Truth & Treason: A Review

TRUTH & TREASON

On September 28, 2025, a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) worship center was attacked and later burned to the ground. Four congregants died as a result of the attack at Grand Blanc Township, Michigan. In the aftermath of the attack, a most curious trend developed online. Rather than express shock, or horror, or condemnation at the attack, many were condemning the LDS (also known as Mormon) victims and survivors. Of particular note were many in evangelical circles, who decided this was the perfect time to point out that Mormons were not Christians. I mention all this because Truth & Treason centers around a young LDS member during the Nazi era. Even though Truth & Treason is based on a true story, I suspect that many of those same evangelicals will call it "Mormon propaganda". Truth & Treason is a deeply moving film that tells its story with respect.

Hamburg, Germany, 1941. Helmut Hubener (Ewan Horrocks) is a Hitler Youth member, but he spends his time around his LDS friends than the bullies in the HY. His life is pretty much his friends and his LDS church. However, while his focus is primarily about finding work in the local government, Helmut observes some troubling signs. He is displeased with how his local bishop gives the Heil Hitler salute before the service. He is especially angered by how the bishop has installed a "Jews Forbidden to Enter" sign at the church. This clearly excludes LDS member Salomon Schwarz (Nye Occomore), who is a quarter-Jewish. 

Things come to a head when Salomon is taken by the authorities. Helmut, now working at City Hall despite being only 16, is first upset and then enraged. Helmut also has access to forbidden knowledge at work and home. Part of the archives involve holding the banned literature, such as All Quiet on the Western Front and the works of Shakespeare. Thanks to his brother who came home briefly from the front, Helmut also has a short-wave radio that lets him pick up BBC broadcasts. Filled with a youthful zeal and righteous anger, Helmut starts typing out anti-Nazi messages and surreptitiously posting them about town. He gets his fellow LDS members Rudolph "Rudi" Hobbe (Daf Thomas) and Karl-Heinz Schnibbe (Ferdinand McKay) to help him post them.

The messages soon attract the attention of Nazi official Erwin Mussener (Rupert Evans). He begins a methodical search for who this traitor is, initially thinking that the educated language makes him a college professor. Helmut for his part soon attracts the attention of Elli Kluge (Sylvie Varcoe), who also works at City Hall. They begin a romance, with Elli having only the vaguest of suspicions about Helmut's nighttime actions.

Mussener's thorough, logical investigation eventually yields results. He is shocked to find that the traitor is a 17-year-old boy. Arrested and put under torture, Helmut eventually breaks and names his two compatriots. Put on trial for treason, Helmut speaks truth to power one last time. While Rudi and Karl-Heinz receive prison, Helmut Hubener is sentenced to death by guillotine. 

I am not a man given to emotional displays. No, I did not cry at the end of Truth & Treason.  However, I noticed that others in the audience did. I also noticed that I felt a lump in my throat when we got to the closing credits. Helmut was a courageous young man, shaped by his convictions and his youthful belief that one person can make a difference. This is a credit to Ewan Horrocks' performance as Helmut Hubener.

Horrocks makes Helmut into a man who went from not being involved in things to one filled with fire and passion to do what he thought right, damn the consequences. Horrock does not make Hubener into an innocent or clueless. He shows Helmut's fears, but how Helmut let his beliefs overcome those fears. 

He also shows Helmut's lighter side. This is a young man who is a Felix Mendelsohn freak, totally passionate about the Jewish composer. He notes to Elli on their date that Mendelsohn wrote music specifically for a soprano, but that his music is forbidden now. The Helmut/Elli romance is both endearing on its own merits and a brief respite from the high drama.

Truth & Treason is a showcase for Ewan Horrocks. He gets what all actors love: a dramatic court scene. Here, Helmut's blend of youthful passion and firm conviction let Horrocks speak passionately about the wrongness of the Nazi regime without it coming across as theatrical or grandiose. Earlier in the film, Matt Whitaker and director Ethan Vincent's screenplay had given us an amusing scene of Helmut making up a pro-Nazi speech to win over his interview board which he pretended to have written out when he was actually making it up as he went along. At the trial scene, we see another paper, and instead of reading out the contrition in hopes of leniency, Helmut speaks from his heart.

"The Reich is not afraid of your little leaflets", the judge comments in a mix of fear and dismissiveness. Without missing a beat or batting an eye, Helmut forcefully replies, "Then why are you here?". 

Truth & Treason is well acted overall. McKay, Thomas and Occomore did well as Karl-Heinz, Rudi and Salomon respectively. Occomore and director Vincent did especially well in Salomon's last scene. As unseen Gestapo are pounding at his door demanding to get in, Salomon takes a chair and a book and sits, waiting for them. There is a mix of fear and quiet defiance in Occomore's face. Once the again unseen Gestapo force their way in, the screen fades to black, then returns to see Salomon's room in disarray. Truth & Treason understands a lesson mostly forgotten in Hollywood films: the less that something is shown, the more impactful it is.

Another powerful moment is when Mussenner is ripping Helmut's nails off. We see just the beginning of the torture, then have to rely on Horrocks and Evans' performances to show the horror of what Helmut is enduring. It is a powerful scene, but one where we do not see the brutality. Instead, it is off-screen. That in turn is what I think makes it more frightening.

Rupert Evans does not play a crazed, evil Nazi. His Edwin Mussenner is more a dogged detective, determined to find the culprit. We also get a scene where there is a suggestion that he too doubts, but unlike Helmut won't speak out. He recounts to his wife how when he started at university, he found out from a friend that his first girlfriend was sleeping with his professor and mentor. With apparent regret, he tells his wife that he punched his friend for telling him. His wife, I believe, asks him if he regrets punching the man who told him the truth.

Truth & Treason is subtle enough about the implications of what is being said without saying it out loud. The same can be said when Helmut accidentally drops some government papers, including the distinctive red sheets Helmut has been typing his anti-Nazi leaflets on. Elli runs after him, giving him one that he did not pick up. "Better know which way you're going," she tells him. Again, this statement has a clear double meaning. The characters may or may not know what is being said. The audience, I think, does.

Anyone going into Truth & Treason thinking that this is Mormon propaganda will probably leave disappointed. You do see scenes of Hubener and his friends attending Mormon service. A couple of police officers harassing Salomon and the judge comment on how they are Mormons. The latter even asks what that is, if memory serves correct. We do see Helmut praying near the end and of them singing from their hymnals. However, Mormonism is mostly in the background. No one ever says that they were motivated by Joseph Smith or Brigham Young to take a stand against the Nazi regime.

I do not know if Truth & Treason being released this year was due to 2025 being Helmut Hubener's centenary or if that is a mere coincidence. More surprising is that the film was released on October 17, 2025. That is ten days from the anniversary of Hubener's execution, which took place on October 27, 1942, as we are told in the closing credits. They feature the actors and their real-life counterparts, along with text on their ultimate fates. It is standard, but a reminder that these were real people. 

Truth & Treason is perhaps a bit long, though I did not notice it until late into the film. I also think the title is a bit clunky. Those, I think, is probably some of the film's few faults. 

It is eighty years since the end of the Second World War. It is eighty-three years since a seventeen-year-old Mormon boy was beheaded for defying Hitler not with guns but with words. Even now, these hereto-unknown stories are now getting their due. Truth & Treason is a strong dramatic film. It is a deeply moving portrait of a true profile in courage, a young man executed for speaking up and speaking out against tyranny. Would that God grant each of us such courage and moral clarity.

1925-1942

DECISION: B+

The Saratov Approach: A Review (Review #915)

THE SARATOV APPROACH

When it comes to The Saratov Approach (in my mind, a clunky title since I'm not sure exactly what the 'approach' refers to, though I have my ideas), two things stick to my mind.

The first is that it is based on a true story, so it isn't hard to respond emotionally to the story.

The second is that behind it, there is a bit of proselyting behind it, and for better or worse it can be used as a tool to promote the Latter-Day Saints (aka Mormons).  These two elements combine, don't necessarily clash, but still tug at my mind after watching.

Elders Propst (Maclain Nelson) and Tuttle (Corbin Allred) are LDS missionaries in Russia (I should note that for the most part, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints dislike the term 'Mormon', so I'll try to be respectful of their beliefs but will on occasion refer to them as Mormon).  They are surprised when Nikolai (Nikita Bogolybov) asks them to come to his apartment to hear the message.

Propst and Tuttle go on the appointed day, accidentally forgetting the Book of Mormon.  Propst suggests coming back another day, but Tuttle insists on pushing on.  Poor choice: as Nikolai and another man, Sergei (Alex Veadov) brutally beat them and hold them for ransom, believing that as 'rich Western Christians' they will get them a nice bounty.

To their surprise, neither the U.S. government, the LDS Church in Salt Lake, or the Tuttle and Propst families are going to pay the ransom (though the families would do it in a heartbeat if it got them their sons back).  The government and Church do what they can, but their hands are as tied as the two Elders.

Tuttle is a crying wreck, but Propst thinks that Nikolai might be the key to help them escape.  He begins a charm offensive with Nikolai, which pays dividends: he moves the Elders to more comfortable settings, feeds them and gives them drinks (juice of course, the Elders turning down offers for beer, coffee and tea).  Sergei is displeased that no ransom will be paid, but the Elders continue to hold onto their faith, and in the dramatic week reveal things about themselves as they have never had a particularly close relationship, having differing views on how to reach the Gentiles.

Eventually, Propst and Tuttle come to believe they are in God's hands and that their Heavenly Father has a plan for them.  Despite having a chance to escape, they opt not to, and just before Sergei takes them out, with a fearful Nikolai helplessly watching, he has a sudden change of heart and leaves.  Propst had marked his hand with the same tattoo Sergei has: one that Sergei got in the Russian Navy in honor of a fallen comrade saying "Forever Loyal". 

The Elders safe, they decline the Church's offer to end their Service early and go to another undisclosed European city, returning to testify against their captures.  Sergei gets four years in prison, Nikolai two years probation.

It is difficult if not impossible to divorce the action and spiritual aspects of The Saratov Approach, true story or not.  It is almost as if the horrible circumstances our two Elders are in were used to show the strength of their Mormon faith.  I'm not dismissing that their faith did help them endure this horrifying ordeal, but at the same time there was something vaguely propagandistic about it all.  It was as if I can imagine having Elders come to my house and offer The Saratov Approach to show how Mormonism gave them the hope in their Heavenly Father and thus, I should really consider the truth of the LDS Church. 

This is what brings some division to me with regards to the film.  On a technical level The Saratov Approach, though limited with a small budget, is on the whole a good film.  As portrayed by Allred and Nelson the Elders were not painted as saints but as people with flaws, with fears (especially Allred's Tuttle, who came across as almost perpetually fearful versus the more muscular, masculine, macho Propst).  We can put aside the fact that they both look to be in their 30s and thus a decade too old to be actual Elders (Allred was 34 when The Saratov Approach was made, but I could find no age for Nelson but figure he was similarly in his 30s).

Nelson was the de facto lead as Propst was the Elder who seemed to keep his head and be in charge (down to drawing the tattoo as a subliminal way to reach out to Sergei).  That doesn't take away from Allred, who gave a strong performance, particularly when he has a monologue about how he changed his decision about serving on a mission.  It was a quiet moment, but well-acted.

Writer/director Garrett Batty even allowed for moments of levity, as when the Elders distract themselves from their situation by discussing the merits of the Utah Jazz versus the Chicago Bulls.  We also get a couple of flashbacks to their time in Russia, which allows us a brief respite from the ordeal and a chance to see how they differ in reaching out to people.  A final flashback by Propst on his whole life and how it might have led to this moment of trusting in the Heavenly Father is beautifully filmed.

If there was an issue with things, it might be those flashbacks and a dream sequence, which at times felt long and which didn't quite work out because we already could figure it was a dream sequence and undercut some tension (though to be fair, it was effective and frightening). 

As a non-Mormon, one who knows that their declaration of being Christian is a subject of debate among my evangelical brothers and sisters, I am still slightly wary with regards to the idea that The Saratov Approach is just a movie with no desire to promote Mormonism whatsoever.  It isn't straight-up propaganda like Meet the Mormons was since it was based on a true story.  It had good performances, some effective moments of tension, and a positive message.  Even the low budget didn't get in the way.

I can't fault a film for being good, though again I'm still a bit hesitant to not think that films like these and Freetown (another 'Mormon Elders in Danger' film) have a dual purpose to those of us not in the Mormon faith.  It seems Mormon cinema is built around a lot of films revolving around Elders, be it "Mormon Elders in Danger" movies like Freetown or The Saratov Approach, or comedies ranging from the goofy The R.M. to the more serious but still light The Best Two Years.  Yet I digress.

Ultimately, I'd recommend The Saratov Approach for its performances and its story of fear versus faith, but with a slightly jaundiced eye towards the proceedings, suspicious that its true-life story serves more than one purpose.   

DECISION: B-

Freetown: A Review

FREETOWN

Real-life stories, particularly ones of recent events, can be tricky.  You have to stick close to facts while allowed a certain dramatic license.  Freetown, the newest feature film in the annals of serious Mormon cinema, does a respectable job of showing the horrors of the Liberian civil war through civilian eyes.  LDS members will find a lot to admire in its tale of missionaries who continue to share the faith despite the brutality going on around them.  Non-Mormons like me at least can admire the sincerity within Freetown.  The film does drag a bit as the missionaries go on their flight to safety, but one at least admires, even respects, the strides Mormon cinema is making (which puts many Christian films to shame). 

Liberia, 1989.  The country founded by former American slaves has descended into chaos and a brutal civil war.  The rebels, who believe that the Krahn community (I am loath to use the term 'tribe') has been unfairly favored, is now on a mass killing spree, killing any Krahn they can find.  They suspect a lonely driver, Abubakar (Henry Adofo) to be Krahn, but he is not.  He is, however, a Mormon, one of a small LDS community that is growing among the Liberian people. 

As tight, sincere, and devoted as the Elders are, they are not blind to the dangers around them.  One of them, Elder Gaye (Philip Adekunde Michael) is in great danger.  He is the only Krahn among the other Liberian Elders, which puts not just him but all the Elders at risk.  Despite Abubakar's objections, the other Elders will not leave Gaye to run the risk of getting killed.  They decide to flee to nearby Sierra Leone, taking what they can for the journey from Monrovia to Freetown.

From there, Freetown becomes an adventure story, with the Elders and a very cynical Abubakar taking dangerous terrain and risks for their fellow Elder.  At each point when something comes close to bringing them death, some great circumstance comes to their rescue.  As they travel through the country, the Elders never lose faith (and even have moments of levity within the insanity), as one of the rebels continues his search for the Krahn that got away, with a little help from another rebel who happens to be a Mormon (at least that's what I understood, a strange turn of events even in a real-life story).  Will they make it, even after one final obstacle comes close to destroying all they've worked for?

In many ways, Freetown is quite a good film.  Certainly a tale where there is a 'race against time' and one based on a true story lends itself to a potentially great film.

Director Garrett Batty does have some wonderful moments within it.  Of particular note is when Elder Gaye, who had scratched off his name to avoid being recognized as Krahn, is lined up with his missionary partner and a group of civilians interrogated on the spot, all being asked if they are Krahn.  Some deny it, some admit it.  An old woman admits she is Krahn, adding that there is no shame to it.  She is promptly shot.

However, given that this is a Mormon feature film, we were not going to get the graphic violence, and I would argue that Batty dropped the ball a bit when he opted to give us some but not all of the horror.  I don't say that it was bad, merely a bit clumsy, as if part of him wanted to show the true nightmare of the civil war, part of him knew it would not pass muster with his target audience.

Batty also seems to have a bit of a fixation with overhead shots, perhaps showing off his budget.  We got perhaps one too many images of us looking down on the proceedings, which soon became monotonous.

If Freetown has a flaw, it is that despite the scenario lending itself naturally to action, I found it a bit slow.  I sadly confess that at times I was nodding off and trying to stay awake through the screener.  

Another aspect that I found a mixed bag was when Batty's script (which he co-wrote with Melissa Leilani Larson) did have the Elders touch on the LDS' tortured history with Africans.  One commented about the history of the church and how the LDS did not have black priests until late in the 20th Century.  He figures that the divisions within the LDS Church are like those between Krahn and non-Krahn, and that now with the other Elders choosing to save and protect their fellow Krahn missionary, they somehow will show how human divisions can be overcome.

However, no amount of action, adventure, or sincerity will make the tortured history between blacks and the LDS Church any easier to reconcile.  While I admire Freetown actually discussing the Mormon history with Africans (and African-Americans), I cannot help wondering whether a deeper exploration needs to occur.

After all, Freetown, for whatever its virtues, is geared towards a particular market (and it isn't the general one).  It is suppose to reinforce Mormon outlooks, and despite itself the idea that Freetown may be perceived as pro-Mormon virtual propaganda cannot be entirely dismissed.  This isn't like a Kirby Heyborne film where the viewer gets the jokes (and which I didn't) Films like The R.M. and The Best Four Years, both of which I did like, had to be explained to while I watched. 

In a similar vein, I wonder whether I, as a Gentile who found much to admire in his trip to Salt Lake City but was wary about the Mormon theology, similarly 'missed something' about Freetown.  I also wonder whether this movie is more Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration than The Hiding Place.  In short, will a non-LDS audience find Freetown a gripping story or subtle propaganda?  I think on a personal level that it's a little bit of both (though the actual flight from danger, with some good moments, was a bit slow).   

It certainly lends itself to such charges when one of the Elders tells Abubakar what could be Freetown's theme, "Revelation doesn't come when we are living in the shadows".  This is used as rationale for continuing to preach despite the danger (and for the Elders not taking the option to change clothes that would make them less conspicuous.  Even some Jews attempting to flee Nazis had the sense to rip the Star of David off their clothes.  Is there something in Mormonism that stopped the Elders from doing as much?  Again, one wonders what as a non-LDS I missed).

We have that problem of having someone like Abubakar as one of our major characters, but why he is not as devout in his faith that God will get them through versus the Elders is something we are not given any clues or answers to.  We don't see the Elders doubt or even worry much.  I think Batty missed a bit of an opportunity to make his characters more complex and complicated. 

That isn't to say there is all bad.  One great aspect of Freetown was Robert Allen Elliott's score, which was tense but minimal.  I found the music to be a highlight of the film and excellently rendered.  I also found the interaction among the youthful Elders and the more weary Abubakar to be realistic.  One particularly amusing moment is when they escape past a checkpoint.  Abubakar wonders how it was done.  The Elders then bring out the machine gun clips, telling him they'll give them to someone in need.

It's just like the young to find humor in the darkest of places.

Freetown is sincere.  I give it that.  It has a much more professional look than something created by either the Christiano or Kendrick Brothers (whom I have a love-hate relationship with).  However, for good or ill, one moment in Freetown captures what the film is all about and how it goes about it.  When they are being held at a checkpoint by the rebels, the Elders begin sharing their Good News about the Restoration through the Prophet Joseph Smith.  The rebels appear so bored with it that they wave them by rather than continue listening to them. 

It's almost like an accidental spoof of Star Wars. One expected them to say, "This isn't the Elder you're looking for".  An OK film, but one that with its pedigree, still makes me a little wary.

That, and I simply prefer Kirby Heyborne goofiness over somewhat gripping drama...


DECISION: C+  

Meet the Mormons: A Review (Review #666)

MEET THE MORMONS

Mormons Are People Too...

I remember very well my first visit to Utah, as well I should. It was this May when I spent a week in Salt Lake City and surrounding areas.  It's a beautiful state, but the old joke about Utah is still basically true: in Utah, the separation of church and state is a street.

The Salt Lake City Temple is literally down the hill from the Utah State Capitol.

I enjoyed my time in the Beehive State, but I also found myself immersed, willingly or not, in Mormon culture.  I say 'Mormon culture' because Utah felt like another world altogether.  I learned that the state is so heavily Mormon that during school, communities like Bountiful have Latter-Day Saints (or LDS) education centers called 'seminaries' across the street from schools (and nearly all students go directly from school to these seminaries then back to school, with only non-LDS students not attending).  The LDS community has its own bookstore (Deseret Book) and even its own cinema. While in Utah I stayed with non-LDS friends, who showed me some of the many films of one Kirby Heyborne, of whom I'm now a fan.  I should point out that the two Heyborne films I saw: The R.M. (which stands for "Returned Missionary") and The Best Two Years, while both enjoyable, had to be literally explained to me (as many of the in-jokes that an LDS member would find uproarious would be lost on a little old evangelical like me).  Still, I got some understanding of Mormon culture and found it fascinating (I hope to later review Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration, which plays daily in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building at Temple Square). 

One thing I got was that Mormons have a bit of a persecution complex.  I don't blame them, given they were driven out from both New York and Missouri I believe early in the faith's history, which brought them to the Great Salt Lake Valley.  Notorious for the early church's practice of polygamy, the LDS Church has yet to live down the idea that Mormon men have a harem from the general mindset.  They also have had negative press from the get-go thanks to such classic books as A Study in Scarlet (the Sherlock Holmes debut novel where a major subplot was the wickedness of the LDS Church) and the Western Riders of the Purple Sage.  Early films like the mostly lost A Victim of The Mormons and Trapped By the Mormons I'm sure didn't help.  Even now, most evangelicals bristle at the idea that Mormons are 'true Christians', and I can testify (to use LDS lingo) that at least one evangelical Christian I know refused to vote for Mitt Romney because Romney is Mormon (no word on whether this person also played Osmond Brothers or Gladys Knight albums backwards to hear any Satanic messages). 

Well, the LDS Church is now on a charm offensive.  We've all encountered the eager young men and women who come to our doors to share the other Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Now we have Meet the Mormons, a documentary that features six LDS members discuss how they are not only average men and women but who have been made or made better by the LDS Church.  Meet the Mormons can be one of two things: a genuine documentary about LDS members living their lives or thinly-veiled recruiting propaganda.  The truth lies somewhere in between (but leans strongly on the latter).

Hosted by perky Jenna Kim Jones (who tells us she's a Mormon, which she clarifies is a nickname, not the official term like 'Catholic' or 'Lutheran' would be to their respective churches), we travel around the world and the U.S. to meet all sorts of people.  They go by their titles: The Bishop (Jermaine Sullivan from Atlanta), The Coach (U.S. Navy football coach Ken Niumatalolo based in Annapolis), The Fighter (Costa Rican mixed martial arts fighter Carolina Marin Munoz), The Candy Bomber (retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Gail Halvorsen), The Humanitarian (Nepalese entrepreneur Bishnu Adhikari) and the Missionary Mom (Dawn Armstrong, her son Anthony, and her husband Craig).

With Jones' occasional comments, the participants are allowed to tell their tales, of either how they came to be LDS or how their LDS faith impacted their lives. 

Some of the stories are completely compelling.  Regardless of what one thinks of his faith, Colonel Havelson is a hero through and through.  As the 'Candy Bomber', he dropped chocolates to Berlin children during the Berlin Airlift, and at 92 is still flying and recreating his extremely noble act that is worthy of honor and respect.  The entire Armstrong family is also an amazing tale.  Dawn Armstrong was without direction and had given birth to an out-of-wedlock child (Anthony).  After this and the death of a second illegitimate child she was on the verge of total collapse, but the intervention of various Missionary Sisters saved her life and gave her and her son hope.  She moved to Utah, married Craig (who has one leg) and now Anthony (who is biracial, and in a moment I'll argue why that is important) at the end of the film is serving as an Elder in Durbar, South Africa.

As fascinating as some of the stories are, I found a certain cold calculation to this entire endeavor.  Meet the Mormons (apart from a clumsy title that lends itself to parody) reminded me of all things the Disney Vacation DVDs I receive every so often, highlighting the new attractions at the various Disney theme parks and cruises to get me to return.  In the same way, Meet the Mormons doesn't have much about the individual Mormons themselves.  Instead, it in some ways plays like a glossy promotional video for the Church. 

Let us remember that the LDS Church provided the funds for Meet the Mormons, which they are open about.  There is simply no way around the idea that Meet the Mormons, far from being an objective view of LDS members, is a recruitment tool which could easily be shown either at Home Study gatherings or be handed out by the Elders/Sisters along with copies of The Book of Mormon.

I could not help notice that all but one of the interviewees was Anglo (and that Anglo is a war hero).  The Bishop is black, the Missionary Mom's son is biracial, and there was a Hispanic, a Polynesian, and Nepalese subject.  Even the closing song has minority roots: David Archuleta, the American Idol alum who sings the closing song, Glorious, is Hispanic.

In the opening of Meet the Mormons, Jones interviews people in Times Square, and one of the stereotypes and clichés about LDS is that they are racists. I think there is a general idea that Mormon=White, and Meet the Mormons showcases members who are almost all non-White.   However, I cannot shake the idea that this is no accident but by careful design, as if to show the world that there are not only Mormons of color, but that not all of them live in Utah. 

Bishop Sullivan and/or Anthony Armstrong are never asked about the complex history the LDS Church has had with African-Americans (such as how black men were not given full priesthood privileges until 1978).  It is possible that the Bishop and the Missionary are flat-out unaware of the Church's tortured racial history, but Meet the Mormons wasn't about to delve into that beehive (pun intended). 

We were told that Mrs. Munoz would show how any stereotype of Mormon women would be shattered.  I didn't see any shattering of stereotypes.  Yes, she kick-boxes, but so do many women.  The Munozes have a partnership in their marriage, but that isn't either unique or groundbreaking.  It doesn't show she has a leadership position in her home or ward.  

As a side note, it's curious that when we hear the various members reading or quoting Scriptures, it is the Bible, not The Book of Mormon we hear from.

Speaking of The Book of Mormon, there is something almost bizarre in seeing Jones walking in front of the Broadway theater marquee of the Trey Parker/Matt Stone spoof of Mormonism without really acknowledging it even as it is there in plain sight.   We do get some clips where Mormons are spoofed in the popular culture, but Meet the Mormons again wasn't going to touch those ideas apart from countering them with inspirational stories of Mr. Adhikari bringing water to Nepalese villages, Coach Niumatalolo inspiring his team onto victory, or Colonel Halvorsen recounting how his Candy Bombing over Cold War-West Berlin began.  Frankly, almost all religions are mocked in popular culture at one point or another, so shots taken at Mormonism aren't either out-of-the-ordinary or unique to them.

Bet Joseph Smith didn't see THIS in
any of his visions...

It would have been interesting to hear how these Mormons perceive themselves against the culture at large, or hear what they thought of The Book of Mormon musical.  We never hear about how the ideas non-LDS (or Gentiles as non-LDS are dubbed by the LDS community) don't square with their realities.  Instead, we hear from almost everyone about how the LDS in general has done great things for them.  It isn't my place to say their religious beliefs haven't helped them, but if the whole point of Meet the Mormons was to...meet the Mormons, the film fails in that goal.

I personally think also that Meet the Mormons is a bit flawed in its mission (no pun intended).  The thinking behind Meet the Mormons is that there is this wild perception among Gentiles that the LDS is some sort of bizarre universe.  I have met several Mormons, and like Christians I know they laugh at comedies, enjoy socializing, even dancing, and in practically every respect live lives no different than non-LDS.

Meet the Mormons is saved (no pun intended) by the Armstrong and Halvorsen stories, which would make fascinating tales in their own right.  That is why I'm giving it the mildest negative vote I can.  I do this because in many other respects, Meet the Mormons strikes me as propaganda for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Days, an effort to put their best multicultural face forward to a world that still views them with suspicion.  It's all a bit too glossy, too calculated, too vaccinated to have me learn much that I couldn't gleam from a visit by either Elders or a stop at the home of an LDS member.  Meet the Mormons has this air of being a well-produced semi-recruitment video that will play well in Utah, but which will give Gentiles little to no information about what it is like to be a Mormon in today's world.      

Truthfully, I feel almost a little guilty about being mostly negative about Meet the Mormons. Mormons are the nicest people I've met. However, I have to always, at least when it comes to film reviews, Choose the Right.  

This ISN'T what they meant by
'Brigham Young'...

DECISION: C-