Several weeks ago, I received a chilling email from someone I’d never met, a woman by the name of Patty Norris, encouraging me to see an independent film about her ancestors.
The chill factor came into play when I read the identity of those ancestors: she is the great granddaughter of Captain Alexander Fancher, who, along with his wife, seven of his nine children and more than a hundred other members of his wagon train, were brutally murdered by Mormon settlers in the infamous Mountain Meadows Massacre.
This incident turns the stomach of all who hears about it, and certainly elicits an emotional reaction from anyone who has ever lived in Utah or has had any contact whatsoever with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Mormons. Being guilty on all three counts, I knew it would be extremely difficult for me to see a screening, but I asked to be invited to one anyway, knowing that those familiar with my background would be questioning me about September Dawn, releasing in 857 theaters today.
And indeed, I have been deluged with questions about the film, most of them wondering if it’s true, and how it will affect modern day Mormons, in particular, Mitt Romney. So here are my answers:
1) Is it true?: Maybe. No one will ever know exactly what happened on 9/11/1857. The facts are that a wagon train of settlers from Arkansas and Missouri was making its way through Utah, where it was told by the Mormons in the area that they and their livestock would be protected from Indian attacks and accommodated as they camped in a meadow to rest for a few weeks, before going on to California.
But none of the pioneers in that company ever made it to the west coast. First, the Indians made a lethal attack, and then the local Mormon leaders, who had promised them protection, told them they could only stave off more Indian raids if they put their weapons in one wagon, their children under the age of eight in another, and followed the Mormons to safety. Once separated from their guns and babies, the remaining men, women and children were slaughtered in cold blood, by those who promised to save them from harm.
The film depicts this in graphic detail, and adds a fictionalized tragic young love story in to make it more personal. The filmmakers use broad, black and white strokes to paint the Mormons as darkness and evil, and the settlers as goodness and light, and there are many ham-fisted comparisons that are graced with a stunning lack of subtlety. Mormon leader Brigham Young is portrayed as a shameless, murdering liar, and all but one of the Mormons areportrayed as crazed lunatics. The reality is that no one knows exactly what was in the heads of Brigham Young and others who pulled the triggers. But you have a pretty good idea of what types of speculation will be involved in a film condoned by the descendants of the victims of the crime.
2) Will the release of the film have a lasting impact on either the Mormons or Mitt?: Well, to blame today’s Mormons for the Mountain Meadows Massacre is a little like blaming today’s Catholics for the Inquisition. Every religion has its high points and low ones, its sinners and its saints. No one knows this better than Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who has this to say about the film, when telling reporters he had no plans to see it:
"That was a terrible, awful act carried out by members of my faith. There are bad people in any church, and it’s true of members of my church too." He also adds that he rejects the idea that Brigham Young gave the extermination order.
I wouldn’t think that rational people would associate those responsible for the Mountain Meadows Massacre with Mitt Romney, or with the Mormons of today. But the film is a terrifying reminder of what we, as humans, are capable of, and that similar atrocities are being committed around the globe on a daily basis – sometimes on 9/11.
3) Is the film worth seeing?: For all its cinematic weaknesses, I left September Dawn weeping. “Now you know how I feel when I see holocaust films,” my Jewish husband told me gently as he wiped away my tears. Reminders of our capacity for brutal inhumanity, even if it’s just one person against another, are always painful, but sometimes necessary. I can’t decide if this film is necessary or not. Perhaps I don’t need to.
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