Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey - AKA do whatever I say.

Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey is a Netflix documentary about the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), and it is disconcerting.

For any person, other than the ones inside the church, everything about the cult and lifestyle is insane. How could you believe that man is a Prophet? Almost an incarnation of God itself. This is even more shocking when you realize that he is not even such a good liar!

How is something like this possible?

As shocking as this might be for you, it is, in fact, relatively easy. You have a group of people isolated from the world. They are born and raised without any contact with the exterior world or other people. Consequently, they never heard of a different perspective.

After completely socially isolating someone, it is simple to manipulate them. Too simple.

Jeffs, the said Prophet, had complete control over these people, and he led them to do things they knew to be wrong.

Women and children are treated like livestock. Families are separated, and children are sexually assaulted. All in the name of God. This is disturbing on so many levels.

Long Format Documentary

This idea of creating a documentary in episodes is interesting, but it doesn’t always work. Unfortunately, this was one of these cases - four episodes were way too many.

The last episode is the best because it gives answers and uncovers the most obnoxious crimes. I understood the slow pace of the first episode. It had a specific goal: to put us into the FLDS life. Yet, the other two episodes were unnecessarily long and tiring.

There is more to this.

The documentary is interesting and almost unbelievable.

I read that there were things left off the documentary, a fact that seems to annoy some people. Well, any documentary tends to focus on a perspective or point of view. They focus on the story of those 2 women, and frankly, it was sickening enough.

In the end, what’s more shocking? The crimes and abuses happening behind closed doors? Or the fact that the FLDS still exists even after all of this?

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