'The Mormons' on PBS

(originally published on 'His Other Band' Saturday, May 5, 2007)

The Mormons (2007)
PBS Site

Joint production of Frontline and The American Experience by religious documentarian Helen Whitney. I was impressed on several levels, both aesthetically and in terms of content. In the aesthetics department I liked the look of the thing, especially the lighting of the interview subjects, it seemed to re-enforce that twilight quality that I think the church occupies in the minds of most Americans (meaning the difficulty Mormonism presents in terms of classification, it's neither day nor night). Also I enjoyed a mostly new set of talking heads, as opposed to those featured in PBS's several Mormon themed documentaries of the late 1990's. The music was very moving at times, reminds me of Phillip Glass if he did prelude music for church devotionals.

In terms of content, I think the Church was treated very fairly, with real class. That seems to be the hang up of most Mormons when dealing with any presentation of the Church outside of official 'correlated' control, 'how do we look?'. The treatment falls in line with the so-called new Mormon history, the good points are highlighted, but the controversial topics are not glossed over in return. I know any talk about polygamy, mountain meadows, women's depression, homosexuals, the temple, etc., makes some orthodox Mormons uncomfortable. Many Mormons are okay with some limited discussion about these issues, but feel the need for it to always come around at the end to a reinforcement of orthodox positions, and more consumer friendly aspects of church doctrine and history. I on the other hand think we should probably talk about these 'fringe' issues more. We need to deal with them, because not dealing with them is denial, and denial is seldom healthy.

I'd be hard pressed to come up with something said in the documentary that is in any way outrageous, or intentionally offensive. People can and will disagree on matters central to the Mormon faith and experience, lets air all sides and hope were confident enough in our own position to not take offense and live with it. I'd like to heap some praise on Marlin K. Jensen, I know were not suppose to be rooting for future appointments to the apostleship, but I've had my eye on him since a talk he gave in General Conference back in 2000. Elder Jensen expresses positions on the subjects he is asked about that are safely within the LDS mainstream, but you always get the feeling that he really understands, even respects the other side on these matters. This is something sadly that I can't say for everyone in leadership. Again I gulp a little when Elder Oaks says that we shouldn't voice any criticism of the leadership, even when it may be true. Really my differences with the 'establishment' are mostly matters of style, and I've come to live with that. However everything I know tells me that a lack of criticism and oversight of any group or any person (including myself) leads to abuses.

There were a few places in this documentary where I was really moved, inspired, or felt like I made some kind of spiritual connection I never had before. For instance I never fully understood the Mormon obsession with dancing. I just kind of assumed this was a holdover of frontier entertainment from the 19th century. However when they spoke of dancing as a Mormon celebration of the body, and of joy in physicality (with some beautiful footage of graceful performance dance played as B roll) I nearly broke down. What a beautiful aspect of my faith that I had never appreciated, what a wonderful contribution to and extension of theology into the mortal sphere. But mostly I just appreciated the respectful honesty of all who were interviewed. I highly recommend The Mormons as a time saving substitute for any of a number of wonderful general overview books written on the Church.