10 Louis Theroux Documentaries You Need To Watch Before You Die
3. The Most Hated Family In America
Throughout his career, Theroux has paid numerous visits to the infamous Westboro Baptist Church, who achieved worldwide notoriety during the Iraq war for their homophobic protests at the funerals of US war veterans.
However, his first visit in 2007 stands out as the most disturbing and utterly compelling portrait of the Kansas-based hate group.
Theroux's attempts to find humanity and compassion during such hateful encounters are endlessly fascinating to watch and allow him to showcase his remarkable ability to remain calm in almost every situation.
In particular, his interview with the church's leader, Fred Phelps, is one of his most hostile, yet he still persists in pointing out the hate preacher's outrageous arrogance and hypocrisy.
This ability to find humanity is particularly striking during his interviews with the church's younger members. As people who were born into the church, many of their views are quite clearly a result of a lifetime of indoctrination which makes separating their identity from their ideology extremely difficult.
Despite their abhorrent statements, Theroux still manages to find a level of normality within their lives and begins to discover the first signs of the discontent within the church's ranks that would prompt his return visits.
Although it is not the most uplifting of his Westboro Baptist Church trilogy, it is essential to understanding the group's bizarre power dynamic and twisted ideology.