Full disclosure: Our own Swankmotron, Clang-Boom-Steam, and Jerkbot have been involved in the production and distribution of this film. However, I’ve not been involved in any of that and saw the film a few weeks ago to review in the Austin Post prior to the showing of Sons of Perdition at the Austin Film Festival.
However, sometimes conflicts of interest have rewards associated with them, like the ability to send a few of you lucky readers to see this movie for free at a special screening featuring a Q&A with the filmmakers! See Big Movie Mouth Off’s Facebook page for details. And now, the review:
Most of us have heard the stories about the former FBI’s Most Wanted, the “Prophet” Warren Jeffs, the tales of abuse and underage marriage, stemming from their compounds in Texas,Utah, and Arizona. Jeffs, leader of a fundamentalist splinter group of the LDS church (or FLDS), faces trial later this summer after extradition to Texas and numerous legal delays, but behind the condemnation of the horrible, horrible things he has perpetrated on members of his cult, there are those who have escaped the FLDS home base of Colorado City, AZ and how they are forced to live their lives.
Friday, Feb. 18 at 7:00 at the Tower Theatre, our friends at Big Movie Mouth Off present “Sons of Perdition,” a heartbreaking documentary following several young men and women who have escaped “The Crick” and are trying to live normal lives. Physically, emotionally, and in the case of the girls sexually abused, sheltered from the outside world, controlled by their “Prophet” and his patriarchal society, these children have been intellectually and emotionally infantalized, unable to deal with the real world that they have either escaped or run away to.
The title of the documentary comes from their religious beliefs that those who intentionally leave the faith have a special place in hell reserved for them. The term “Son of Perdition” is used by Jesus to describe Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed him. Given this heavy emotional weight, many of these kids turn to drugs and despair, and we watch as the kids the documentary follows are turned away from the opportunities most of us take for granted. One of the boys focuses on just trying to attend regular public high school, but without proper documentation, a place of permananet residence, etc, he can’t go. Another one of the boys is focused on helping the rest of his family escape the compound, and we are heartbroken as we see them escape only to return or be forced to return by the demanding patriarchs who run the society, even as Warren Jeffs is in jail.
This documentary made me weep. These children have everything against them. The hope for a normal life is so slim, but we also meet some of those people who are attempting to help those refugees from this lifestlye get back on their feet. One particularly touching moment came when the young (probably 4 years old) daughter of one family fostering the boys attempts to teach one of them “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” since he’s never heard it before in his life.
The only thing lacking from the documentary was more. They quickly gloss over some of the rougher edges of the life these children end up leading. Too many of them end up homeless, too many fall prey to meth and other drugs (some drug use is mentioned and even filmed, but the subjects deny that they are “druggies”). They also gloss over just how big of a problem this is. Of course, they’re only following 3 or 4 people throughout the film, and this was no doubt an artitistic choice to keep a cohesive narrative. But the problems are extensive: compounds like Colorado City or YFZ Ranch rely on young boys being kicked out or running away. When girls are treated as commodities and your status in the community is based on how many wives you have, and about half of all children born are boys. . .well, you do the math. And so the crimes of people like Warren Jeffs are not just the girls who are abused and forced into underage marriages, but also the lives of the young men they destroy who are left with no means to cope with the outside world and abondoned to it, being told they are the children of the devil for leaving.
In order to truly understand just how detestable it is what Warren Jeffs do and the ills created by things like the Yearning for Zion ranch, you must see “Sons of Perdition.” Even if this is not an issue you care about immensely, it is a shining example of beautiful documentary filmmaking worthy of your attention.
3 1/2 stars
“Sons of Perdition” was an official selection of the Tribeca Film Festival, winner of the Director’s Award at the Telluride Film Festival and Best of Fest at the Salt Lake Film Festival. It will also play in March at the Texas Theater in Dallas.
For more information please go to SonsofPerditionthemovie.com