By Roger R. Keller
Professor of Church History and Doctrine
Latter-day Saint movies take a variety of forms. Some lay out the faith of the Latter-day Saints for all to see. They are clearly designed to proclaim the gospel and can be a tool to lead people to conversion. Movies such as “The Other Side of Heaven” and the two “Work and the Glory” films might fall into this category. Other films poke fun at the Mormon culture and thus at ourselves. We are beginning to learn to laugh at our foibles and follies, and we have done it through vehicles such as “Pride and Prejudice” and “The R.M.” Yet other Latter-day Saint films explore our strengths and our weaknesses, our wholeness and our brokenness. Richard Dutcher’s work, while encompassing some of the first two categories, is generally more interested in the last of these groupings. He is interested in our humanness as people of faith.
This past week I had the opportunity, along with other persons involved in interfaith dialogue, to view Dutcher’s new film “States of Grace” (previously released as “God’s Army 2”). I came away from the experience challenged to place my Savior even more firmly at the center of my life, to be less judgmental of others, to appreciate the incredible width and breadth of God’s work in the world, and where possible to link arms with other people of faith to accomplish the Lord’s work.
In an interview with Richard Dutcher, I asked him how he understood his role as a Latter-day Saint film maker. His response was to quote a Chicago journalist who once said that good journalism “comforted the afflicted, and afflicted the comfortable.” In Dutcher’s mind, that is also the definition of good art. In my opinion, this means that a good film, such as “States of Grace,” challenges us to examine ourselves and to recognize our frailties as well as our strengths while leading us to heal our sinfulness.
“States of Grace” is set in Los Angeles, as was “God’s Army,” with all the racial and cultural multiplicity that goes with that great city. It is a city of beauty and diversity, while at the same time being a place of ugliness and violence. For those working or living there, especially LDS missionaries, the contrast between beauty and ugliness is part of the mission field with which they must come to grips. Along with external tensions are also the internal struggles that each person in the film carries with him or her. All live on a growing edge because of these tensions, but, as Latter-day Saints know, it is through struggle that real growth occurs.
Judaism holds, and I think it is a reasonable way of understanding LDS thought, that there are two inclinations within every person-a good inclination and an evil one. The essence of being human is to choose between the two directions we are pulled, and sometimes we choose well and at other times we do not. Because we all choose wrongly at times, we need a Savior. It is into the midst of the characters in the film-the missionaries and their neighbors-that the message of Christ’s redemption is powerfully brought by the end of the film. Most persons in the film want to do well, but all find that they are imperfect beings. They discover that alone they are powerless to overcome their hatreds, their addictions, their needs, and their desires. The questions that underlie their struggles are: “How far does love reach?” “Have I any worth?” “Must I be perfect to be loved?” “Can I overcome my past?” “Can I love when the most natural thing would be to hate?”
Latter-day Saints like all persons have to deal with these questions. Those of us who have been bishops know how real these issues are within our wards. There is sinfulness among Latter-day Saints, just as there is in all human beings. Dutcher understands and explores this part of us, for he says he writes for those who in some way have been marginalized by church or society. His desire is to spread a message of hope to those who may have lost their hope. In the end, he shows us that it is Jesus who brings healing and hope to all humanity. The resolution at the end of the film is the essence of the gospel and is stunning. This is a film to see with an open heart and an open mind, and those who see it will be richly rewarded.
“States of Grace is to be released Friday, January 20th, for a two week run locally.
