This is a very good film which should get more exposure due to its pertinent subject matter.

Luc Picard as Roch Theriault, a charismatic cult leader who ran a commune in the Canadian wilderness; Polly Walker portrays the social worker who exposes his abusive practices, and having experienced marital abuse herself; at first intuits that something is awry in the commune, which the social service agency must first check out.

When the board of assessors approves Theriault, and vindicates him, she went on record as objecting, but it unfortunately took a lot longer to finally expose his crimes against humanity. Toward the end there is a most disturbing scene as he is drinking with his numerous wives, partying, and suddenly takes a knife and casually grinds it into one of the women's hands, letting her sit there until she passes out from the intense pain. Then he removes it, and tells she she is lucky he can fix it, as he comes toward her with an ax.

Very disturbing and interesting commentary on the psychology of commune life, brainwashing, and how people become involved with cults in the first place. 8/10.

Commune and polygamy cults are always interesting to me, so I was quite interested in seeing 'Savage Messiah', a supposedly true story about a cult-like figure who had his own commune in the hills in the Quebec country. Funny how I didn't hear about this until I watched this movie. Interesting. Anyways, the leader of course, treats his women and kids like garbage, while the women feel this is the price to pay, as he is their God in some ways. The Quebec children's ministry had a different say, and the story is about the fight to rescue the children, and ultimately, the wives, out of there. While this is an amazing subject, the big problem I had with this is Luc "Engage!" Picard's overboard portrayal of Roch Theriault. From the minute he appears on the screen, he's chewing it up furiously as the leader. Everyone else is fine in this movie, but Picard is just annoying. The other problem I had with this, is the ridiculous religious iconography the director chose on certain scenes, especially when Theriault is caught, and he assumes a crucification pose, and his followers are all hunched on the ground. Give me a break. While the rest of the movie is good, (and Polly Walker is great!) I could have done without those two elements.

"Savage Messiah" tells the story of the rise and fall of a mad Canadian cult leader (Picard) who maintains a wilderness commune with assorted concubines and children whom he abuses. A serious, earnest, straight forward docudrama, "SM" tells its story factually with the superficiality of a news story, the "feel" of a budget conscious teleplay, and tethered melodrama making it only of marginal interest when compared with the likes Charles Manson or Jim Jones. "Savage Messiah" should be an interesting watch for anyone with a specific interest in Roch Theriault story but a ho-hummer for all others. (C+)