I haven't seen the movie, but here's a review of "Holy Smoke" by Ian Haworth.  Reviews of his book, Cults, A Practical Guide can be read here, on the British Cult Information Centre:

http://www.cultinformation.org.uk/cic_book.html

Film Review

37. Holy Smoke Review
Steve Hassan's Mailing List, Dec. 21, 1999
http://www.freedomofmind.com

By Ian Haworth, Cult Information Centre

Yesterday evening I was able to see an industry preview, at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, of the film 'Holy Smoke', starring Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel. For those working in the field of cult awareness and for families with loved ones in cults, this film will be a great disappointment at best and will surely be seen as highly offensive by the majority.

The film promotes many of the myths and cult propaganda that suggest only lost searching kids become involved with cults and that deprogrammers financially exploit families and sexually exploit those they are supposed to counsel.

Jane Campion was the writer/director of the film and having left the screening area, I was advised that, "the film was very Jane Campion. It was all about the change in the relationship between a man and a woman and the shift of power and dominance from one to another." That seems to be the case and indeed the press pack certainly suggests that this was Jane's intention. The issue of cults was clearly of no real interest to Jane and quite irrelevant to the story line.

However, to use Jane Campion's apparent misunderstanding of exit counselling as an artistic excuse to show a power struggle between a man and a woman and a  passionate sexual encounter is in my opinion quite revolting. Surely exit counselling is not about power and dominance, it is about enabling the disabled, it is about reactivating critical thought, it is about giving back personal choice and freedom.

If one sees the film as a statement about Jane's own insight into or confusion about interpersonal relationships and her spiritual meanderings, then I found the film extremely disjointed and boring. However, to abuse the topic of cults in this appalling way was yet another indicator of Jane's lack of knowledge of a very serious problem.

Where was the research? The lack of understanding of the real impact of
cults on individuals and their families is tragic. There is also a confused use of terminology when for example the deprogrammer is described as an exit-counsellor. This confusion continues in the press pack that accompanied the industry preview, with the deprogrammer being described with both terms. As for what the deprogrammer did, it too had nothing to do with reality and was very upsetting to watch.

The level of research was so poor they even gave the wrong date for the 'Jonestown' tragedy in Guyana in 1978. In addition, as an asthmatic for over 45 years, I was surprised to find that even their research into asthma must have been practically non-existent. The asthmatic mother in the movie is seen many times using a Ventolin inhaler as though it was a breath freshener.

Holy Smoke is also punctuated with crude attempts at black humour and farce, which seem to be utterly pointless and add nothing to the whole experience. I found myself embarrassed for Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel having to grapple with some of their lines in such an appalling plot. My anxiety was further increased by the poor acting of some of the cast in their portrayal of a dysfunctional family.

I wish Jane had picked another way for the central characters to meet, because the film is a great disservice to hundreds of people around the world like myself, who have worked tirelessly for many years to try to assist society to understand the very serious nature of cults.

I had heard from Australia this was not a good movie, but I was shocked at the new depths to which this one sank... (However, I shall refrain from any cheap puns about the Titanic here.)

'Unholy Mess' would have been my choice of title for the film. However, if you are still foolish enough to risk seeing the film, please buy a large box of popcorn, when you enter, so at least you will have something to enjoy.