''The Book of Mormon Movie, Volume 1: The Journey'' is a 2003 American

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by Gary Rogers and written by Rogers and

Craig Clyde Craig Clyde is an American actor, screenplay writer, and film director. He lives in Salt Lake City and is the father of K. C. Clyde. He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Clyde is the cofounder of Majestic Ente ...

. A

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

of the first two books in the

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude date ...

, a religious text of scripture, the film was given a

limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

on September 12, 2003.

Plot

The film is based on the first two books of the Book of Mormon:

First Nephi The First Book of Nephi: His Reign and Ministry (), usually referred to as First Nephi or 1 Nephi, is the first book of the Book of Mormon and one of four books with the name Nephi. The original translation of the title did not include the word "f ...

and

Second Nephi The Second Book of Nephi (), usually referred to as Second Nephi or 2 Nephi, is the second book of the Book of Mormon. The original translation of the title did not include the word "second". First and Second were added to the titles of The Books ...

. The source material contains much theological discussion, and parables, some of which have been cut from the adaptation due to their unsuitability as narrative material. Some of the visionary material is retained. The film starts in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

around 600 BC, where the audience meets patriarch Lehi, his wife Sariah, and their four sons:

Laman In the Book of Mormon, Laman and Lemuel () are the two eldest sons of Lehi and the older brothers of Sam, Nephi, Jacob, and Joseph. According to the text, they lived around 600 BC. They were notable for their rebellion against Lehi and Nephi, ...

Lemuel Lemuel is a Hebrew name, meaning "devoted to God", which may refer to: In religion * Lemuel (biblical king), mentioned in the Book of Proverbs, Chapter 31 * Lemuel (Book of Mormon), the second eldest of Lehi's sons and the brother of Laman, Sam, ...

, Sam, and Nephi. Lehi and his wife are devout believers in God, as are their sons, Nephi and Sam. Laman and Lemuel are more wayward and do not tend to agree with the commands of God or their father and brother Nephi. While in Jerusalem, Lehi prophesies that the city will be destroyed. This elicits a negative reaction from many people, to the point of their wanting to kill him. The family flees into the desert at this point and becomes nomadic. While in the wilderness, Lehi sends Nephi and his brothers back to Jerusalem to try to get hold of the Brass Plates, as commanded by God. The Brass Plates are inscribed with ancient scriptures and records that they need to take with them on their journey and which will form part of the basis of the Book of Mormon. However, these plates are within the compound of a powerful and violent man called Laban, who has many men under his command. They first try to persuade Laban to hand over the plates, but eventually a fight ensues and they are forced to flee. One of Laban's servants, Ishmael, ends up defecting to Lehi's side and joins his family in the desert. Ishmael and Lehi's families intermarry, but Ishmael dies in the Arabian wilderness. The group is ordered to build a boat to take them to the new Promised Land, which they do with limited resources. Laman and Lemuel once more start complaining about this idea, but they all end up boarding this ship and leaving the Old World for the New. They arrive in the New World after this voyage, but the quarrel within the family continues. After Lehi dies in the promised land, Laman and Lemuel, and their families, rebel again, and turn to evil things. The

Lamanites The Lamanites () are one of the four ancient peoples (along with the Jaredites, the Mulekites, and the Nephites) described as having settled in the ancient Americas in the Book of Mormon, a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement. The Lamani ...

separate from the

Nephites According to the Book of Mormon, the Nephites () are one of four groups (along with the Lamanites, Jaredites, and Mulekites) to have settled in the ancient Americas. The term is used throughout the Book of Mormon to describe the religious, po ...

. Because of this, Nephi and his allies have to escape them, and once more go into the wilderness.

Cast

Noah Danby Noah Dalton Danby (born April 24, 1974) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for portraying Connor King in the series ''Painkiller Jane''. Early life Danby was born in Guelph, Ontario, the son of painter Ken Danby. Personal life Danby became e ...

as Nephi * Bryce Chamberlain as Lehi *

Jan Broberg Felt Jan Broberg (July 31, 1962) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. As a child, Broberg was kidnapped on two occasions by a family friend, at ages twelve and fourteen. The experience has been documented in her mother Mary Ann Broberg's book, ...

Sariah According to the Book of Mormon, Sariah () was the wife of Lehi, and the mother of Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi. The Book of Mormon also mentions Jacob, and Joseph, two additional sons born to Lehi after his departure from Jerusalem, but does ...

* Cragun Foulger as

* Mark Gollaher as

Kirby Heyborne Kirby Heyborne (born October 8, 1976) is an American actor, musician, singer, songwriter, narrator and comedian. He is known for his work in films centered around the culture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Heyborn ...

as Sam * Sue Rowe as daughter of Lehi * Bruce Newbold as Moroni * Bern Kubiak as

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

* Jacque Gray as Nephi's wife * Ron Frederickson as

Ishmael Ishmael ''Ismaḗl''; Classical/Qur'anic Arabic: إِسْمَٰعِيْل; Modern Standard Arabic: إِسْمَاعِيْل ''ʾIsmāʿīl''; la, Ismael was the first son of Abraham, the common patriarch of the Abrahamic religions; and is cons ...

* Todd Davis as

Zoram Zoram (), IPA-ified from «zō´rum», is the name of three individuals in the Book of Mormon, indexed in the LDS edition as Zoram1, Zoram2, and Zoram3. Zoram1 Zoram1 was the servant of Laban, a wealthy inhabitant of Jerusalem. According to ' ...

* Michael Flynn as

Laban Laban is a French language, French surname. It may refer to: Places * Laban-e Olya, a village in Iran * Laban-e Sofla, a village in Iran * Laban, Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States * 8539 Laban, main-belt asteroid People ...

* Richard J. Clifford as Lucan * Brad Johnson as Jonathan

Production

Development

Rogers's inspiration was the

Cecil B. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cine ...

1956 version of ''

The Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ� ...

''. He envisioned ''The Book of Mormon'' as one long historical epic. His plan was to make nine films that cover the entire story of the book. The film's length is two hours, and it was revealed on the DVD commentary that the first cut of the film was two hours and forty minutes.

Casting

was cast as Nephi because of his strong resemblance to the art of

Arnold Friberg Arnold Friberg (December 21, 1913 – July 1, 2010) was an American illustrator and painter noted for his religious and patriotic works. He is perhaps best known for his 1975 painting ''The Prayer at Valley Forge'', a depiction of George W ...

, who created a series of paintings inspired by ''The Book of Mormon''. He had never read the Book of Mormon prior to his casting. Danby is a devout

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

, and while at first he didn't feel comfortable in making the film due to religious differences, he has said in an interview for ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' that he took the role to gain experience as an actor.

Filming

The desert scenes were filmed in

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

in the spring, and it was very cold. The "great and spacious building" was a five-foot miniature. The boat does not appear in the theatrical version of the scene in which the family arrives in the promised land. It was digitally added to that scene for the DVD version. Mike Ripplinger directed and filmed the behind-the-scenes portion on the DVD release. The film was mentioned in Paul C. Gutjahrs 2012 book ''The Book of Mormon: A Biography''.

Release

The film was rated PG-13 for "a scene of violence", having contained an image of Nephi with blood splatter on his face after beheading

. This image was removed for home media releases, and the film received a PG rating on DVD.

Box office

Produced for $1.5 million, ''Book of Mormon'' opened in 29 theaters on September 12, 2003 and made $114,573 in its first weekend, ranking number 41 in the domestic box office. The film played for 35 weeks before closing on May 13, 2004, its widest release being 38 theaters, and it had grossed $1,680,020. It is the fourth highest-grossing film in the history of

LDS cinema Mormon cinema usually refers to films with themes relevant to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The term has also been used to refer to films that do not necessarily reflect Mormon themes but have been made ...

Critical reception

The film was widely panned by Latter-day Saint and non-Latter-day Saint critics. ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' described it as " ll meaning but often as tediously earnest as a Sunday sermon" In the

Mormon Blogosphere The Mormon blogosphere (often referred to as the Bloggernacle) is a segment of the blogosphere focused on issues related to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The term "Bloggernacle" was coined by individuals within the L ...

, ''

A Motley Vision A Motley Vision is an online multi-author blog featuring criticism of the Mormon arts, LDS literature and film in particular. It was launched by William Morris on June 2, 2004. It won the Association for Mormon Letters award for criticism in ...

'' gave it a grade of C−. In a 2010 literary study of the Book of Mormon, scholar Grant Hardy mentioned the film as "a not entirely successful attempt to bring the Book of Mormon to the big screen."^:20 Review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

scored 17% of 6 critics giving the film a positive review.

Soundtrack

# "Prologue/Joseph Meets Moroni" (01:48) # "Main Theme" (02:31) # "Playing Ball" (00:19) # "I Nephi" (01:48) # "Lucan Gets Laban" (01:39) # "We Shall Never See This House Again" (01:32) # "Leaving Jerusalem" (01:34) # "In the Presence of Deity" (02:26) # "Brothers Return From Brass Plates" (01:38) # "Laman's Chase" (00:48) # "Nephi Sneaking Into Jerusalem" (02:15) # "Beheading of Laban" (02:28) # "Returned to the Tent of My Father" (00:38) # "Return for Ishmael's Family" (01:15) # "Love Theme" (03:37) # "Nephi's Vision" (03:26) # "Wedding & Celebration" (02:55) # "Wandering in the Desert" (02:36) # "Ishmael's Death/Bountiful" (03:03) # "Enticing" (01:35) # "Storm at Sea" (03:00) # "The Promised Land" (03:42) # "Lehi's Death" (03:33) # "Attack at Night" (00:48) # "I Miss My Brothers" (02:25) # "Sam's Journey" (00:53) # "Lamanites" (02:29) # "End Theme" (05:37) # "Forever Will Be" (03:50)

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Book Of Mormon Movie, Vol. 1 2000s adventure drama films 2003 independent films American adventure drama films American independent films Films about religion Films set in Jerusalem Films set in the 6th century BC Films shot in Utah Mormon cinema Films based on the Book of Mormon 2003 drama films Halestorm Entertainment films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films