I think the Rajneeshees couldn't have found a more diametrically opposed area in America to move in. You saw hundreds of people dressed head-to-toe in red walking down the streets of Antelope. How did the older, more conservative ranchers and retirees next to the ranch react to their new neighbors?ĬHAPMAN: I think when the Rajneeshees first arrived in eastern Oregon, it was almost as if this bizarre zombie sex cult had invaded. 29, 1986 at the crematorium at the Rancho Rajneesh in Rajneeshpuram, Oregon, for a book-burning. She was really "the right-hand man" of this organization, and was really in charge of building this entire religious empire.įollowers of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh gather on Oct. On Bhagwan's secretary and second in command, Ma Anand Sheela, who arranged the purchase of a 60,000-acre ranch in rural Oregon, as a new home for the communeĬHAPMAN: Ma Anand Sheela is a really complex, fascinating character.
WILD WILD COUNTRY OSHO SERIES
That's where our series starts to pick up.
WILD WILD COUNTRY OSHO FREE
Bhagwan was able to tap into Westerners who wanted to have wealth and free sex while also walking a path of enlightenment.Īmerica didn't have a lot of big gurus, and I think America was seen as maybe this major league where could go and transform the consciousness of the world.
MACLAIN WAY: Bhagwan was kind of at an interesting time in history where we had 1960s counterculture coming to an end, and we were at the end of the 70s and getting into the early 80s, and you had a lot of Americans doing this kind of Eastern migration toward India interested in seeking. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.īhagwan Shree Rajneesh, right, speaks with his disciples in this undated photo in Rajneeshpuram, Ore. The Way brothers spoke to Weekend All Things Considered about Wild Wild Country, the American dream and how the Rajneeshees tried to take over local politics by busing more than 5,000 homeless people to Wasco County, Ore. The conflict escalated to federal charges of immigration fraud, attempted murder and the largest bioterrorism attack in United States history. The Rajneeshees moved into a 60,000-acre ranch near the conservative town of Antelope, and the free-loving followers quickly began to butt heads with local residents. The directors tell the story of Rajneeshpuram, a utopian community established by the followers of an Indian spiritual guru named Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, in rural Oregon in the early 1980s. What began as a hopeful experiment spiraled into a historic battle between a new-age spiritual group, their rural neighbors - and eventually the federal government.Ĭhapman and Maclain Way explore that battle in their new Netflix six-part series, Wild Wild Country. Pitchfork has reached out to Netflix for comment.Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh greets his followers, the Rajneeshees, during a daily afternoon drive-by in one of his Rolls-Royce cars in Rajneeshpuram, Ore., on Aug. The lawsuit asserts that the first episode of “Wild Wild Country” features 88 instances of copyright infringement across 12 minutes total-“roughly a quarter of the episode’s total duration.” The lawsuit claims that the directors, producers, and Netflix were notified of the infringement allegations in February 2018 and “failed to meaningfully respond.” Osho International and Hilow are seeking profits from the series as well as damages. Filmmaker Michael Hilow, another plaintiff in the lawsuit, says footage from his 1993 documentary Rajneeshpuram an Experiment to Provoke God was also used without his permission. In the complaint, viewed by Pitchfork, Osho International claims a number of their copyrighted videos were used without permission. Directors Chapman and Maclain Way, Duplass Brothers Productions, and Netflix have been sued by the Osho International Foundation-a group that promotes the teachings of the documentary’s subject, controversial Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (aka Osho). Netflix’s Emmy-winning 2018 documentary series “ Wild Wild Country” is the subject of a new copyright infringement lawsuit.