The Falls

I saw it as Greek Orthodox , knowing not verz much about mormons. I appreciated the honest dose of realism of storz , the acting, the well waz to define facts, traits of youth, a church , love. I appreciated, in same measure, the gentle aproach bz sensitive themes, from the traps of presumed felows of church to the emptiness of life in some occasions. And the smart manner to suggest the sensualitz.

The freshness, the correctness / two virtues of this film who is not pledge or accusation but onlz a sort of testimony about attraction, feelings, love.

Two zoung missionaries / elders - it sounds very eccentric for me the term for 20 years old guys - , their answers to challenges and their feelings one for other. A film remarkable for fair reflection of innocence.

Thank God for indie films, all puns intended. The Falls is a sensitive, nuanced treatment of Mormonism, sexual orientation and the fierce battles between commitment to a greater cause and following one's own truth. The similarities between this religion's place in our society and the gay rights movement is the film's cleverest and most meaningful contribution. Utterly convincing, outstanding acting by Nick Ferrucci, Benjamin Farmer and especially Brian Allard as a lonely Gulf War vet. I wanted a little more background development for the two leads, and an abbreviated fight scene was jarringly awkward, but that didn't take away much from the movie and its messages. The Falls leaves you with something you won't soon forget.

Very enjoyable, meaningful and interesting. Engaging from the very beginning. Sure, the acting could have been better ...along w/the production values (for which I'm deducting a couple stars). But considering this film was made on a shoestring, it still manages to impress and tell a wonderful story about love, humanity and struggle to find one's place in the world!

"The Falls" had the potential to be exploitative and inflammatory, considering its dual subjects: Mormons and homosexuality. Thankfully, it is neither. Credit is due to writer and director Jon Garcia, who deftly navigates a minefield of controversy to create a moving story of one young missionary's personal journey. It is a journey that is admittedly hard to capture in under two hours, so this telling is, of a necessity, elliptical.

Mormons will view this film in a completely different light than non-Mormons, despite the director's care in trying not to offend potential audiences. A touching film about two missionaries is not the same thing as a film about two missionaries touching.

Garcia firmly believes that he has made the former: the story of a personal journey and finding love. A film that is respectful of the religion that makes that love fraught with difficulty. And indeed he has.

Nevertheless, many devout Mormons will see the latter: a profane, sacrilegious exploitation of one of the proudest products of the Church--its missionaries. Garcia, who took great pains to learn about the Church, even so far as taking the missionary lessons and attending services for months (with no pretense), may not fully appreciate one peculiarity about Mormons.

Ever since 1838, when Governor Lilburn W. Boggs of Missouri issued the infamous "Extermination Order" to shoot any Mormon within the state on sight, Latter-Day Saints have lived with a siege mentality: it's us against the world. (This was most recently evident in the campaign of Mitt Romney.) Mormons are suspicious of any outsider who tries to portray their faith. They seek to influence, control, and even orchestrate such portrayals in most cases to assure that they and their faith are not disparaged.

Missionaries are to devout Mormons what servicemen are to patriotic Americans: they are heroes beyond reproach, at least while they are serving. The Mormon discomfort with Garcia's film will stem not so much from the subject of homosexuality, which most Mormons are now aware exists among even their devoutest members, but the fact that a less-than-sacred portrait of the Church's missionaries has been painted for all the world to see.

The Mormons' problem with this film and Garcia's triumph are one and the same: the brutal honesty of the story. Missionaries are not all angels. And they are not all the self-assured messengers of the Gospel that they attempt to be, sometimes with great personal struggle. But Garcia exposes the weaknesses of his characters lovingly. He does not belittle them or shame them or parade them as evidence of Mormonism's failure.

I understand the Mormon discomfort and the belief that, while some missionaries struggle with their sexual feelings, to indulge them WHILE serving a mission is a disgrace, never mind what happens afterward. But I also understand Garcia's message that it takes a brave and self-assured person, missionary or no, to stand up to such a formidable force as one's faith and family combined, and say "I am not ashamed of who I am."

My Partner and fiance was Mormon for over 30 years, struggling with himself, trying not appease the cult that it is. Put aside the ridiculous founder Smith and his corruption, and you realize members were misguided.

THe harm the Mormon church has done to love is profound, and the movie series shows how men who love other men can over come the corruption and hate against love freeing themselves from tidings that pay a church for hatred.

He is loved now, genuinely not stuck in a marriage of image, and to appease the corrupt. Shifting the real love to genuine compassion to help all people, not those consumed by ego that have fallen from any hope of any grace by hating love.

I plan to play all 3 movies for him, and know it will trigger emotions, tears, and I will be their beside him, making him realize he has real love and freedom now, and the cult is gone, and his letter to them, as well as Oaks being blunt about the Mormon corruption is sent. The Mormon church will either have a new and kind fair revelation with the newer members, or it will fade as a cult .