Out of Liberty

Right, well I was expecting to see a proper western movie here, but instead I was served a movie about a group of imprisoned mormons and the hardships of the people that want to see them brought to justice.

Yeah, not really exactly what I had imagined this movie to be. And I managed to endure 40 minutes of the ordeal that is "Out of Liberty" before I was Out of Patience, and simply called it quits. And there is no chance of me returning to finish the rest of this movie.

Now, it should be said that the movie does have a good production value to it, and it definitely has the era feel to it, being gritty and somewhat rough. But the movie just failed utterly on its script and storyline. I was far from being entertained by what transpired on the screen, both in terms of what took place and the characters participating in said boring events.

I am sure that there is an audience out there for a movie such as this. I just wasn't in that group. Sure, the movie may be set within the confines of what constitutes a western movie, but this was hardly a western movie in the classic (or generic) meaning of the word "western".

And the whole aspect of religion that simmered beneath the surface of the movie didn't really do an ounce of helping to win me over either.

My rating of "Out of Liberty" is a mere three out of ten stars. This was a massive swing and a miss from director Garrett Batty as in managing to entertain me. I had expected this to be a western movie, not a slow paced and rather mundane prison drama.

This is a well-produced, decently acted, and consistent movie. That's not the highest praise, but it's more than most faith-based movies have. It's also nice that it takes a unique look at the story, even if it bends the history (but that's just something that has to happen to make a compelling film). All in all, this is among the best LDS films, though certainly not the best.

The film makes history almost unrecognizable by the selective focus on the imprisonment of Joseph Smith and others after the violent conflict with the nearby residents AND the Missouri Militia. In doing so, the viewer is left to hear Mormon apologist speeches, turgidly delivered in stiff tableaus, which sell just fine to the faithful in LDS viewings, but are painfully weak by any objective film standards.

Without due accounting for the anti-democratic actions of Smith that led to his arrest and those who destroyed a newspaper printing office at his direction, they plot pleads the LDS case of their founder solely as martyr rather than the less flattering depiction of many who read the accounts and find his motives less than noble.

If Catholics had attempted to portray some pushback against the Crusades as oppression in a similar film, then critics would be merciless in their derision of such preachy, bad "entertainment," but this movie will get a pass out of both pity and embarrassment from those who either don't know enough history to realize it's a (bad) whitewash, or misguidedly confuse it as part of a larger social justice movement to highlist alleged past wrongs.

Unsurprisingly, the movie is conveniently tightly focused on men as the principals and thereby avoids realistic relationships with women, much less any women modern viewers would find appealing. I have Mormon friends but even they would have to admit this is just plain awful.

It's 1839. In the small town of Liberty, Missouri, Joseph Smith and several of his Saints are in the jail. They've fled Illinois to escape the mobs. Now in Missouri, there are lynch mobs being held off as they await trial for.... well, it's not clear. The judge, and even the governor, we are told, know they're innocent of whatever it is, but fear *cough* *cough* public opinion. Sheriff Jasen Wade is in charge of getting them to the trial, getting them back to jail, and standing guard over them at all times.

It's a talk festival, with cinematographer Jeremy Prusso keeping the camera moving and editor Connor O'Malley keeping the clips short in order to maintain visual interest. The night scenes are the most interesting, men standing in front of a black background, almost stage-like. This being a western, Wade keeps his delivery short and clipped, with sentences to match. More of interest as a retelling of history and law than what you might expect from a western, I enjoyed it but consider that more a matter of personal quirks than of actually interesting film making.

What a lawyer... That is unlikely.

This guy is a general?!

He's a confident man to let them all up at once. And reading a book too.

Pull himself together? With what? Iron will and dirty socks for medicine?

Good ole urine bucket humor.

They should have worked this out before hand instead of looking suspicious taking so long.

A nice comfortable log pillow.

He doesn't need to tell them to "here, take it". They've got nothing else to do.

No water for everyone?

I'll give him "don't tell anyone I was here".

That's a bold thing to say.

They've gotten pretty far.

This movie is too slow paced.

I don't think that was a particularly amazing oration, but it was heartfelt.