Review | Me and the Cult Leader movie review: Japanese documentary follows Tokyo subway gas attack victim and member of the cult responsible across the country

Atsushi Sakahara, a victim of the 1995 sarin gas attack, documents his meeting with Hiroshi Araki, PR director of what was then known as the Aum Shinrikyo cult

Anyone unaware of their backgrounds might be forgiven for mistaking this as a reunion between old classmates as they journey to their hometowns

Reading Time:2 minutes

Aleph member Hiroshi Araki (left) and filmmaker Atsushi Sakahara at the Tokyo Sarin Gas Attack Memorial, in 2016, in a still from Me and the Cult Leader (category: 1, Japanese), directed by Atsushi Sakahara.

Published: 10:45am, 25 May 2021Updated: 6:46pm, 28 May 2021

3/5 stars

The sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway on March 20, 1995, remains the most deadly attack on Japanese soil since the second world war. The incident, carried out by the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult, claimed 13 lives and injured more than 6,000 people, many of whom still wrestle with the after-effects more than 25 years later.

Filmmaker Atsushi Sakahara was one such victim and his film Me and the Cult Leader documents his meeting with Hiroshi Araki, current PR director of the cult now known as Aleph, who was a young Aum Shinrikyo devotee at the time of the attack.

Me and the Cult Leader is not your typical showdown between bitter rivals. Anyone unaware of Sakahara and Araki’s backgrounds might be forgiven for mistaking this as a reunion between old classmates. They are friendly towards one another, making jokes and small talk, as they journey to both their hometowns.

Inevitably, conversation turns to the horrifying incident that tragically entwined their lives, but even then there is a reluctance to bring it up, let alone relive the details or ruminate on the aftermath.

Araki, who is cripplingly timid and inarticulate, guides the jolly and jocular Sakahara around the modest living quarters he shares with other cult members, before taking him to the small rural village where he shares fond memories of childhood holidays at his grandmother’s home.