Mormon Film and Video

A lot of folks seem to be enjoying the HBO series Big Love at the moment. It is a great series, on par with other HBO dramas like The Sopranos etc.

It's set in a Mormon world (somewhere called Utah? wouldn't mind seeing more Utes around), focused on a family whose generally-Mormon yet heterodox religious doctrines and lifeways (which include polygamy) seem to be abhorred by the Mormon mainstream, and therefore they hide their actual beliefs and practices.

The show is fascinating, and of course it's because the Hendricksons and their situation end up being very relatable after all... i think it spurs many viewers as it has us to reevaluate ideas of family and of how we are and ought to be living...I don't mean whether we should add more people to our marriage! the show turns out to be about the same challenges of relationship and communication and values that any other drama might be about

I'm aware that the show is not popular with most Latter-Day Saints, partly because it might be presenting favorably stuff that they don't agree with, and partly because the Hendrickson's LDS friends and neighbors, coworkers and employees might be seen unfavorably.

Well are you willing to have your mind opened and see how great these folks can be? then let me help you out by suggesting that you investigate the many very worthwhile Mormon movies that have come out in the last few years. You never heard of Mormon cinema? Yes it is another conspiracy keeping this information from you. Check out my blogspot neighbors at ldsfilm.blogspot.com.

I think the main thing we notice with these films is that they begin with the premise that human beings have a lot in common, and that it's natural and healthy to want to help each other (rather than from, what seems to have become considered in Hollywood the only believable premise, namely that all characters are ultimately opposed to each other, and that 'drama' is the struggle of all of them against each other). The result is movies that really are worth the time of watching them, and viewers are left inspired and thankfully unslimed

These movies got us picturing an interfaith spiritual film festival, where movies like these would be seen alongside ones like Dzongshar Khyentse's and even sincere agnostic films like the great new Stranger than Fiction

The majority that make it our way come from HaleStorm entertainment
We haven't seen all of their movies: maybe half have come to our Hollywood video, which capriciously sends movies to some and not other stores based on some, eh, racial profiling they do or something. And not everything we did see was memorable...We did especially enjoy The R.M., The Singles Ward, The Best Two Years...

We've developed a real agape love for Kirby Heyborne!!
hey buddy!

and no doubt you will too if you see a couple of his movies...



Perhaps the greatest Mormon movie yet watched by us still is God's Army, by Richard Dutcher (shown here filming Brigham City.) Dutcher wrote, directed, and stars in God's Army, an intense drama -- alright: Mormon-intense, for you overworldly, desensitized types. Even though the film is proselytizing and judgmental (probably qualities of Dutcher's, and notably not true of any of the other movies mentioned here), still it's a must-see for anyone who really likes movies and moviemaking, and as an example of the auteur movie. God's Army established the possibility and inspired the flood of Mormon film fun which followed ...

Try to watch that one and then the hilarious The Work and the Story, which is totally referencing God's Army