Film

AUM: THE CULT AT THE END OF THE WORLD

In 1995 the world was horrified when the release of a deadly nerve gas in Tokyo’s crowded subway system killed thirteen people and injured thousands more. But what came next was even more unbelievable: The attack was the work of a doomsday cult. In AUM: The Cult at the End of the World, directors Ben Braun and Chiaki Yanagimoto shine a bright light on a dark story that is little know today, even in Japan, tracing the shocking evolution of a spiritual group into a terrorist organization stockpiling weapons of mass destruction from the collapsed Soviet Union. With a wealth of historical footage as well as in-depth interviews with the courageous few who were willing to take on the cult when Japan’s police and mass media were looking the other way, AUM: The Cult at the End of the World is a potent reminder of just how dangerous unchecked fanaticism can be.