By David Hinckley
'Brokeback Mountain,' a movie about a long-term affair between two married cowboys, won three Oscars on Sunday. The movie picked for best film, 'Crash,' reportedly uses the 'f-word' 63 times. The star of 'Transamerica,' about a woman preparing for a sex-change, was up for best actress.
Don''t get me wrong: I''m not bashing these films. I''m fully aware that 'Brokeback Mountain' is much more than a movie about gay cowboys and that 'Crash' addresses some heavy issues between all the profanities. You simply can''t touch these movies on quality. Hollywood has a way of bringing us stories and issues, of reaching an audience in a way no one in history ever has.
The problem is that Hollywood''s problems have become enmeshed in the works they create and are broadcast for the whole country to drink in. The promiscuity in Hollywood as well as the lack of religiosity translates into a glorification of sex and secularism in the movies that are released, and leads to Academy Award programs like Sunday''s, where the best original song was determined to be 'It''s Hard Out There for a Pimp' (Again, I''m not saying it''s a poor-quality work).
The profit flowing from Hollywood has given rise to an industry able to produce breathtaking art. Talented actors, writers, directors and throngs of technical workers live in California because they know they can make a good living working on these movies.
In contrast, look at our own home-grown Mormon cinema. I''ve kept a close eye on it ever since 'God''s Army,' and the amount of profanity and sexuality has really been minimal. But the quality pales in comparison. Some of the movies manage complete and satisfying stories, but the cinematography is worthy of 'Mystery Science Theater 3000.'
I found 'God''s Army' genuinely exciting. Yes, I bristled at seeing ordinances on the big screen, but I left the theater tingling with anticipation at the possibilities. With 'The Other Side of Heaven' following soon after and 'Brigham City' a little later, it felt as if everything was possible.
Enter Halestorm. Yeah, those guys. 'Singles Ward,' 'The RM,' 'The Home Teachers.' The question of big-screen ordinances excepted, Halestorm represents everything people love to hate about Mormon cinema. Yes, I''m tired of the juvenile comedy too. But I think in the long run, Halestorm will be seen as the group that made it all happen, and here''s why: They''re doing it consistently, and profitably. Halestorm has managed to produce a string of films in rapid succession that don''t have the novelty of being a genre-starter like 'God''s Army,' and they''re still in business. And with each film, a whole mess of people, from directors on down, gain experience and get better. Even a casual observer has to admit that their more recent films like 'Baptists at our Barbecue' and 'Mobsters and Mormons' are better made than slap-stick comedies like 'The Home Teacher' and 'The RM' ('Singles Ward' doesn''t really count because they needed a mildly good film to launch the company).
I hope the local industry continues to get better, and that at some point, it will start to get serious. 'Saints and Soldiers' cheered me up in this respect more than anything else I''ve seen. I''m waiting to see more films like it. Although I know it will take time, the reason I support Mormon cinema is for the potential that someday, it will attract talent comparable to what flocks to Hollywood. My hope is that eventually, a category of both LDS and non-LDS writers better than Gerald Lund, John Groberg and Jack Weyland will be able to bring high-quality work to somewhere other than Hollywood with the confidence that movie-makers here will compensate them on a level that will encourage them to keep writing and do their stories justice without adding sexual material just for good measure (such as, say, the weird bedroom scenes in 'The Return of the King').
Ultimately, my hope is to see a talent base somewhere other than Hollywood capable of telling stories that feed public morality instead of tearing it down.
Why not do it in Utah?