'The Oath: Part II' gives voice to defenders and acolytes of the dangerous sexual sect NXIVM

In 2020, the documentary series

stood out in the increasingly crowded and competitive

landscape .

Directors Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim, Oscar nominees for the documentary

, explored the universe around the controversial group NXIVM, considered by the US justice system to be a sexual sect that camouflaged its criminal activities under the guise of a self-help group .

The case went to court and several of the defendants were sentenced to prison.

His leader, Keith Raniere, who had fled to Mexico, was sentenced in New York to 120 years in prison for crimes including human trafficking and sexual exploitation, just a few months after his story aired on HBO.

Everything around this association generated a lot of media expectation, because some of its leader's collaborators were actresses who had participated in Hollywood productions, such as Allison Mack, who played Superman's friend in the teen series

.

She was prosecuted for approaching young women who attended these self-improvement courses and attracting them to the environment of the NXIVM leader.

Under the manipulation of the cult leader, they became his sex slaves, not allowed to eat and branded like cattle, with a tattoo of Raniere's initials.

Some former members of the organization corroborated these accusations during several episodes.

The last minute of

closed with a promise that, two years later, is fulfilled in this second batch of episodes: to provide new testimonies, unpublished in any media.

Specifically, this season bases much of its interest on the extensive statements of Nancy Salzman, Raniere's right hand and his partner, as co-founder of NXIVM.

She insists on her innocence on camera, only admitting to being responsible for the line of business related to self-help courses.

Before the judge, she pleaded guilty to racketeering to avoid going to trial.

She claims to be unaware of Raniere's inner circle in which she sexually abused her, although her own eldest daughter, Lauren, was part of it.

This former nurse who decided to study alternative therapies and put them into practice in her own company, with the help of a man she considered a brilliant mind, says she is a victim of the predator twice, as a mother and as a businesswoman.

For Naoujaim, Salzman "is a fascinating character, whose testimony explains to us how a handful of good intentions can end up in something absolutely horrible," she comments in mid-October from New York, in a telematic conversation.

On this occasion, Noujaim is directing alone, while Amer, also involved in the series, is not behind the camera to focus on other projects from his joint production company,

.

After all the amalgamation of data and psychological portraits of the original series, which helped focus a very unusual story, the story is much more limited and focused on these new episodes.

“When we started in 2017 with this project, we didn't even know that what was behind NXIVM was sexual abuse.

Actress Sarah Edmonson told us that she had been invited to be part of a more intimate circle within the organization and that she had some doubts about it.

We prepared the cameras without knowing what we were going to find.

When we were shooting that first part, Keith Renner was arrested and we understood that there was going to be a trial that would give us the opportunity to continue expanding the story in the future”, says the director.

Nancy Salzman, co-founder of NXIVM with Keith Raniere, speaks exclusively for the documentary series. Lucero Mendez (WARNER MEDIA)

moral debate

To Salzman's testimony, which Noujaim obtained "after spending more than a year exchanging written messages with her", are added those of several former NXIVM women who continue to defend Raniere.

"They do not agree with the official version given by the US Justice and they feel that the real story has many more nuances than those offered by the official version," says the documentary filmmaker.

The truth is that the cover of this sect was very well elaborated.

In recent decades, more than 7,000 people have attended some of the company's courses somewhere in the world.

The director of this documentary became aware of its existence when she was part of one of them, in 2009.

Other testimonies in favor of Raniere are those of some of those who attended those workshops.

He assures that the false guru, who had already been convicted in the past for pyramid schemes, changed their lives for the better.

And, not having been part of that inner circle of sex slaves, they remain positioned on the side of their leader, establishing an uncomfortable moral debate that the series does not shy away from.

One of the most shocking is the testimony of Isabella, a young woman with Tourette syndrome who came to NXIVM to control some of the side effects of this disorder.

Despite her positive evolution, she decided to leave the organization as she felt rejected by some of the norms and situations that she witnessed in it.

Her father, on the other hand, gives more importance to the improvement that her daughter has experienced than to the crimes committed within the company.

Nancy Salzman's hands, at a moment in 'The Oath: Part II'. Lucero Mendez (WARNER MEDIA)

The Oath: Part II

It is not limited to giving a voice to Raniere's environment and shows new data and accusations that have emerged around the organization since the first episodes of this HBO Max production were broadcast.

But, for the person in charge of it, it was important to include the dissenting voices.

“The vast majority of people who approached NXIVM are good people who wanted to improve themselves in order to improve the world.

Therefore, a moral judgment around many of these people is a dangerous practice.

Every time we live in more closed bubbles.

Debate is what has built democracy so far.

Hopefully the documentary genre continues to be a place where contrary opinions can be heard, ”he defends.

There is so much material yet to be explored, that Noujaim does not rule out returning in a few years with a third part,

You can follow EL PAÍS TELEVISIÓN on

Subscribe to continue reading

read without limits

Keep reading

I'm already a subscriber