March 23, 2005
These Events Actually Occured
The LDS church is always on firmer ground when it focuses on the more modern aspects its history. You know: family values, games nights, jello, golden tablets and magic seeing-stones. Given Mormon culture’s undeniable impact on contemporary American life, it must be tempting to focus on the present. That’s why I’m so glad that the LDS establishment continues to refuse to gloss over its rich mythology.
Anyone passing through Salt Lake City should be sure to catch a little cinematic gem called, “The Testaments: Of One Fold and One Shepherd,” playing several times a day, absolutely free, in the Legacy Theatre at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. “Testaments” is a sort of Mormon “Passion of the Christ,” that is, a big budget Biblical epic, only set in Guatemala rather than Palestine. While the church is naturally a little cagey about how much tithe money actually went into the production, its budget appears to rival that of moderate Hollywood endeavors. Ziggarats. Monkeys. Hurricanes. No expense is spared.
Granted, mainstream Christians are expected to swallow their share of institutional myths. Loaves and fishes. Lazarus from the dead. Transubstantiation.
But to actually create an implausable ancient civilization of which there is no archaelogical evidence is pretty audacious. Worthy of a little more respect. Obviously self-conscious about its foundations, the film opens with the following disclaimer: “While the exact location in the Americas is unknown and while some of the characters have been fictionalized, THESE EVENTS ACTUALLY OCCURED.”
“Testaments” is set in a Nephite (or Lamanite, I can never tell) village shortly before Christ decides to pay the Western Hemisphere a visit. “Passion” aspired to historical accuracy by having its characters speak in Latin and Aramaic. However, since its exact location in the Americas is unknown, “Testaments” has to content itself with stilted English colored by occasional flashes of a language that I can only assume is made-up but which sounds impressively foreign.
“Ho-ko kohur chunga na?” asks a vaguely ethnic-looking Nephite.
“Anka me jokomo,” replies another.
Gibberish aside, director Kieth Merrill manages to create a surprisingly cohesive aesthetic for his phony Mesoamerican culture, with architecture and fashion apparently stolen in equal parts from Mayan, Aztec and Incan artifacts. It’s a Tolkienian achievement, and it’s a must-see for anyone who loves alternate-reality fantasy worlds.
Except that these events actually occured. No, seriously. They did.