Raël The Alien Prophet (Raël : Le prophète des extraterrestres) is a French documentray series released on Netflix on Februray 7, 2024. It was written by Alexandre Ifi and directed by Antoine Baldassari. The limited series has four episodes with a runtime of about 43-50 minutes.
This documentary series presents a comprehensive examination of the transformation of a UFO-inspired religion into a controversial cult. Through interviews with Raël’s followers, critics, and the founder himself, the series delves into the evolution of the religious movement and its impact on society.
It features Rael aka Claude Vorilhon, Brigitte Boisselier, Jean Pierre Saulnier, Philippe Levaux, Nadine Gary, Damien Marsic, Georges Fenech, Jean Thierry Linard, Dominique Saint Hilaire, Pierre Gary, Christophe de Chavanne, Jay Weaver, Bernard Siegel, Yves Boni and Brigitte McCann.
Raël The Alien Prophet Review
To say the least, there’s a small alien fanatic in everyone, somewhat believing that there might be extra-terrestrial life light years away. But nobody has come close to Raël’s experience of actually meeting them and being appointed the prophet on their behalf. Born as Claude Vorilhon, Raël was a singer, race car driver and journalist before taking a leap of faith to worship the alien god ‘Elohim’. Ever since his ‘meeting’ with the aliens in December 1973, he has spent his whole life gathering followers and showing them the true path to life & happiness.
What’s surprising to see is how his followers still faithfully believe in him and have been followers since the 80s and 90s. One of the infamous Raëlian on the forefront is Brigitte Boisselier, who gained notoriety for claiming to have cloned a human baby but never showing any proof of having done so, successfully. From a small group of individuals in France to testifying in front of the congress in the USA, the Raëlian Movement might be one of the absurd (well most cults are) and ongoing religions that might find their original glory in the near future.
To answer what made people believe in this UFO religion, you have to know that there were numerous reports of UFO sightings in 70s France. Therefore, for a person to come out on TV, and share his experience of meeting an alien could be deemed credible by some, if not all. Then the intrigued few fell into the black hole after reading his book Le Livre qui dit la vérité (The Book That Tells the Truth). From a third perspective, it seems that TV channels were the ones that made him & his movement popular. Benefitting from high viewership from his appearance, they would invite him whenever possible, in return, making his reach wider.
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Raëlian movement is nothing different from the numerous spiritual cults that we have seen before. Like many overworked, lost and curious came looking for a magical solution to their life problems and they did so through the special ‘meditation’. It is like the core tool for all the gurus to lure people into following them. If you can make people feel transcended by your guided voice, then expect a long career in the spiritual industry. And Raël had his own ideology to make people feel free. He preached – to remove pants from your head, you have to remove it from your ass.
From stripping to checking out your private parts with the help of a mirror and having sexual relations with all or anyone, these were some of the teachings of Raël. While consenting adults indulging themselves in what could be called an ‘orgy’ is not something unacceptable, what becomes problematic is when children are involved in those sexual practices as well. Raël’s acceptance on national television about pushing kids towards sexual freedom and reports of his followers assaulting teenage girls is the turnaround point when France started to take notice of them but in a negative light. Leading to public outrage and forcing them to relocate.
After that, he tries to maintain his viral position in the media by announcing the funding/construction of an embassy to welcome alien civilisation or cloning humans, while hopping from one country to another. The whole cloning fiasco with no visible result could be the point when he lost some of his long followers as they became tired of paying for his lavish lifestyle out of their pockets. Also because he started to contradict his own words. Raël’s initial strategy to lure was to question people’s faith in some white-bearded man but as time passed, he became the same white-bearded man asking to be placed on a pedestal.
Looking back at it now, everything looks like elaborate stories made by a man, who mixed elements of various religions and science together. For example, referring to Aliens as Elohim sounds quite familiar to Prophet Ibrahim/Abraham – the forefather of many great Prophets who is held in high esteem by all the major revealed religions ie Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Even the name Raël, sounds like it’s taken from Israel and it could be possible since Raël chose the country to build the embassy and has taken various symbolism from Judaism.
It’s possible for non-religious people to not find the clues in his mix-match teachings but to accept ‘transmission of cellular plan’ (where he simply palms your forehead) as an equivalent of baptism is just ridiculous. Usually, such documentaries show the rise and fall of the cults as many followers start to see the reality and call out for the problematic activities. But in this case, it’s still flourishing all over the world, while Raël has found a new life in Japan, without ever facing repercussions. In fact, he has found a large following and his successor in Africa.
A man named Yves Boni is following in his footsteps and flourishing Raëlian movement in African regions, hoping to become the next prophet and meet ‘Elohim’ by 2035. The documentary made me wonder about Raëlian’s reactions when mummified alien bodies were presented in Mexico. Did their faith become strong or if they questioned Raël’s description of them? Overall, it’s a bizarre yet intriguing documentary to watch, proving how gullible humans can be to follow anything that will ensure freedom from societal shackles or give a purpose to live by.
Rating: 3/5
Raël The Alien Prophet is available to watch on Netflix.
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