From the battle with Mormons to the battle of the information waves was the scope of the next two documentaries.
Take into account that 8: The Mormon Proposition is bias and as with most documentaries you need to swallow it with a great big grain of salt, I found this to be wonderfully made and extremely powerful. Lots of argument still over the ‘real’ truth of who or what was behind what. Movie says Mormons were the ones who orchestrated most of the campaign for Prop 8. I’ve read some people that claimed it was the Catholics and the Mormons were the ones who backed them up. Whatever happened, we can all agree on ONE thing – Prop 8 was passed. And in the end it was up to each individual person who voted to make the choice of saying “Yes” or “No” to Prop 8. And all of the people who didn’t vote, that chose to let other people speak for them.
This movie actually made me tear a bit… It was that powerful and thought provoking. It really makes you think about how it is possible to pull on certain strings to influence the flock to go a certain way. Documentary also touched based on the lives that lesbians and gays have to deal with growing up Mormon, the unusually large amount of suicides and homeless kids in Utah.
From left to right: Carl Spence, Co-Director Steven Greenstreet, Millie Watts, Spencer Jones and Tyler Barrick
I felt it was a privilege to see this movie, then listen to the Q & A after with the Co-Director Steven Greenstreet, Millie Watts, Tyler Barrick and Spencer Jones. All of them are Mormon and some of them are still practicing Mormons, but who all believe that Prop 8 is wrong! It had to be one of the most heart felt Q & A I’ve attended at this SIFF. They all spoke straight from the heart. One last word, Tyler Barrick and Spencer Jones who are one of the main focuses in the film make such an adorable couple.
“8: The Mormon Proposition” Gallery
This is the time I start to lose the groove. Night before i had trouble sleeping which is very unlike myself. And I kept waking up with bad dreams. I had about 2 1/2 hours of sleep so I was really dragging by the time I hit the third movie.
But carry on I did! And I managed to stay awake through Disco and Atomic War. Thankfully luck was on my side, the documentary was heavily sprinkled in comedy. If it wasn’t for the bits of humor it would of been an extremely informative, but dry film.
The movie is about an information war between some of the people of Estonia who wanted to watch Finnish TV and the government trying to block out the Finnish signal while sending back communist propaganda. There was almost like a bunch of miniature-shorts that were shown in bits throughout documentary where you followed these kid’s lives and the things they went through during the information war. Talking to their watches because they saw Knight Rider, the wonderment over who shot JR, and learning the new dance moves from overseas.
Definitely a solid 3 for taking a different approach to being informative.
