«The Brotherhood»: the drama of the Solar Temple seen from the inside

Almost thirty years after the massacres of the Order of the Solar Temple, a documentary series takes an in-depth look at the human reasons behind the tragedy. A story enriched by archives and never-before-seen eyewitness accounts, it lifts the veil even further on sectarian horror.

No one has forgotten the tragedy. Mass killings and suicides that claimed the lives of 74 people in Switzerland, France and Quebec. All linked to the Order of the Solar Temple (OTS) sect. Numerous films and documentaries have already been made about this affair with its many grey areas. With The Brotherhood, journalist Eric Lemasson and director Pierre Morath have co-written a documentary series that sheds further light on the tragedies of 1994, 1995 and 1997.

This well-crafted work, which exploits the codes of the series, gives the floor to former OTS protagonists who have remained silent until now, and reveals unpublished archives of the organization. All of which enriches a narrative that strives to trace the resolutely human origins of fanatical escalation. A tour de force on the part of Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), which already holds a place of choice among the channel's offerings.

Before the climax, the genesis

Previous productions on the subject have used the OTS massacres as an anchor for their stories. Such is the case with Solar Temple: the impossible investigation (2022), which attempts to unravel the judicial elements in the style of a detective story. A prospect akin to a «bottomless pit», series co-writer Pierre Morath told the newspaper Le Temps. The Brotherhood reverses the perspective, narrating events before the OTS was even founded. From the very first seconds of the documentary, the focus is on what convinced the group to join in the first place. Brotherhood, of course.

In this way, the Order appears first and foremost not as the dangerous sect we know it to be today, but as the Eldorado of humanity that its first members found there. «There was a love, a sharing, a spirituality that I had never seen elsewhere», in the words of conductor Michel Tabachnik, a former member. He adds that the community was also «very open to the world». It was indeed in the soil of love and benevolence that the craziest esoteric beliefs germinated and developed, right up to the macabre «transit to Sirius», the consecration of sect members supposed to take place through death. A tragic end also made possible by a series of manipulations on the part of guru Joseph Di Mambro.

Michel Tabachnik, number three or scapegoat

Michel Tabachnik was long considered the third man of the OTS. He even chaired the Golden Way Foundation, from which the sect grew. The story is largely based on his testimony, which is eloquent and sometimes painful.

On the other hand, the fact that this intelligent man, who gave lectures to followers and signed the esoteric writings that make up part of their doctrine, disclaims any moral responsibility can be disturbing, even irritating. External analyses by journalist and documentary co-author Eric Lemasson, who has been following the case since 1994, and Jean-François Mayer, an expert on religious movements, help to put his claims into perspective, and the ambivalent role, «one foot in, one foot out», that he played in the group.

«Let's leave the house before it burns down».»

Finally, the series brings to light a thorny issue: freedom of belief. When we see the tragic events to which the ideas of the OTS have led, we are necessarily indignant against sectarian systems. Perhaps to the point of wanting to ban outright esoteric groups that are too far removed from the traditional religious landscape, or imply too great a distance between their members and the rest of society. Yet, while esoteric beliefs may indeed constitute a slippery slope, banning them would be a liberticidal and arbitrary pitfall, hardly desirable in a state governed by the rule of law. The legal definition of what constitutes a sect remains a delicate one.

As Michel Tabachnik reminds us at the start of the series: «A community was very fashionable at the time». The '80s and '90s saw the emergence of a number of movements, from the promotion of better living and organic farming to the proclamation of the end of the world. The OTS years saw the end of the Trente Glorieuses, when the oil crisis brought the economy to its knees and the world feared nuclear catastrophe. A fertile breeding ground for communities like this one, which, by preparing its followers for transit to Sirius, claimed to be leading them to a better world.

Read also | Beliefs in the end of the world: «Millenarianism brings hope».»

Pandemics, climate disruption... the idea of apocalypse still has a bright future ahead of it. Even in Switzerland today, certain groups are exploiting it in other ways. What if this story were to repeat itself?

Write to the author: jean.friedrich@leregardlibre.com

The 4 episodes, each 53 minutes long, are already available on the RTS streaming platform. Play Switzerland. The series will be broadcast on RTS Un on February 8, 2023 (episodes 1 and 2) and February 15, 2023 (episodes 3 and 4).