THE FAMILY: Part One: Submersion

Name: THE FAMILY: Part One: Submersion
Item: THE FAMILY: Part One: Submersion
Author: Tess Farrand

Season 1 Episode 1

Family Content: -4 Intentional blasphemy, evil, gross immorality, and/or worldview problems. (To be avoided)

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Credits →

Content:

(HHH, PCPCPC, AbAbAb, CC, BB, CoCo, FR, L, V, S, N, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Very strong humanist, politically correct, anti-Christian worldview where Christians are depicted only emphasizing the Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and no other books of the Bible, the leader of the Family is falsely accused of striving for a Hitler/Stalin/Mao type of loyalty to Jesus and His cause, Christians questioned to be like the mafia, a misrepresentation of the character of Jesus Christ, a Christian character asserts that organized religion distracts from Jesus, with strong Christian, biblical elements where the struggle between good and evil is acknowledged, characters say God has a plan for your life, positive representations of God and Jesus, prayer depicted, Scripture recited, Christians are challenged to understand why David is such an important part of the Bible, communism is presented when discussing world dictators, Christians are presented as anti-democratic and anti-American, wanting their own agenda to reign supreme at the highest levels of governments, Islam is mentioned, and a Christian character mentions that Muslim children could be a threat;

Foul Language:

One use of the “f” word;

Violence:

Young man tackled and held down forcibly in the mud as part of an initiation process;

Sex:

Discussion of rape, and character sexually assaulted but it’s not shown;

Nudity:

Upper male nudity while man lifts weights;

Alcohol Use:

Mention of not drinking alcohol;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

Man asked if he used drugs, he says no;

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Fellowship called people names who weren’t following God, manipulation and deception.

Episodes: Season Overview

Number	Date	Title	Content
1.1	8/9/2019	Part One: Submersion	-4
1.2	8/9/2019	Part Two: Chosen	-3
1.3	8/9/2019	Part Three: New World Order	-4
1.4	8/9/2019	Part Four: Dictators, Murderers & Thieves	-4
1.5	8/9/2019	The Wolf King	-3

More Detail:

In “Submersion,” Episode One of THE FAMILY, writer Jeff Sharlet sets the stage for the series by sharing how he got involved with “The Fellowship.” Cutting back and forth between reenactment and voiceover, Sharlet mentions that LUKE, a longtime friend of his, Luke disappeared and then told him he had joined a Christian brotherhood in D.C. called “The Fellowship.” In the organization, they selflessly serve many politicians without any church, rules or religion. Luke feels he has a place to belong. After an extensive vetting process, Sharlet enters the brotherhood where they teach that Christianity has been misunderstood and that the Gospels and Acts are the only books that matter. Jeff finds his fellow roommates to be kind and searching for meaning, just like him. So, he chooses to stay although he finds some oddities and other elements of the organization uncomfortable.

The production quality of “Submersion” is above-par, but the filmmakers and select interviewees misrepresent the heart of Christianity and present the Christian organization as manipulative. “Submersion” shows some positive Christian elements but contains too much misleading content. MOVIEGUIDE® finds “Submersion” abhorrent.