17 Miracles

T.C. Christensen's "17 Miracles" is something of a miracle itself. An independent film telling the true story of one of the most amazing pioneer migrations stories ever is beautifully written, directed, acted, edited and photographed to say nothing about the excellent musical scoring. Produced for less than $1 million dollars it achieves what no amount of budget can necessarily buy: a spiritual honesty that pays tribute to the people who followed their faith using wooden handcarts to carry their meager supplies as they attempted to journey to the Salt Lake City valley. While members of the LDS faith will mostly be familiar with the Martin and Willie handcart trek, most will be overwhelmed at the number of challenges and miracles that are depicted in this film. One can not leave from viewing this film without having a greater respect for these faithful pioneers and a deeper reverence for our Father in Heaven. "17 Miracles" is my kind of motion picture -- one that is an experience and uplifting. Highly recommended. If you have the chance to see it in a theatre DO! If not the DVD and Blu-ray are now available thru Deseret Book Company. This disc is certainly a must to own! Addition: Just saw the film for a third time in the theatre and find myself even more impressed with it then upon the first viewing. While all of the acting is outstanding special mention should be made of Jason Wade who plays Levi Savage. This handsome young actor could be the new Robert Redford. He is a very sensitive actor who has great range and power.

I think the most interesting part of this movie is trying to figure out just how many miracles there were and what they were. I think there were more than 17.

A miracle to me is any event that cannot be explained by our 5 senses even with technology that would enhance those 5 senses. I'm not a great fan of coincidents, although somebody like Philip Yancy would argue those are the best pieces of evidence that you have for a miracle.

Given my definition however, here are a few of my choices.

1. the two girls going through the field with the rattle snakes.

2. The mother not being recognized by her abusive husband.

3. The courage and well being of the dwarf and the fact that he made it as far as he did. His complete acceptance of his fate in my mind was a miracle. He had much to be bitter about. OK I know that is not to be judged by the 5 senses definition. Sue me.

4. The fact that any of them survived given the stupidity of the leadership. I know, there was little choice in going on, but the main leader should have listened to Eli who knew what was involved. The trip could have been planned differently so the men could work.

5. The miracle of the jerky in the cave.

6. The survival of the love that Sarah exemplified. No bitterness there although a lot of sorrow.

In all, this was pretty well handled. Spiritual movies are very hard to make, and I think on the whole this one was successful.

17 Miracles is a summary of 17 of the documented events (miracles) of the two "Belated" handcart companies who were traveling to Utah in 1856. These were mostly poor immigrants from the British Isles and Scandinavia who arrived late in the season and had no recourse but to continue on to Utah even though there was the potential for bad weather. The movie in my opinion tries not to be over-dramatic and in some ways under-plays the suffering of the pioneers when you consider the temperature, with wind-chill factor would have approached minus 50 degrees. The acting was good, especially the roll of Levi Savage portrayed by Jason Wade. Although the movie attempts to depict the entire handcart trek it is actually 17 mostly jointed vignettes portraying events that were recorded in the journals of many of the handcart pioneers. My Great Great Grandmother was in the Willey Handcart Company; I have her journal and the movie was true to her telling.

This movie was very well put together. I am very well acquainted with the story of how my ancestors went through difficulties to arrive in Salt Lake City. I don't agree with them taking off too late in the summer. Levi Savage seemed to be the only sensible one in the group that knew what they would be facing. Why couldn't they have killed some of the wolves stalking them & used them for food. Surely they could have camped for 2 or 3 days long enough to cook & eat thereby replenishing their strength so they could go on without starving to death. I'm not criticizing the movie, just my ancestors for making such horrible mistakes which cost many of them their lives. I feel Brigham Young was also to blame for this travesty because it was his idea to bring people to the Utah territory with hand carts.

Growing up Mormon as a strong female was tough. Its not a faith of equality. For all that I liked the pseudo history of the movie.