Handcart

I am often intrigued by Mormon cinema. I try to stay caught up on the latest films of this newish genre and often find myself pleasantly surprised. Richard Dutcher's incredible, so far unsurpassed work (God's Army and Brigham City) and even Kurt Hale's comedic parodies (The Singles Ward and The R.M.) have been among the most noteworthy. Handcart, quite on the contrary, was rather unpleasant. I admire the makers of the film for what I'm sure they thought was a valiant and noble work, but as far as a story about the Mormon pioneers, this film missed the entire point.

Besides poor acting (overlookable, as many of them were rookies), hardly believable "British" accents, and blatant errors as far as setting (still overlookable, but mountains in Iowa City??), I could not get past the script and inconsistency of character. Abigail and Sam switched personalities so much, neither of their characters were very believable at all, and their relationship development left much to be desired.

This film exhibited a conversion to the LDS faith for a reason that, while seemingly appropriate, falls short of honorable. Conversion to any faith should require some kind of change of heart, some kind of desire to know and feel some truth in this world, to know who we are and where we came from. Sam Hunter, in the film, joined to be with Abigail, and while it was apparent that he had been converted to the Church, not even by the end did I feel he had been converted to the Gospel in any way (I mean, did he ever even read the Book of Mormon?).

While it was interesting to see a new take on the Mormon pioneer story, I was disappointed with how they decided to represent them. With films like this, you just have to ask what they were trying to say. I still find I don't really know their message. If you want to see a more accurate and entertaining film depicting the trek to Zion, find a copy of Legacy. Better yet, to get a real feeling of what the Gospel is about, look up any of Dutcher's work, but particularly Brigham City.

1.7/5 (for some good music, moments of good communication, and questionably good intentions).

I have been lax and haven't yet seen this film - I hope to this week when it plays at LDS Film Festival, but I had the opportunity last night of having costume designer Nancy Cannon explain some things to me about the costumes.

They are now in the UVU costume collection. Most films depicting the pioneer era use half effort trying to be, but failing badly authentic costumes - inc. zippers double ugh!!! These dresses were very carefully made to be authentic as possible - sans being sewn by hand. They have linings, where there would have been linings, piping where there would have been piping, under sleeves where there would have been under sleeves, princess seams, and authentic to the era buttons. There is actually one shawl that the designer found on Ebay that is from the 1850's.

I can't wait to see the film now bec. they sound totally amazing.

Although a lot of the cast of this film were amateurs and the budget was skimpy (understandable as it was financed largely by the director's father) I was incredibly moved by Handcart. This is the true story of the Mormon version of the Donner Party.

For the rest of us gentiles Brigham Young apparently hit on the idea of saving on the cost and feeding of livestock in bringing converts out to the Utah Territory by using handcarts and having the Saints walk the plains to their Zion. That was quite an expense for traditional wagon trains. For the most part it worked, but two parties left late in the year of 1856 and were pretty decimated by the time survivors reached Salt Lake City.

The film is told in flashback by one of the survivors fifty years later in 1906 during a Sunday school presentation. Apparently Mormon history as well as religion is taught there. The film focuses on the personal story of Jaelan Petrie and Stephanie Albach who meet in Iowa City which was a jumping off point for Mormon pilgrims. Petrie is clerking in his uncle's general store like a young Abe Lincoln and Albach is fresh from the United Kingdom where missionaries had been making converts. She's there with her sister, both having lost their parents on the ship's voyage from the old country. The two fall in love and Petrie decides to convert, a move not inclined to make friends in a town that barely tolerates Mormons.

For love people have done a lot crazier things than change their religious faith, that bit of criticism from other reviewers I don't understand.

Perhaps because this was a cast of unknowns made the telling of this story far more believable than if you were seeing people like Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston who were an item back in those days starring in this production. I thought I was truly along on the voyage of these Handcart travelers. Their stories could get an emotional reaction out of a statue. It got one out of me.

Handcart is a story worth telling and worth seeing beyond the world of the LDS church.

The main problem with "Handcart" (2002) is that it aspires to be epic but it has neither the budget nor the script. Nor does it have adequate acting. The director, Kels Goodman, wanted to make an epic film; in fact, on the extras that come with the DVD he explains the decision to shoot in widescreen. Unfortunately the epic size of the screen only reinforces how little there is of interest to see. Shooting in the standard academy frame would have benefited the film by hiding the lack of budget and talent. My mom summed up the problems with the film best when she said, "After watching the film, you just don't feel like the pioneers suffered all that much." Goodman does show some snow and people shivering, but you don't really feel like this whole handcart business was much more than a really hard boy scout outing. Again, the smaller frame may have hidden the lack of deep snow and ice. While the film is a good effort, it's little more than an effort and will remain at the bottom of my list of the recent spate of Mormon films.

This could have been a very moving epic...but epics generally require a large budget. This was definitely NOT a high-dollar production, and I felt, watching it, that it was kind of rushed out in order to try and catch the wave of Mormon cinema successes that happened a few years ago. Unfortunately, this resulted in a weak script, location selections that just don't resemble the terrain they're supposed to depict, and a lot of scenes where the number of pioneers leaving the city far outnumbered the crowds watching them go.

Some of the acting was good, most was so-so...and some of it was pretty atrocious (they REALLY should have had a dialect coach...) Given the limits of location, the cinematography was skilled, though it seemed more often to be trying to avoid showing too much in the background, rather than showing enough of the foreground.

In terms of story--well, if you're looking for a good, stirring tale of conversion, this isn't it. The story felt very contrived to me, and I found myself far more interested in the stories of the secondary characters than the leads. I think it is, however, noteworthy that this script doesn't try and sway the viewer to a pro-Mormon standpoint. The characters we follow through the tale are all extremely human, with moments of heroism, crises of faith, burdens of self-doubt, and all the other baggage humanity tends to carry around. This is, ultimately, the best thing about the story.

They should have taken some more time, done a few more re-writes, and rounded up some more funding before they tackled this one. It tries to tell what was, in reality, a very moving and tragic tale (the Martin Handcart company, which failed to reach Salt Lake before winter hit, resulting in one of the most catastrophic endeavors in the westward expansion of the U.S.) by focusing on the stories of just a few members of the company--but it's kind of like moose-hunting with a .22. Unless you hit JUST the right spot, it doesn't work. And they didn't hit the spot.