By Julie Murdock
Elder John H. Groberg of the First Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will use clips of an upcoming film depicting his mission to Tonga to illustrate the process of eternal progression at the Tuesday, Dec. 4, Devotional in the Marriott Center at 11 a.m.
Elder Groberg, a 1958 BYU graduate, said he hopes segments of the film, “The Other Side of Heaven,” will demonstrate how the Lord assists people once they have done all they can.
“If we really want to do right and we”re stuck, then he”ll come in and help us,” he said.
The Devotional will be broadcast live on KBYU-TV, Channel 11, and BYU-Television satellite network at 11:05 a.m. It will be rebroadcast on Channel 11 on Dec. 9 at 6 and 11 a.m. and on BYU-Television at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Elder Groberg said his mission to Tonga from 1954 to 1957 was not more special than anyone else”s, but he hopes that by sharing his experience, others will be able to gain insight into how they can learn life”s lessons.
“I”m not trying to emphasize the mission so much as I”m trying to emphasize the principles that you can learn there from,” he said.
The movie, to be released in select theaters Dec. 14 and throughout Utah on Dec. 21, is targeted to the general public.
“This is not a movie made by Mormons for Mormons,” said director Mitch Davis. “It”s a movie made by a predominantly non-Mormon cast and crew about a Mormon for the world.”
Elder Groberg said there are good people everywhere who believe in God, people with good values who are wondering what is right. His hope is that the movie will increase their faith in God and their desire to follow him.
“I hope it increases their sense of humanity, that we”re all brothers and sisters and there is a connection between heaven and earth,” he said. “Instead of hurting one another, we really ought to be helping one another — we”re all children of God.”
Davis said all of the test screenings for the movie were with strictly non-LDS audiences because they wanted to ensure the movie appealed to a wide spectrum of people.
“The fact is, non-Mormons seem to be actually more impacted by our movie than Mormons are,” Davis said. “For non-Mormons, it”s nothing short of amazing that anyone would do anything so selfless at that age.”
One of the more surprising reactions Davis has received came after a sneak preview a few months ago. He said a young man grabbed him and said seeing the movie made him want to join the church just so he could go on a mission.
“I assured him we could arrange that,” Davis said.
Presenting the world with a look into any culture is a delicate procedure, but Elder Groberg said he hopes people will see the church for what it really is and want to investigate further.
“I think the main benefit is it”s a fulfillment of prophecy that we”re to come out of obscurity and the facts are that the world sees things in these mediums now,” he said. “These will never substitute for the Holy Ghost and the Spirit of the Lord, but it puts people in contact that they just wouldn”t have otherwise.”
A former bishop, Davis said he realizes that there are certain aspects of the Church of Jesus Christ that should not be depicted in movies because they are too sacred. He said the movie builds on the amazing amount of common ground that exists between all of God”s children, regardless of race, culture or creed.
“You don”t hear the word Mormon until you”re an hour into the movie,” he said. “The movie does stress the things we have in common with everyone and does not overemphasize the few ways we are different.”
Davis said the biggest problem he faced in the development of the movie was finding a way to convey as much of Elder Groberg”s book, “The Eye of the Storm” which the movie is based on, into the confines of a 110-page script.
“Rather than eliminating a lot of beautiful characters and events, we decided to combine them into composite characters and events,” he said. “There are actually very few fictional flourishes in the film.”
Davis said he spent several hours interviewing Elder Groberg when writing the script, during which time he provided additional insights and incidents not found in his book.
Elder Groberg said he was not overly involved with the actual making of the movie, but he did fly to the set, the Cook Islands and New Zealand, to see how things were going.
“We were amazed at the huge process it is to make a film,” he said. “We did not change a single thing, we just observed.”
Davis was able to convince Elder Groberg and his wife, Jean, to be extras during the wedding scene.
Elder Groberg said he was promised the movie would remain true to the spirit of the book and he thinks Davis did a good job of that.
“It”s very true to the way Jean and I felt, and the way things actually happened,” Elder Groberg said.
