Wednesday, June 30, 2010
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Wednesday, June 30, 2010
MOVIE REVIEW
8 The Mormon Proposition
In 2008, California Voted
Against Them After They Voted For Them
June 17, 2008 was a great day for Tyler Barrick and
Spencer Jones and hundreds of other same-sex partners, who were married in City
Hall in San Francisco. Five months later their status as a married couple
was overturned by California's voters.
Red Flag Releasing
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
FOLLOW
Wednesday, June
30, 2010
A college professor of a legal remedies class once taught me that you don't have
rights until they are taken away from you, that the rights an individual has are
silent until a challenge to them occurs.
I understood that then and now. Yet after the events of November 4, 2008
and after watching Reed Cowan's powerful, disturbing "8 The Mormon Proposition",
it's difficult to reconcile this principle with the current plight of same-sex
couples in California.
Mr. Cowan's documentary tracks the events leading up to and after a historic
(and tragic) November night in California in 2008. The first
African-American was elected president of the United States. California
voters (52%-48%) voted for Proposition 8, which stated that marriage was
exclusively recognized in the state as the union of one man and one woman.
Or did they?
"8 The Mormon Proposition" pulls back the curtain of the voting booth, delving
beyond the voting machine, tracing the journey of the birth of Proposition 8.
The destination begins and ends in Utah with the Mormon church, which had spent
millions of dollars from outside California to defeat the proposition.
The documentary outlines the battleground. A large, odious, fuzzy video
image of the face of a man, a leading Mormon official, frequently appears.
Audio of the theology and strategy of the Mormons regarding Prop 8 and same-sex
unions accompanies it. It's one of the creepiest and grotesque images to
match the kind of beliefs about same-sex couples that are espoused.
Mr. Cowan's film juxtaposes this with the date of June 17, 2008, two months
after the California Supreme Court had in a historic decision granting same-sex
couples the legal right to marry. A euphoric moment for Tyler Barrick and
Spencer Jones, two men who have found love in each other. You couldn't see
a happier couple.
By year's end, tears of joy would dissolve into tears of sorrow.
Linda Stay, a former Mormon, joins in the battle to uphold one of the most
fundamental legal rights in America: the right to marry. Her gay son was
married. Many have the knives out for her and others parents who do the
right thing and stand by their children in the face of vitriol and unabashed
hatred. Many other children however, do not enjoy the backing of their
parents, who disowned them.
"8 The Mormon Proposition" is most effective and disturbing when it tells of the
extreme pains of those who have had rights legally removed from them --
something that every person, regardless of their stand on same-sex marriage --
should be profoundly troubled by. The individual stories are more than
heartbreaking. The film unleashes an appropriate amount of the Mormon
church. As you see the clever, sophisticated, misleading plans by the
Mormon theocracy you have to admire, if nothing else, their organizational
tactics.
Mr. Cowan's film, which runs barely 80 minutes, has amazing scope and breadth,
examining legal issues and the conflict between church and state, which the U.S.
constitution isn't silent on. "8 The Mormon Propostion" is uncomfortable
viewing for sure, but then again, it's uncomfortable when the greatest country
in the world doesn't recognize the rights of all its citizens. Something's
wrong with that picture, but little is wrong with this important, must-see film.
Narrated by Dustin Lance Black, Oscar winning screenwriter of "Milk".
"8 The Mormon Proposition" is not rated by the Motion Picture
Association Of America. It contains some brief disturbing images. The film's duration is one hour and
18 minutes. The film is in select theaters across the U.S. and on demand
on cable. Mr. Cowan's film arrives on DVD on July 13.
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