Chimes from the LDS Film Movement!

Recently, Richard Dutcher left his church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), not out of contempt for the church but the LDS film market and filmmakers. In the late-80’s Utah was being an open market for film not by Latter-Day Saints, but by actors and filmmakers buying up property to promote art. Let’s just use Robert Redford with Sundance as an example. This influenced a bunch of Utah natives (mainly Mormons) to explore their culture with the means of art and filmmaking outside of Sundance. It was a dream come true for many LDS filmmakers (Kieth Merrill, Don Bluth, etc.) in L.A. to contribute. The seeds for the LDS film movement were planted, but what really sealed the deal was Richard Dutcher.

His debut “God’s Army”, being a film about missionary life was groundbreaking in a sense for not proselytizing and giving insight into Mormon culture without being condescending. A critically acclaimed film that was relatable to LDS and Non-LDS people. The film itself played like a Mormon version of Roberto Rossellini’s “The Flower of St. Francis”. The trials and pitfalls of an LDS missionary trying retain faith from so many personal losses. His next film solidified him as the “Godfather of Mormon Cinema”. The film that gives him that pedestal is the one I am reviewing, “Brigham City”.

A movie told in tight dramatic exposition, juxtaposition and macabre about a serial killer in a small Utah town called, “Brigham City” (Oh, I get it). The questions of repentance, murder and morality do not even scratch the surface of this complex film. Richard Dutcher gives once again the title of Director, Producer and Actor, as he plays a no-name limping Sheriff and Bishop of “Brigham City”, who discovers the corpse of a mutilated girl out in the plains.
The premise is set in a small rural town, which feels like a horror-western a la “Man from the West”. The Sheriff/Bishop is doing double duty of serving the people and protecting them. Once the film progresses we feel that the latter is not as easy. He makes the hard decisions in both fields, the audience never getting a glimpse of the body already knows the horror he has to go through. The Sheriff argues with the young deputy about keeping this secret and letting FBI handle it leaving a philosophy as such, “ People don’t even lock their doors in this town and I don’t want them to start”. It is as if the Sheriff is doing what’s rational. Or knows how irrational people can get when they hear a murder in this town.

A simple murder mystery told with red herrings, but steeped in Mormon culture. The film seems to transcend the LDS genre, let alone the murder mystery. As the film goes on we find out that the victim was from out of state and assists with the Sheriff’s need to keep this under wraps. That is until another murder happens, this one being a local girl. It looks like the Sheriff has a lot on his plate and comprises his integrity to find this serial killer. The question of integrity comes earlier than you think, with the theology of “losing innocence to gain wisdom”. His actions are never justified or condoned with theology, but he realizes he has to do what must be done.

The movie is accompanied with the great cult favorite Wilford Brimley (Cocoon, The Thing, Ewoks: Battle for Endor) playing a role unlike the man who sells diabetes plans on TV. He is awesome in the film and plays Stu, the long retired Sheriff who is longing for his job and for a smoke. Matthew A. Brown who was in Dutcher’s debut, “God’s Army”, plays Terry who towards the end of the film has a complex role. The female characters are put through the ringer in this horror-tale, but not in a misogynistic tone. Peg (played by Carrie Morgan), the Sheriff’s assistant who helps out by going undercover at a local dive bar. Then there is April (played by Wendy Hoop), the FBI investigator who is skeptical about the Sheriff’s religion and his stress inducing actions.

The visuals are not a distraction; every shot seems budgetary like a true independent. Richard Dutcher seems to be only concern with content more than cinematography. The straightforward story telling and movement of actors in the camera quo Yasujiro Ozu who Dutcher is an admirer of. My favorite scene is when he rallies the town near the gazebo where every man in town has to pair up and search every house. One of the town folks ask, “ Does that mean we’re all suspects”, the Sheriff replies, “Yes, it does”. The Sheriff commands his community to search every house for a missing girl who may or may not be dead.

The Sheriff, as always, seems concerned about the community and looking out for one another, until you are at the point of trusting nobody. He draws a line between him as the Bishop and him as the Sheriff. Then again, he has to. Secrets and motives are revealed, and the act of protecting those around you from terror is unprecedented. Like “Halloween” before it, the commentary of families moving into small towns or suburban areas to escape terror will never truly escape it. An underrated gem that is never just a “Mormon” film, but just a film. And a good one at that!

Side Note: As for Dutcher, he may have left the church but he has left an indelible mark on cinema. It has not stopped him from making films and exploring other themes. I will leave off with his last words to the movement he still loves, “I cannot tell you how much I have cared, and still care, about this movement. My love for the future of Mormon cinema has driven me to a passion that has expressed itself not only in my films, but (as you know) in bouts of public anger at filmmakers who, I believed, were killing a beautiful, unprecedented opportunity and a limitless potential. Miraculously, that opportunity and that potential still exist. It's just a little harder to see right now.

If this sounds like a farewell address ... well, it is.”