I knew someone who was swallowed up in a cult. I visited this woman for years in order to bring her some connection with the outside world. In order to have a half hour visit, I had to sit through hours of lectures and videotapes, hoping to indoctrinate me. The videos were basically documentaries. Space Barbie (Real Life Ukrainian Barbie), which Vice.com has made available in for free, is an exposé and indoctrination. The Guru meets Josie and the Pussycats, with a little help from Brit Marling’s modern cult mock-documentary, Sound of My Voice. Director Will Fairman exposes beauty as a superficial illusion while embracing the spiritual tenets behind the transformation. He does not editorialize, he merely documents, allowing Valeria Lukyanova, the subject of the film, to be herself at all times.
Valeria Lukyanova is known as the “Odessa Barbie,” she’s been followed by controversy ever since she surgically transformed herself into a human Barbie doll. Her transformation was a distraction to wake people from “the clutches of superficiality and negative energy.” She is Klaatu, from The Day the Earth Stood Still, not the supposed secret Beatle reunion. Valeria Lukyanova traveled through time and space to become a guru here on earth. Like The Space Barbie achieved physical perfection and is on a mission to bring her “life-changing philosophy to the human race.”
Lukyanova is a riveting presence, victim, exploiter, visionary, freak, you can see all of these in her performance. She is Elvis and Bigfoot, with more than her share of Andy Kaufman. She projects a kind of liberation that she fully commits to. It runs a slim line between the deep end and the shallow end of the pools, but it is not still waters. The audience may not see her as a god, but she exudes a Dionysian megalomania. Her voice changes as she becomes the different gods within her. She saw spirits since she was 12 years old and confused when she learned others didn’t see them. She has scattered memories from other incarnations.
You see, Valeria Lukyanova is a guru from outer space. The film explains that Lukyanova is not quite human, she is from another planet and she’s come to the planet as a spiritual master. She is bringing a new religion to the earth and the human Barbie is its messenger. The philosophy is extraterrestrial and only in its Infancy here. But Lukyanova is Joan of Arc, she suffered the barbs of international criticism and here to spread the word.
"Greetings, people of planet Earth. I am Amatue, Topiltzin, Pacal Votan, Wiracocha, Tara, Navija. The aim of my life is to come to this planet to help people realize that it is necessary to move from the role of 'human-consumer' to the role of 'human demi-god.' I am everything, everything is love, love is God. I am you, and you are me."
The movie starts with TV appearances Lukyanova made when she got famous for her surgical and cosmetic procedures. She was taunted with claims that she was nothing inside, that she encouraged a generation of women to worship hair extensions, boob jobs, makeovers, tummy-tucks, Botox and liposuction anything it took to attain the perfection of beauty. People assumed that Lukyanova underwent surgical procedures herself; no one suspected that her perfection was achieved via extraterrestrial means and that she came to earth to teach about astral projection and other spiritual evolution.
This movie may have had the longest trailer promo in years, for over a year, Lukyanova has been posing as a Ukrainian model. Her image became a meme that has been beamed directly into mass human consciousness. She has been accused of brainwashing young and impressionable skinny people, but it’s all been for her big reveal. Valeria Lukyanova also wants to teach earthlings the truth about life and death. Scientists theorize that it might possibly be the planet Venus, which is named for the goddess of love.
Valeria, whose spiritual name is Amatue, said “I asked myself if everything was alright with my head. I hear voices all the time and see different beings. One day I decided to visit a psychiatrist. I told him everything. He listened to me carefully and said it was very lucky it was him because with another doctor I definitely would have been taken to a special place. He said ‘I’ve been studying esoterism for years and can see you are psychic.’”
The documentary expands on the Human Barbie’s beliefs. It explains that Valeria was paranoid about not achieving the level of perfection she knew was within her. She offers spiritual advice on such diverse topics as astral projection to how to act around men. Valeria tells her sister to act like she’s in mourning, because when she smiles you can see her double chin. “Perfection doesn’t have a limit. As soon as you attain it, the degradation begins.” You can see this in the full-blonde beard she sports, as she tells us that the people from her dimension are sexless.
Valeria’s cult of friends like her spiritual sister Dominika, who comes from the Pleiades, performs rituals where they “sing an ancient Lemurian mantra to communicate with the DNA cells.”
Valeria has followers and detractors. Space Barbie shows women and men emulating and eviscerating the Valeria as she tries to provoke them by counting her ribs and showing off that she has no scars. A new religion is in its infancy. It is a vapid philosophy that is a pure Zen.
Den of Geek Rating: 3 Out of 5 Stars
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It's amazing what people will be attracted to. She's right about looks.