I went to see this movie last night. I knew that the documentary was not going to be objective. I had seen trailers, news, commentaries so almost nothing was new. What I wasn't fully aware was the complete level of "behind the scenes" involvement by the LDS Church--but it wasn't a big surprise at all, I have worked in plenty of callings before where I know how things are organized, planned and carried out with huge precision. I have to confess that my level of anger only grew as the movie progressed. Still I can understand the need for the church to defend its position--I just don't get to what length it was willing to go to get the job done and why focus so much of their efforts in California of all places while other states and countries have already passed same-sex marriage laws and society still has not crumbled & no one has forced them to perform Gay weddings in their temples, but that's just me.
The hardest/saddest part for me was watching the testimonial from the guy who had shock therapy at BYU, reliving his experience and how he mentioned that it was just as painful if not more telling it. It was even sadder to see the stories of the homeless youth, rejected by their parents, living out in the streets and having to revert to drugs/prostitution to survive. I just can't understand how can such a "family-friendly" culture allows parents to disown and abandon their children at such a critical time.
"Family, isn't it about time?"
So I really have no good/bad opinion of the movie, I didn't come out dissuaded one way or the other. I hope we have all learned our lessons from this. I do know the church has been found guilty of questionable practices regarding contributions to the passing of Prop 8, I think that's just the tip of the iceberg, but hey,why dwell on it.
I think I've been watching too many movies lately. Summer's here, I must get a life!!
I watched it a couple weeks ago. I agree, those stories were incredibly sad and definitely need to be told.
ReplyDeleteI think the thing that got to me about the extent to which the church got involved and the way they got involved was the strategy and maneuvering that was employed. It's not like it was illegal or anything, but I would expect that type of strategy and maneuvering from a large corporation or a political action committee. I would expect more transparency and forthrightness from a church. If you believe what you're doing is right, then own it. If you don't want to completely own it, think about why that is and maybe modify you're approach.
Anyway, yeah it was interesting to watch.