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“Wherefore, my dear children, I pray, beseech, and adjure you by all the relations and dearness that hath ever been betwixt us and by the heartrending pangs of dying father whose soul hath been ever bound in the bundle of life with yours, that you know one another. Visit as you may each one another… if possible, once every year…or if you cannot meet, send to and hear from each other yearly and oftener if you can; and when you have neither father nor mother left be so many fathers and mothers to each other, so you shall understand the blessings mentioned in the 133 Psalm.”
This has been a prolific decade for films about Joseph Smith. Ten years ago the Church produced The Restoration, a lovely short film about the First Vision (watch it here) that improved greatly on the cheesy and dated 1976 version. Then non-Mormon actor Jonathan Scarfe brought conviction and charisma to the role in the Work and the Glory trilogy, his performance arguably the best aspect of that well-made, but uneven and incomplete, series of films. Later, Nathan Mitchell was so good in Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration (watch it here), Emma Smith: My Story (watch it here), and other films that his portrayal became definitive for many viewers. Now we come full circle as Dustin Harding, who was 15 when cast as a 14 year-old Joseph in The Restoration, steps back into the prophet’s shoes for Joseph Smith: Plates of Gold, the first film of a planned trilogy by acclaimed writer/director Christian Vuissa (Errand of Angels, One Good Man).
Seeing Harding step into the role a decade later allows for a nice bit of consistency, as well as driving home the reality of just how young Joseph Smith really was when he endured intense persecution, translated ancient scripture, dealt with the death of a child and near-death of his wife, feared for the loss of his soul along with the 116 manuscript pages, published The Book of Mormon, and organized the restored Church of Jesus Christ.
Audience members, accustomed to older-looking actors chosen to simultaneously portray the prophet from his 20’s into his 40’s, may be startled at the reminder that Joseph was very much young and inexperienced. Harding, just fine into The Restoration, has matured into an excellent actor capable of portraying a wide variety of traits and emotions. Credit writer/director Vuissa, as well, for challenging Harding as an actor with his rich screenplay; together they create perhaps the most human and rounded screen depiction of Joseph Smith yet.
The prophet described himself as a rough stone rolling, his edges and flaws being knocked off and smoothed as he smacked into the adversities of life. The film certainly captures this. Here Joseph is both faithful and flawed. He’s steadfast in doing God’s will regardless of mockery and persecution, but displays signs of annoyance on his path to turning the other cheek. His faith in God is immovable, but he doubts himself and his own worthiness. He speaks with awe and reverence of the Jesus Christ, but is frequently capable of giddy over-exuberance. He displays excitement over his romance with Emma and nervousness over dealing with a new father-in-law. In short, he is totally relatable, his humanity standing out against the extraordinary backdrop of miraculous events.
The other actors also fare well. Michael Flynn (The Best Two Years, The Lamb of God) finds layers to Joseph’s father-in-law, beyond the initial growling disapproval (as he cleans a gun, naturally). Matthew Flynn Bellows (Forever Strong), as a rival for Emma’s affections, likewise takes a potentially one-dimensional character and forms him into someone real and interesting. Lindsay Farr gives us an Emma Smith who, like Joseph, begins young and naïve but grows in faith and wisdom as the film goes on. The best compliment I can give of her film debut is that she never comes across as acting; her performance feels real and organic, especially in a grueling childbirth scene.
The cinematography is solid and eye-catching, while the musical score by Jimmy Schafer compliments the story nicely without drawing too much attention to itself. Most impressive, perhaps, is the attention to historical detail, from the period clothing and architecture to the inclusion of moments and accounts not found in other film portrayals. The decision to make a feature-length film about one period of Joseph’s life pays off handsomely in the film’s ability to examine the details and characters up close.
If the film has a flaw, it’s that it often chooses to tell instead of show. Key events are merely alluded to or described. The audience learns of the First Vision, Joseph fending off attackers, and the experience of the three witnesses the same way early Saints did…through the testimony of those who were there. Perhaps this is the result of budgetary constraints, perhaps Vuissa didn’t feel the need to show what others already have, or perhaps he preferred to leave things to the viewer’s imagination.
To be fair, the dialogue and acting are so good that this is far from a deal-breaker. The movie remains compelling, moving, and powerful. Nevertheless, the effect of telling instead of showing is that the film sometimes unfolds like an excellent stage play, adapted wholesale and filmed on-location. Here’s hoping that Plates of Gold does well enough that further installments in Vuissa’s planned trilogy can be more ambitiously cinematic.
Minor squabbles aside, Joseph Smith: Plates of Gold is yet another triumph in what has been an excellent year for Mormon cinema, following on the heels of the charming romantic comedy Midway to Heaven and the stunning pioneer drama 17 Miracles. Vuissa continues his track record of handsomely-made, well-acted, and inspiring films. This is easily his best work yet; his take on the Prophet displays a perfect balance of reverence for the work and mantle of Joseph Smith with a grounded rendering of the prophet’s idiosyncracies, foibles, and virtues. This is a film to share with family and friends and is not to be missed in theatres. GRADE: A-
Joseph Smith: Plates of Gold opens on Friday, September 2, 2011. Locations and showtimes can be found at http://josephmovie.com/ GRADE: A-
Jonathan Decker is a marriage and family therapist in St. George, Utah. He has a background in film and stage performance, and currently writes Hollywood film reviews from a LDS perspective at his website: www.mormonmovieguy.com
SALT LAKE CITY — Ugo Perego had almost all the DNA evidence he needed to determine who was the father of John Reed Hancock.
One of the alleged fathers was the most obvious: Levi W. Hancock.
The other alleged father was Joseph Smith, the founding prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Only one piece was missing to solve the mystery.
Historians and critics have struggled for more than a century to identify children Joseph Smith may have had through polygamous marriages in the 1840s. If definitive answers could be found, it would shed light on how plural marriage was introduced to Mormons by Joseph Smith in Illinois. Brigham Young succeeded Joseph Smith as leader of the LDS Church and announced the practice publicly in Utah. The church ended polygamy in 1890.
But questions remain today — particularly whether Joseph Smith, who had nine biological children with his wife Emma Smith, had any children through a polygamous wife. Perego, a senior researcher at the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, has looked at this question since 2003 when a descendant of Moroni Pratt called him on the phone.
The descendant had read in Fawn Brodie’s critical biography, “No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith,” that Moroni Pratt wasn’t the son of early LDS apostle Parley P. Pratt, but that he was really the son of Joseph Smith. He wanted to know if Perego could use DNA to tell if Moroni Pratt was really Joseph Smith’s son.
The DNA signature of Joseph Smith was easy. Perego had reconstructed it years earlier while trying to trace Joseph Smith’s DNA back to England and Ireland. “This is a very accurate signature. It would not be any different if Joseph Smith were standing next to me to get a DNA sample directly from him,” Perego said.
He took other DNA samples from Pratt’s descendants and made the comparison.
Moroni Pratt was not Joseph Smith’s son, he was Parley P. Pratt’s son.
The Joseph Smith family association referred others to Perego. These were people who wanted to join the association because they had read references in books like Brodie’s that listed their ancestor as a possible child of Joseph Smith. DNA gave the conclusive answers that rumor and speculation couldn’t give:
Oliver Buell was not Joseph Smith’s son.
Zebulon Jacobs was not Joseph Smith’s son.
Orrison Smith was not Joseph Smith’s son.
Mosiah Hancock was not Joseph Smith’s son.
The DNA research on the last one, Mosiah Hancock, gave Perego the DNA signature of Levi Hancock. But to test whether Mosiah’s brother John Reed Hancock was a son of Joseph Smith, he needed to find one missing piece of the puzzle: a descendant of John Reed Hancock.
It was Brodie’s book and Hancock family traditions that raised the question of whether John Reed Hancock was really Joseph Smith’s son. A person who was interested in the subject had sent Perego a pedigree chart that named some of John Reed Hancock’s living descendants, but Perego didn’t know how to contact them. “I am not a genealogist. I don’t know how to find particular individuals,” Perego said.
Then in February of this year, he spoke at a Family History Expo in Phoenix and in St. George. After the events, he received an email from a woman naming a living descendant of John Reed Hancock — including an address. He checked the name and it matched the pedigree chart.
Before the end of February, Perego had the DNA sample he needed.
“I am a scientist. I look at the data objectively. I don’t care if the results are positive or negative. It doesn’t affect my trust in religion or in science,” Perego said. “If I were to find a child from Joseph Smith from a plural marriage, I would think that was cool because we would learn something more about what was going on.”
It was a simple matter for Perego to compare the DNA profile of the descendant of John Reed Hancock to Joseph Smith’s profile and Levi Hancock’s profile. “It could have been that it didn’t match either one of them. There could be an error in the genealogy.”
He had 46 DNA markers to match up.
He compared it to Joseph Smith first.
“It is not a match at all to Joseph Smith,” Perego said. “There is no biological relationship within the historical timeframe of these two individuals.”
He compared it to Levi Hancock.
“It is a perfect match to all the other Hancock males in my database — including his brother Mosiah,” Perego said. “Case solved.”
But not every case can be solved. A few alleged children of Joseph Smith died as infants and their burial places are not known. Descendants of daughters are particularly difficult to test conclusively because the easy-to-identify Y chromosome signature only works to identify male descendants.
But for now, one more piece of the puzzle has been solved. Perego is working on a detailed scientific analysis of the case that he hopes will be published soon in the Mormon Historical Studies journal.
“Through DNA we will not be able to test 100 percent of the cases. But if we test 70 percent of them and they are all negative, does that provide some insight on the topic that we did not consider before?” Perego said. “That is not for me to answer.”
Deseret News
Mormon church announces Harmony historical site
Published: Friday, April 22, 2011 12:04 a.m. MDT
SALT LAKE CITY — The LDS Church has announced plans to restore a historic site in northeastern Pennsylvania, with ties to its founding prophet, Joseph Smith, its claim to priesthood authority and two volumes of its scriptural texts.
In an April 15 letter to LDS stake and ward leaders, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the project under the title of the “Priesthood Restoration Site,” with the 90-acre site in Oakland Township (formerly the town of Harmony) near the present-day town of Susquehanna.
The project will include the restoration of historic buildings and farm settings at Harmony as well as the construction of commemorational monuments. It will join the church’s existing two dozen historical sites across the United States and is expected to be similar to LDS historical sites in Palmyra, N.Y; Kirtland, Ohio; and Nauvoo, Illinois that highlight a similar period of early Mormon history.
It is in Harmony where Joseph Smith lived several years with his wife, Emma, and where, according to LDS teachings, that much of the Book of Mormon was translated, where 15 sections or revelations of the Doctrine and Covenants were received and where Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received priesthood ordinations from heavenly messengers.
“The site is sacred ground for Latter-day Saints,” said church historian and recorder Elder Marlin K. Jensen, a member of the church’s First Quorum of the Seventy. “Our hope is that by restoring the historic buildings and making the area more accessible, visitors of all faiths will be able to enjoy the beauty of the site and learn more about the restoration of the priesthood and the translation of the Book of Mormon.”
Joseph and Emma Smith moved to Harmony in 1827, staying first with her parents — Isaac and Elizabeth Hale — until purchasing a nearby home and 13 1/2 acres from Emma’s brother Jesse for $200. They lived in the area until 1830 — the same year the LDS Church was formally organized. The Smith home burned down in 1919.
Oliver Cowdery, a school teacher, soon arrived after the Smiths and served as a scribe in the translation of the Book of Mormon. The LDS Church teaches that in response to their prayers about scriptural teachings of baptism, John the Baptist came to them on as a resurrected personage, conferred the Aaronic Priesthood on them that day (May 15, 1829) and commanded them to baptize each other in the nearby Susquehanna River.
Latter-day Saints also believe the ancient apostles Peter, James and John similarly appeared to the pair some days later in a nearby area and gave them the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood, which Latter-day Saints consider a higher priesthood.
The site location for the Priesthood Restoration Site currently features a sculpture depicting Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery receiving the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist, a sugar maple grove and a cemetery where the Q&ASmith’s infant son Alvin is buried as well as the Hales.
In January of this year, the LDS Church completed the purchase of a 10-acre parcel of property in Oakland Township.
Located on Route 171, the parcel contained an auto salvage, garage, junkyard and used-parts facility. The Scranton, Pa., Times-Tribune reported the purchase price at $2.1 million.
The parcel was adjacent to 147 acres owned by the church, its most-recent previous addition coming in 2005.
Erected five decades ago, a large bronze historic marker located between Route 171 and the Susquehanna River acknowledges the church’s historic events of the area, the location of the former Smith home and the proximity of the river.
Church historians have recently completed several archeological digs in the project location, uncovering key information and artifacts they say will be helpful with the restoration project.
The project is still in the design phase, and the church didn’t provide any architectural renderings with its announcement. An aerial photo of the project site was available at the church’s newsroom.lds.org web site: newsroom.lds.org
Also, the church’s First Presidency is inviting interested Latter-day Saints to make small, one-time contributions to the restoration project. They can specify “Priesthood Restoration Site” on church-donation slips available from local LDS bishops and branch presidents.
