It would be truly funny if they weren't being so serious!

You're a spook, nobody trust the spook!

You're a spook, nobody trust the spook!

Oh please. Didn't I say FORMER?

You're never former.   

Sad.

The Mountain Meadows Massacre was indeed a horrific event...and there's enough drama in it to make a compelling movie. But to 1) state the orders came from SLC, which to my knowledge is historically unsupported; and to 2) portray Brigham Young as declaring he was God is downright slanderous. I have to believe the politics of Romney's candidacy propelled this bit of garbage.

I'm a history buff, and as you know, singrdave, an ex-Mormon. There's no love lost between me and the LDS church. HOWEVER, I try to confine my concerns to the facts, and personally appalled every time I see some anti-Mormon zealot speak out their rear end. Movies like this aren't worth my time.

Thanks for the update. I'll skip this movie and stick with the many quality books that have been written on the subject.

As for "Rendition", I may actually check that one out. I'm finding our government's credibility sadly lacking as of late (try the last 15 or so years at LEAST!), and, like many Americans I have questions.

Good post.

I stand corrected: According to IMDB, Terence Stamp plays Brigham Young. Jon Voight plays someone named Jacob Samuelson.

Gid:

The Mountain Meadows Massacre was indeed a horrific event...and there's enough drama in it to make a compelling movie. But to 1) state the orders came from SLC, which to my knowledge is historically unsupported; and to 2) portray Brigham Young as declaring he was God is downright slanderous. I have to believe the politics of Romney's candidacy propelled this bit of garbage. I'm a history buff, and as you know, singrdave, an ex-Mormon. There's no love lost between me and the LDS church. HOWEVER, I try to confine my concerns to the facts, and personally appalled every time I see some anti-Mormon zealot speak out their rear end. Movies like this aren't worth my time.

ALERT: JARGON AHEAD!
Since you are in the know, Gid... I think they're going saying the Danites did it.

I have to believe the politics of Romney's candidacy propelled this bit of garbage.

Coincidence? I think not.

I have seen the trailer for the Mormon one, but not the rendition one.  I have heard of that one tho.  I wonder if our latest kook is behind these?

His Motto?  Never to unbelievable to believe it, facts be damned!

His Motto? Never to unbelievable to believe it, facts be damned!

You forgot the caveat "...as long as it jibes with what I already believe!"

Even I recognise the description for the massacre as given is nonesense, and I live thousands of miles away. Its bad enough when Hollywood does this kind of "artistic licence" in fictional films, but its unforgiveable to rewrite fact in this way for real events. The basic tenant of the whole episode is clearly documented in many non-partisan sources with little differences on basic cause, effect and outcome, and albeit some facts are a little fuzzy (hardly surprising given passage of time), enough is crystal clear to give lie to the interpretation as described in the film.

I've always thought that we should be able to bring libel cases despite the subject being deceased, sadly the Law does not support that. It would at least stop such blantant commercialism on the back of those unable to defend themselves.

I know the following makes me feel better... it's a review of September Dawn, from the Onion's AV Club:

Reviewed by Steven Hyden
August 27th, 2007
September Dawn finds Jon Voight, 37 years later, on the other side of the Deliverance equation—no longer the defenseless innocent hunted by backwoods yahoos, he now leads backwoods yahoos stalking unlucky strangers who entered the wrong place at the wrong time. But while Deliverance was an unpredictable, brutally effective thriller, September Dawn is a middling Western that lurches ever-so-deliberately toward the inevitable conclusion "inspired by actual events." It depicts the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857—when 120 settlers were murdered by a small militia of paranoid Mormons—and ends up personifying what it condemns, broadly portraying the followers of Joseph Smith as cold-blooded killers in the name of promoting religious tolerance. From an artistic perspective, at least, Voight was better off facing anal rape at the hands of inbred Georgia rednecks.

Once again playing a maniacally rigid authority figure, Voight is a bishop with 18 wives and two sons who is immediately suspicious when the ill-fated settlers make their way into his territory on their way to California. Voight's reservations stem mainly from part of the group being from Missouri, because as any Mormon bishop will tell you, "You can't trust a man from Missouri." (Voight's bias is explained briefly in a campy flashback related to the death of the prophet Smith.) Voight sends his son Trent Ford to spy on the settlers, but soon Ford falls for the fetching Tamara Hope and a bucking bronco only he is able to ride, though not necessarily in that order of importance.

The first half of September Dawn dwells on the Romeo And Juliet-style romance between Ford and Hope, and resembles one of those gentle made-for-TV family Westerns that air on the Hallmark Channel. But eventually, the film's air of inoffensive tranquility is worn down by the heavy-handed evilness of the psychotic Mormon leadership, represented by Voight and Terence Stamp, who plays Brigham Young like he played General Zod in Superman II. With its complete lack of empathy for early Mormons and simplistic rendering of historical figures, September Dawn is that rare movie that actually deserves whatever condemnation might come from religious groups.

I will also post this to Gid's featured article.