In Search of the Great Beast 666 is a documentary directed by Robert Garofalo, with narration by Joss Ackland ('Watership Down,' 'Lethal Weapon 2,' 'The Hunt for Red October') and music by Rick Wakeman (from the band 'Yes'). It was released in 2007 through Classic Home Entertainment. While the production value of the documentary is relatively high, it is riddled with bias and inaccuracies.
The documentary focuses primarily on the "wickedness" of Aleister Crowley and the many misfortunes that befell him while giving little or no attention to his many literary and other accomplishments. For example, around three times as much time is spent focusing on the death of Raoul Loveday at the Abbey of Thelema than the reception of the Book of the Law, which was the centerpiece of Crowley's life and his title of being prophet of Thelema. Nearly every scene mentions Crowley's "sodomy," "debauchery," and "satanic" dealings. The director seems to have an uncanny obsession with Crowley's performance of "sexual magick." The music is almost entirely sinister when mentioning Crowley's magical training and rituals and the images shown are almost always shown with an overly of sepia-colored wrinkles and cracks. The intent to portray Crowley in a "wicked" and "depraved" light is quite apparent.
Many parts of the documentary include dramatic reenactments from the characters of Crowley's life which lead to some quite liberal interpretations of history. The mere choice of adjectives to describe Crowley's rituals and actions - often "blasphemous," "evil," and "satanic" - lead one to wonder whether what belief-system the director himself adheres to... Further, many parts are simply chronologically or entirely inaccurate. The only references to Thelema as a philosophy are select, inaccurate quotations from the Book of the Law. Many pronunciations of words are botched (Goetia is pronounced as "Go-eh-tee-uh" by the actor portraying Allan Bennet and the Gnostic Mass is pronounced "Guh-nos-tic" by the narrator, calling into question the level of research they put into Crowley's life) which is wholly embarrassing. The director even entertains conspiracy theories about Crowley's supposed connection to George HW and W Bush. There is no attempt to explain Thelema's tenets in the least, no mention of the large majority of Crowley's literary output (the only books mentioned are the Book of the Law, the Equinox, and Magick in Theory and Practice along with oddly selective bits from his poetry), no focus on his creation of a new Tarot, and no mention of his influence on culture in general.
While it is said that any press is good press one can't help but feel that this documentary is one episode in the long tradition of the media in attempting portray Crowley as "The Wickedest Man in the World."
Rating: 2/5 - as mentioned above, the production value is relatively good, but the bias, the inaccuracies, and the liberal interpretations of history through dramatic reenactments are either the product of extremely poor research or, more likely, an inherent bias in the director to see everything Crowley does as "evil" and "blasphemous."
