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Everything is shadowy and creepy, all conversations revolve around glassy-eyed invocations of Jesus, and there is one scene in which Sharlet undergoes a slightly violent initiation rite. Photograph: NetflixĮnhanced by dramatic reconstructions, the opener tells Sharlet’s story, and it is here that The Family looks most like a febrile exposé of sinister deviancy, à la Wild Wild Country. The Family’s star witness is Jeff Sharlet, the author of two books about his brief period as a resident of the pillared mansion in Virginia where the Fellowship hosts impressionable and (with the honourable exception of Sharlet) discreet young men.ĭavid Rysdahl plays Jeff Sharlet in The Family. That was crass because the event is so reverently esteemed: The Family points out that it has achieved this status without most people, including many attendees, knowing who actually runs it.Įven less is known about the luxurious residential properties in which politicians of the present or future are invited to live communally, helping each other to find Jesus. If you have measured out the Trump years in startling gaffes, the NPB is the one where Donald irrelevantly slagged off The Apprentice for tanking in the ratings.
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Its main gig is the National Prayer Breakfast (NPB), an annual invitation-only festival of speeches and meetings that has been addressed by every president since Dwight D Eisenhower. Doug Coe (right) with President George HW Bush.
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The most powerful man you never heard of.