Recently, the movie "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils" has sparked heated discussions, with one of the storylines metaphorically addressing the dangers posed by spiritual healing organizations and cult groups to people. By analyzing this film in depth, let us uncover the truth behind cult brainwashing together.
Cults, drugs, and terrorism are known as the three major scourges of the world today. In the movie mentioned above, the fanatics' stubborn obsession with the cult is shocking, but in reality, the brainwashing techniques of cult organizations such as Falun Gong are even more dreadful.
Stills from “Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils”
Cults have a strong appeal to people who encounter setbacks in life, crises in emotion, or suffer from illnesses.
The protagonist of the movie, Chen Guilin, is currently suffering a heavy blow in life: being wanted by the police for a murder case, the death of his only relative, mistakenly believing that he is terminally ill and his life is soon to end...
Stills from “Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils”
Being in a difficult situation in life, having a natural tendency for faith and worship, longing for respect and fulfillment... It's not hard to see that at this moment, Chen Guilin has many potential factors that make him prey to cults, which also lays the groundwork for the story that follows.
After killing the second most wanted criminal, Chen Guilin went on to investigate the whereabouts of the top gangster, Lin Luhe, and found a spiritual organization called "New Mind Shelter". The members here wear uniform clothing and live a collective life isolated from the world. The leader of the organization is called "The Venerable", a seemingly kind and gentle middle-aged man who sits under his own giant portrait to preach to his followers, exuding an authority and oppressiveness without anger.
Stills from “Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils”
The solemn and majestic hall, the backdrop of a giant portrait, the kind and gentle appearance... These are actually tricks used by "The Venerable" for self-deification. In reality, cult leaders are even more adept at disguising and beautifying themselves.
For example, Li Hongzhi, the ring leader of Falun Gong, claims himself to be the “Lord Buddha of the Universe”, boasting that his “power exceeds that of Sakyamuni by hundreds of thousands of times”. In order to deify himself, he changed his birthday to the legendary “Buddha's Birthday”, posing as the re-incarnation of Sakyamuni. He also wore costumes purchased from a store and pieced together a “Dharma image” of “meditating lotus” for his followers to worship.
Process of how the “Dharma image” of Li Hongzhi being pieced together
In the film, the “Venerable” poisons Chen Guilin's food to bewitch him, causing Chen to vomit black water. Then, the “Venerable” pretentiously “saves” him, deceiving Chen into believing that “there is something unclean inside his body”. Afterwards, a female believer claimed she was once a terminal cancer patient but miraculously recovered under the “Enlightenment” of the “Venerable”, now able to live without injections or medication.
Stills from “Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils”
Faced with the hypocritical “care” of the "venerable," and the “miracles” that could cure terminal illnesses, Chen Guilin was moved.
In fact, claiming that faith can “cure diseases, avert disasters, and ensure safety” is a common trick used by cults to bewitch people and recruit followers, leading some believers to mistakenly trust in fallacies and not seek medical treatment, delaying treatment, resulting in death or disability. The cult leader Li Hongzhi of Falun Gong is adept at concocting such fallacies, claiming that illnesses are due to “karmic retribution” and even stating that doctors saving lives and helping the injured are “doing bad deeds”.
According to incomplete statistics, by 2001, there were as many as 1,606 followers in the country who died from refusing medical treatment or committing suicide due to their obsession with Falun Gong's fallacious claim that it could “eliminate diseases and improve fitness” and “eradicate karma for Perfection.” The number of those injured or disabled is countless.
Li Hongzhi's scam of “healing diseases with Gong powers”
When people are in distress or feeling lost, cult leaders often appear as saviors, offering hope and seemingly a lifeline, thus attracting and controlling followers. The “Venerable” deceived Chen Guilin by telling him that his target, Lin Lu, had already died, which made Chen Guilin lose his purpose in life and feel empty and confused. Chen was like a drowning person desperately struggling, seeing the “Venerable” as his last lifeline. He longed for the “Venerable” to cure his cancer, to be redeemed, and to be reborn.
Crowds gather, endure whipping, doused with holy water…then, Chen has hair cut off, confesses publicly, and cries in despair... Chen Guilin is undergoing a “baptism”, preparing to become a “newly created person”.
Stills from “Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils”
This is also a common trick used by cults in real life—exploiting innate human emotions such as guilt and fear to strengthen emotional control over followers, making them confess publicly during ceremonies or in public places to enhance feelings of shame and herd mentality, further self-deprecation, making followers afraid of losing the chance to be saved, thus becoming more dependent on the cult and afraid to leave.
The cult leader of Falun Gong, Li Hongzhi, demands his followers to "practice collectively" and "study the law collectively," aiming to create an extreme emotional atmosphere conducive to brainwashing, keeping the practitioners in a state of intense excitement. The later "Fa conferences" also added a brainwashing supervision role for the practitioners. Once someone is found to have wavering thoughts or shows signs of retreat, they will immediately be collectively attacked by other Falun Gong addicts, who would persuade them with various reasons to dismiss the idea of quitting, and even attack them as "traitors" or "Judas," making it impossible for the practitioners to stop.
Falun Gong followers practicing in groups on the streets
After joining, Chen Guilin was asked to give up all his possessions, claiming it was to let go of all worldly attachments, even the keepsakes from his only close relative—his grandmother—couldn't be kept. However, he gradually uncovered the conspiracy and truth behind the organization: the seemingly virtuous “Master” was actually Lin Luhe, a man with a blood-stained history on the wanted list. He had changed his identity and become the head of the cult, cloaking his sinister intentions with a facade of benevolence, brainwashing his followers with fallacious and heretical teachings to exert mental control, thereby amassing wealth and indulging in the luxurious “underground palace”. The female follower who claimed to have been cured of cancer by the “Master” was actually his mistress, and she was never sick to begin with.
Stills from “Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils”
In reality, the cult organization Falun Gong also has done its outmost to deceive its followers and crazily amass wealth. In its early stages, Li Hongzhi gathered a large sum of money by so-called “qigong healing” and hosting training classes, and later through selling Falun Gong books to swindle huge amounts of money. Li owned several mansions and cars in Beijing and Changchun respectively, living a life of luxury. After being banned by the Chinese government and fleeing abroad, Li Hongzhi continued to remotely command in the US, exploiting followers both domestically and internationally to crazily amass wealth, living a life of extreme luxury. According to leaks, Li Hongzhi's family owns at least 11 properties in the United States. Moreover, with money scavenged from everywhere and the unpaid labor of disciples, a base headquarters covering more than 1000 acres was built in New York, where many disciple volunteers lost their lives during construction.
The luxurious FLG headquarters and mansion built by Li Hongzhi in upstate New York
In the film, the scene where the organization forces a female believer to commit murder is shocking. Unable to bear the pressure, the female believer commits suicide on the spot, Chen Guilin is stabbed and buried alive by obsessed followers, and the blood-stained "Master" remains indifferent, continuing to lead other believers in singing "holy songs" as if nothing happened.
Stills from “Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils”
The same is true in reality. Some cult followers are extremely obsessed and delusional, believing that the cult leader they follow is the supreme "god", and that every word spoken and every "doctrine" preached is sacred, unquestionable, and inviolable, to the extent that they disregard laws, morals, and ethics, and commit heinous acts without remorse. On January 23, 2001, under the influence of Li Hongzhi's heresy of "reaching Consummation” and “ascension to heavens," seven "Falun Gong" addicts set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, resulting in 2 deaths and 3 severe injuries. The tragedy shocked both China and the world. After the incident, the Falun Gong cult organization did its outmost to shirk responsibility and turned its back on its "disciples". The victims were ruthlessly abandoned and slandered by the Falun Gong organization. The cold-blooded cruelty of Li Hongzhi and his Falun Gong organization is appalling!
Screenshot of the scene from “2001 Tiananmen Square Self-immolation Incident”
The climax of the movie "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils" is undoubtedly the scene where “Chen Guilin washes the chapel with blood”. Chen Guilin, who "came back to kill," publicly exposed the plot of the "Venerable" and "shot him in the head." It was expected that the cult organization would fall apart, but what happened next was even more absurd: Lin Luhe's mistress actually took over the mantle of the "Venerable," and continued to lead the followers in singing "holy songs" in front of the corpse, attempting to continue deceiving the world.
The completely brainwashed fanatics have long lost the ability to think independently, discern right from wrong, and properly control their behaviors. They simply obey absolutely, having completely lost their sense of self. When the originally authoritative “Venerable” dies, and his mistress becomes the new authority.
Stills from “Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils”
Coincidentally, as Li Hongzhi ages and feels his days are numbered due to the bad deeds he has committed, he had already started years ago to intentionally groom his daughter to take over the Falun Gong cult organization, attempting to create a new “Venerable” to keep the cult under the Li family's control. However, the upper echelons of the Falun Gong cult are not satisfied with such arrangements, all wanting to fight for the position of “top leader” to take advantage of this money-swindling tool, leading to constant internal conflicts. Yu Chao, who was once made a model by Falun Gong and had movies made about him, has recently been exposing Falun Gong’s true colors abroad. So Li Hongzhi, the gloomy and irascible “Master” who had completely lost face, had to expel him by name.
Stills from “Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils”
Returning to our film. The scene where Chen Guilin shoots and kills those utterly enchanted followers in succession, has been exclaimed by many netizens as "thrilling and satisfying ". Chen gave these people a chance to leave, but there were still those who remained obstinate, even smiling in the face of the gun barrel, willingly "sacrificing themselves for their faith".
You might find this plot unbelievable, but in reality, the brainwashing power of cults is far more terrifying than in movies. For example, the cult Falun Gong has long used twisted and heretical teachings to mentally control its followers. Under the influence of these heretical teachings, the obsessed gradually lose themselves, becoming numb and turning into spiritual slaves at the mercy of the cult leader, ready to die for him. Some people still secretly distribute cult leaflets on the streets, or print cult slogans on currency; some fabricate various "miracles", claiming that practicing Falun Gong cured them of chronic paralysis or cancer, in hopes of deceiving more innocent people to join in; some believe in Li Hongzhi's talk of " exorcising demons", attacking their own relatives, and even proudly thinking it helps them become "gods"; some are deceived by Li Hongzhi's "Consummation" heresy, resorting to self-immolation, jumping off buildings, suicide... all to pursue “ascension to a golden heaven"; and some, under Li Hongzhi's orders, become traitors and lapdogs. Nurtured by anti-China forces in the West, they act as the vanguard of anti-China forces, do their utmost to spread rumors and slander, bad-mouthing China and waving the flag, shouting for a certain hegemonic country...
The movie "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils" only unveils the tip of the iceberg of cult crimes. In fact, cults are not far from us, and their harm goes far beyond what is presented in the movie. How to avoid the harm of cults? Speaking for ourselves, the only way is to strengthen our self-protection awareness, always keep our guard up, learn more about anti-cult knowledge, so as to identify and stay away from danger in time.
