God's Army (film)

Infobox_Film
name = God's Army

|70px
director = Richard Dutcher
producer = Richard Dutcher
writer = Richard Dutcher
starring = Matthew A. Brown, Richard Dutcher, Jacque Gray, DeSean Terry, Michael Buster, Luis Robledo, Jeff Kelly, John Pentecost, Lynne Carr
distributor = Zion Films
released = 2000
runtime = 108 min.
language = English
imdb_id = 0238247
music =
awards =
budget = $300,000
tagline = Saving the world, one soul at a time.

"God's Army" is a 2000 film. It was written, directed by and features Richard Dutcher. It is an independent film and was financed by private investors.

Main cast

*Matthew A. Brown as Elder Allen
*Richard Dutcher as Elder Dalton
*Jacque Gray as Sister Fronk
*DeSean Terry as Elder Banks
*Michael Buster as Elder Kinegar
*Luis Robledo as Elder Sandoval "the Lamanite"
*Jeff Kelly as Elder Mangum
*John Pentecost as President Beecroft
*Lynne Carr as Sister Beecroft

tory

"God's Army" is about Mormon missionaries as they struggle with their work and, almost inevitably, their faith. The movie focuses on a pair of missionaries, Elder Allen (Brown) and Elder Dalton (Dutcher) serving as missionaries in Los Angeles, California ("Elder" is an office in the Priesthood and a title LDS missionaries use while serving missions). Dalton is a seasoned missionary and Allen is a new recruit paired with Dalton to be trained.

Allen questions his reason for being on a mission. He is a somewhat faithful member of the Church, but his father was excommunicated from the church and his mother doesn't attend anymore.

Dalton proves to be a demanding taskmaster and he demands much of Allen—almost too much in Allen's eyes. Allen teeters on the brink of leaving his two-year mission almost as soon as it begins. Allen witnesses another missionary lose his faith and abandon his own mission. Allen changes his mind as he finds the sacrifices others have made to be on a mission, such as ostricization from family. His own companion, Elder Dalton, dropped out of medical school to serve a mission and is fighting a losing battle with brain cancer. After a trial of his faith and some ernest soul searching, Allen finds untapped courage and embraces his work as a messenger of God.

Reception

This movie was taken on a tour of North America for special engagements. It was primarily intended for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("Mormon" or LDS) audiences, but non-LDS viewers were also welcome to showings. The film was well received by its target LDS audience but was met with some confusion by non-LDS viewers.Fact|date=February 2007

Many professional critics were pleased at Dutcher's willingness to address some of the more sensitive issues of the LDS church, such as their past denial to allow black members into the LDS priesthood. They also enjoyed the look into missionaries' struggles and the work they face. Despite this, some felt the film was too apologetic.

The film's box office sales ranked 21st all-time among Christian films. [ [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=christian.htm Top Christian movies] from "Box Office Mojo"]

ee also

* "States of Grace"

References

External links

* [http://www.godsarmythemovie.com/ Official "God's Army" website]
*imdb title|id=0238247|title=God's Army
* [http://www.zionfilms.com/ "Zion Films"] — Official website