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Reviews
Freetown (2015)
I Don't Care What Anyone Says; I Love It
I'm a Mormon, and that definitely contributes to my love of this film, but is hardly the only factor (Mormon films that I don't particularly like include "The Singles' Ward", "Church Ball", "Passage to Zarahemla", and "The Book of Mormon Movie"). I was not told to watch this by my church leaders, as some have cynically suggested - it is an independent film and the LDS Church had no involvement or stance on it at all. I watched a free special premiere screening and enjoyed it so much that I watched it twice more to support the filmmakers.
The film doesn't showcase much of the scope or background of the Liberian Civil War, but instead focuses on the experience of a handful of people trying to escape from it. Although these people are Mormons, and the film is targeted primarily at Mormons, the film's faith-affirming message is broad enough to appeal to believers of all stripes. More skeptical or atheistic people probably won't find it as appealing, which may partially explain why it was nominated for nine or ten Ghana Movie Awards but received many lukewarm or negative reviews in the U.S. Despite the missionaries' highly visible name tags, the film says little about specifically Mormon doctrine or practice, but preaches a generic message of hope and faith through adversity.
I found it to have a good mix of tension and humor that held my interest throughout. Some people say it's boring, and we'll just have to agree to disagree. Some have complained that graphic violence isn't actually shown on screen; I think this is a tasteful "less is more" approach that most modern filmmakers have sadly abandoned altogether in favor of shock value. I felt that the humor was used sparingly and wisely; it's not a hilarious movie by any means, but has some smile-worthy moments to reduce the tension. We don't learn much about the individual missionaries' backstories or motivations but their interactions with each other bring them to life as real, young, sometimes naive but goodhearted people. And of course the soundtrack, particularly the opening sequence and the recurring vocals, is phenomenal.
This was filmed in West Africa with almost exclusively West African actors - specifically Ghana, since the Ebola epidemic prevented them from filming on location. This is a unique and good move both for LDS and American films as a whole. It is, of course, based on a true story - which placed a lot of constraints on what liberties could be taken with the plot that some have derided - but it's one of those rare times when a film adaptation of necessity becomes *less* incredible than the reality. In the film, there are only seven people in the car, so as to fit the camera; in reality there were nine. In the film, they need to pass through three rebel checkpoints; in reality there were about fifty.
If you're not Mormon, I can't promise you'll enjoy this movie as much as I do, but if you're not anti-religious messages I encourage you to give it a shot.
8: The Mormon Proposition (2010)
The Most Informative Documentary Since "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"
What a society we live in! It is unacceptable for a religious institution to take a stand on issues of morality in a democratic nation, but perfectly all right to slander said institution by omitting some facts, distorting others, and blatantly making others up. Yes, this waste of celluloid does all three in abundance. At first I was going to list all the examples here, but I would have gone far over the 1,000 word limit and lost peoples' interest. And now I see I can't include urls either. Dang.
Well, just some legitimate research of your own will reveal that many of the claims made regarding LDS doctrine, actions, and quotes are distorted or, disturbingly often, outright false. The Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research has compiled an extensive list of these on its wiki, as well as many articles about the Church and homosexuality. Of course it's biased, but seeing as this "documentary" is not only biased but completely dishonest, anyone who has seen the one and is still interested in real facts should check out the other.
The writers also failed to mention several pertinent details. Now, I don't expect anyone to discuss all the evidence that undermines their ideology, but there's a solid line between not doing that, and deliberately obscuring the truth to paint an inaccurate picture. In this case, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is portrayed as the big, bad villain stepping on a minority group's civil rights.
Never mind that it has consistently supported employment and housing rights for those with same-sex attractions even when the Utah legislature itself has not. Never mind that the organization itself did not donate a penny (btw, the rumor that the Church is losing its tax-exempt status is a myth) and that the members acted of their own free will and not all chose to donate. Never mind that its effort was made as part of a coalition including Catholics, evangelicals, Protestants, Orthodox Jews, and Muslims, and that there were 10 million Catholics and Protestants (each) in California as opposed to 800,000 Mormons. (Is it acceptable in our society to slander those religions? I didn't think so. What makes the Mormons different?) Many more important facts have been omitted, which have been listed by Kevin Hamilton and included in a wonderful article by Orson Scott Card.
TL,DR: This openly deceitful propaganda piece is a waste of your time, but if you must watch it, make sure to learn about reality's side of the story.