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Video
Review: God's Army
by Jonathan
Walker
I was talking
with my sister and her husband just the other day and I thought
they would be interested in hearing about God's Army. The conversation
went something like this:
Jonathan:
There's a new movie out about missionaries in L.A.
Brother-in-law:
Really?
Jonathan:
Yeah, it's done by a member of the church.
Brother-in-law:
It's a documentary?
Jonathan:
No, a fiction film.
Sister: Our
missionaries?
Jonathan:
Yeah. Mormon missionaries.
Brother-in-law:
Is it put out by the Church?
Jonathan:
No.
Sister: On
video?
Jonathan:
No, in the theaters.
Brother-in-law
and Sister: Really?
By the end
of the conversation, I was sure they didn't fully understand.
They couldn't wrap their brains around the fact that there could
be a film by Mormons, about Mormons, and for Mormons in theaters.
Frankly,
I expect that reaction from a lot of members of the church. We
don't yet have a precedent for telling our stories from our own
point of view. Some people who see the film won't know what to
do about it. Are they supposed to take their non-member friends?
Are they supposed to take their teenage son? Are they supposed
to condemn it?
God's Army
isn't a fireside address. It isn't an example of model missionaries.
It isn't an exposé. It isn't sensationalized. It isn't
boring. In short, God's Army isn't a lot of things. And that may
be its saving grace.
God's Army
starts out as Elder Allen (Matthew Brown) gets picked up from
the L.A. airport by the office elders of the mission. As a Midwesterner,
outer Mongolia wouldn't be more foreign than the back streets
of L.A. A drill sergeant Mission President assigns him to Elder
Dalton (Richard Dutcher), a twenty-eight year old missionary who
has a fire for the work. The rigors of mission life don't prove
to be an easy transition for this nineteen year old. Elder Allen
learns a great deal from working with investigators, interacting
with other missionaries, and overcoming his own personal struggles.
The characters
are not types, symbols, or examples; they're people. If we fall
into the trap of feeling like they should in some way be examples
of how missionaries should act, we can forgive ourselves. In the
past, missionaries in film have constituted only two groups: the
reprehensible non-member representation (a la Orgasmo) and the
church endorsed characterization (as in Called to Serve and Labor
of Love). We are wise to generally ignore the former and the latter
is meant to be instructional. For the first time, we are invited
to see a film
about Mormons not as an attack, nor a misrepresentation, nor a
teaching opportunity. We are meant to see the characters for what
they are and enjoy the story for just that, storytelling.
Director Richard
Dutcher and Meridian's Film Editors,
Jonathan Walker and Karl Bowman
The film
looks and acts like a Hollywood picture, with good directorial
decisions, effective filmmaking, and good acting. Richard Dutcher
(the film's producer, writer, and director) chooses a hands-off
approach to the directing. He calls it "directing like a writer."
He avoids unnecessary cinematic devices and camera movement. Doing
this, the emphasis falls on the characters and the drama of the
story. This focus proves effective because the acting is so believable.
For all its
proficiencies, this is no Hollywood film. Dutcher makes particular
care that he does not shy away from portraying the spiritual struggles
and experiences of the missionaries. He deals with this part of
these character's lives as comfortably as he does the moments
of comedy
or drama. Those moments are so "at home" in the subject matter
that their exclusion would have been a reprehensible oversight.
Even with
the treatment of spirituality, Dutcher goes to great pains to
assure that the film doesn't look or sound like church-made films.
He consciously avoids some of the conventions that are common
to church-made productions like swelling music, warm cinematography,
and didacticism.
The effort is so good, and in many ways so beyond expectation,
it seems futile to find fault with the film at all. Nevertheless,
if there are faults in the film they exhibit themselves as too
much talking in the third quarter of the film and too much information
as a wrap-up at the
end. However, if I had to make a prediction, more people will
have critical things to say about the representation of Mormonism
than about the filmmaking.
Members of
the church might have some concern over a couple of aspects of
the story. The elders play more pranks on each other than some
may feel is appropriate as missionaries. There may be too much
activity during nighttime hours. There may be too much interaction
between the missionaries. What's important to remember as you
watch God's Army is that this is not a documentary about mission
life. This is a fictional story about people in unusual circumstances
in a context familiar to members of the church. God's Army may
not tow the party line, but it walks it pretty close.
God's Army
probably couldn't have been made any earlier than now. God's Army's
audience is meant to be primarily Mormon. Dutcher is gambling
that there are enough interested Mormons to support their own
small film market. Such a scenario isn't out of the question.
And, if we truly continue to seek positive, uplifting films, having
a stream of niche Mormon films will come sooner rather than later.
When that happens the durability of the movement will probably
depend completely on the quality of the films produced. If others
of God's Army's ilk follow, they will surely find an audience.
If, when
you see this film, you're not sure what to do with it, just enjoy
it. It's not meant to be the means of converting the world, sending
more young men on missions, or answering the recent LDS missionary
misrepresentation in films like Orgasmo. This is a film that tells
a Mormon story. It may be harder to accept it as a film than if
we watched Robert Duvall's The Apostle, but that's because we
are so unaccustomed to seeing ourselves as subjects of fictional
filmmaking.
I suggest you get used to it. Richard Dutcher is planning to do
it some more.
Reader's Review
We
invite readers to submit their own, short reviews of the film.
"When I saw
God's Army I wasn't sure what to expect. Would this be like a
seminary film
where I was supposed to learn something? I soon learned it was
about real people, only unlike most movies today, these were people
I recognized-people like me. I went with my mission-age boyfriend,
and we both laughed and cried during the film. I I really felt
like a knew the people by the end of the show. It's the best film
I've seen in a long, long time." Rachel Proctor, age 17
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