God's Army (film)

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God's Army

Directed by	Richard Dutcher
Produced by	Richard Dutcher
Written by	Richard Dutcher
Starring	Matthew A. Brown, Richard Dutcher, Jacque Gray, DeSean Terry, Michael Buster, Luis Robledo, Jeff Kelly, John Pentecost, Lynne Carr
Distributed by	Zion Films
Release date(s)	2000
Running time	108 min.
Language	English
Budget	$300,000
IMDb profile

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.

1 Main cast
2 Story
3 Reception
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] 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 Lamenite
Jeff Kelly as Elder Mangum
John Pentecost as President Beecroft
Lynne Carr as Sister Beecroft

[edit] Story

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.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

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.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.