary

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

91%

Tomatometer

11 Reviews

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

More than a decade after leaving the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church (the "Moonies"), through a trove of never before seen footage from within the church and extraordinary home videos of her family's upbringing alongside Reverend Moon and his disciples, filmmaker Cara Jones attempts to finally break free from the religious cult which dominated her childhood. BLESSED CHILD is one daughter's attempt to unpack the legacy of the decisions her parents made while challenging assumptions -- hers and ours -- about cults and family.

Peter Sobczynski

RogerEbert.com

07/17/2020

2/4

The film is a little too scattershot for its own good.

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Chuck Bowen

Slant Magazine

07/14/2020

2.5/4

Filmmaker Cara Jones offers a poignant testament to the baggage and insecurities hounding her own life.

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Nick Schager

The Daily Beast

07/08/2020

Captures the corrosiveness of mass group-think movements, which are frequently as successful at tearing people apart as they are at bringing them together.

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Phil Guie

Film-Forward.com

01/01/2021

3/5

Curiously, there are holes in the protagonists' backstory that are never sufficiently filled in.

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Pete Vonder Haar

Houston Press

09/04/2020

3/5

Sure, the Unification Church is still run by tax-dodging frauds who exploit members for free labor and violently oppose homosexuality, but hey, baby steps right?

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Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

08/30/2020

3.5/4.0

For some, the nuanced Blessed Child will seem a bit jarring.

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Cara Jones

Director

Josh Alexander

Writer

Cara Jones

Writer

Jim Butterworth

Executive Producer

Daniel J. Chalfen

Executive Producer

Cara Jones

Producer

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Synopsis

More than a decade after leaving the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church (the "Moonies"), through a trove of never before seen footage from within the church and extraordinary home videos of her family's upbringing alongside Reverend Moon and his disciples, filmmaker Cara Jones attempts to finally break free from the religious cult which dominated her childhood. BLESSED CHILD is one daughter's attempt to unpack the legacy of the decisions her parents made while challenging assumptions -- hers and ours -- about cults and family.

Director: Cara Jones
Producer: Cara Jones, Chelsea Matter
Screenwriter: Josh Alexander, Cara Jones
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 17, 2020
Runtime: 1h 14m

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