The 19th Wife

Just a follow up to some of the other reviews. Location: there is a sect here in Canada and as others have said, the location/surroundings are incidental to the plot. The sect in Canada has been the subject of repeated investigations and even prosecutions, not to mention a coup. Hairstyles: the stylist got it spot on, that is exactly how the wives are required to wear their hair. The clothing was also correct. I am guessing the reviewers complaining about the hairstyles are not familiar with this religion. Where I live there are other religions that also have similar dress requirements though they are not polygamous, Amish, Mennonite.

A reviewer claimed details were invented for dramatic effect. Actually, abuse and terror are common in the most secretive clans. Self-proclaimed "prophets" assign who will marry, reassign "disobedient" men's wives and children to others, and claim dead men's wives and children. The threat of eternal and earthly retribution for disobedience was recorded by Joseph Smith in Section 132 of Doctrine and Covenants when he acknowledged "plural marriage," the bigamy he and his elders had secretly practiced for years. Even Ann Eliza Young's history is accurate.

With 30,000 to 50,000 polygamists scattered throughout the western U.S., many live in picturesque settings. St. George, UT, boasts resorts, agriculture, and mountain forests.

Jordan's sexual orientation wasn't changed for politics, as indicated by an article. Parameters are looser for novels than movies. Jordan's lifestyle would demand time to explain FLDS disapproval of gays and lesbians isn't about morality but the belief that men need at least three wives and numerous children to reach the highest level of heaven.

Viewers can learn about strict polygamous communities from "The 19th Wife."

The acting isn't terrible and that's about the only thing you can say.

If you read the book, you'll hate this movie as they've gutted it (and not just the "heterosexualization" of Jordan). If you liked BIG LOVE, pass this one by- it's nothing like it. If by some odd chance you read Ann Eliza Young's book (or Irving Wallace's about her) you'll hate this movie as it not only gets everything wrong but takes less than 10 minutes and that in blips. Most of the scenes in the movie last on average about 30 seconds each and there are many plot holes, some from the book and some that the movie cooked up.

Just to correct a couple of historical errors: Ann Eliza Webb was NOT an adult when her father brought home his first plural wife but a baby so young she grew up in a polygamous family and had no memory of a life before it. She and Brigham Young had no children together- she had two sons with a first husband (omitted from the movie) and he had a few dozen with other women. Dramatic as it may seem, she did not flee from an angry mob- she checked into a hotel, gave constant interviews, and when she left town it was on a train and she sued him for a ton of alimony (unsuccessfully as their marriage was not legally recognized). That's an impressive number of errors considering the Ann Eliza story lasted all of about 5 minutes in this movie and could/should have been dropped altogether. (Her melodramatic ghost written tell-none is far from likely to inspire anybody in the modern era; even Ebershoff completely rewrote it and making her family far less interesting as he did so). This movie is basically a waste. I hope that most of the money went to Patricia Wettig's salary as she was by far the best thing in it. I read and did not like the book (too much purple prose and too much historical inaccuracy and too much clearly vanity driven inclusions with the murder mystery, which should have been the focus, taking up maybe 5% of the book's text). Compared to the movie, the book is a masterpiece. Not good, not so-bad-it's-good, just all around mediocre with a heaping side dish of "yeah right", followed by a yawn.

I thought the movie handled the book really well - you can't fit all of a book into a 90 minute movie.

I have quite a bit of knowledge about the Mormon Church although my relatives are not from the fundamental branch. This is how life is run and how it is based on a money gathering men in charge society.

I have seen a few documentaries on the Canadian version of this and there is a lot of debate about how they use the social services system to collect money from the government that does not necessarily go to the women and children as intended so it was interesting to see a few digs at that.

Definitely worth a watch as a drama about a secluded life. If you are interested in the life try the book Educated by Tara Westover - fascinating and on a similar line.

I make a point of avoiding these "made for TV" films as this one clearly is. But every now and again I pander to the wife's (singular ;)) film taste. This one had a good rating on here, so I thought I would give it a go. I'm so pleased I did, one of the better films I have seen lately. So despite other reviews that complain about the location "Hello, 99.99% of people viewing this will not be experts on where these communities thrive in the US" and care not if there may be one too many trees for this to be feasible to you (I don't recall noticing a tree at all, I was busy watching the film). The first thing I noticed was this strange hairdo all the women seemed to don, which gave a sense of submission to a controlling ethics, so far from detracting or being weird actually added to the essence of the situation...what are these people moaning about ??? too many trees, strange hair...come on people! Anyway, The story is compelling I found myself getting really annoyed that these people really exists and these poor women accept that treatment from men and furthermore from a "Prophet". The Acting was superb from all concerned, the direction/editing was sufficient so that You knew exactly who was who, and carried the story along at a comfortable pace, although the ending did seem a little pow! there you go ! jobs done after a very pleasing unwinding development of all other aspects, maybe it could have been more stretched as to "getting just done to the right person, it all seemed a bit easy, and quick, I would have liked to have built up real hatred or sympathy to the person one way or another (you'll know what I mean when you see it). other than that, a huge pat on the back for all concerned.