Freetown Movie: A Review

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by Melissa Condie:

MMM Note: Freetown could be playing in a theater near you - if so check it out!

Freetown was successful in that it took me on a journey.

When it comes to movie-watching, I am not known for being able to stomach a lot when it come to violence or suspense. I can get pretty hyped up when characters are in danger.

As I started watching Freetown, my insides were all sorts of tangled and edgy. I had a pretty constant sense of "What-Is-Going-to-Happen?" at every turn. "Oh-My-Goodness!" and "Are-They-Going-To-Die?" also stormed my thoughts.

But, as the movie progressed, my mind started to settle, which, though I first attributed the feeling to poor pacing, I realized it was how I was supposed to feel. With each act of faith the movie portrays, with each act of courage, with each instance of coincidence, with each mark of divine protection, I realized that the sense of fear and alarm I had felt at the beginning of the movie was dissipating because the makers of the movie had intended to dissipate those gnarly feelings.

Sure, there were a few weak moments. In the scene where a missionary and a father are trying to gather food, I was sort of confused by what happened to all of the items they had gathered, and the seemingly random demise of the father. It was confusing. Truth. But the confusion added hype to the moment, I guess.

The hellbent, vengeance-filled enemy did not seem as evil as he could have been; the missionary sympathizer only seemed brave when his life was not in ultimate peril. BUT, you absolutely fall in love with the "good guys." The man who drives the elders around. The rebels who do not really have a heart in it, and are only looking for beer. The women at church wearing the cutest dresses I have ever seen in my life. [I want one.] The adorable, smiling, happy, affable Mormon missionaries.

And, when you remember and realize that these characters are all real people, portraying a real story, it makes you love them that much more.

I mostly enjoyed the background music, especially the tracks with African voices, also the music that propelled the action in running scenes, but there were some parts, especially in quieter scenes, where I felt, "Yeah, this music is totally going to date this movie." [Sort of like when you watch a movie blazing with synthesizers, knowing that it has the 1980s written all over it.]

But, I loved how the movie tackled issues that are oh-so very important. It is good to bring awareness to civil war. It is good to point out that hatred only breeds hatred. It is good to say that you can move past "cognitive dissonance." You cannot change the past, you can only change the future. You can learn to forgive and move on. Stuff like that. Love it.

Kudos to the persons who decided to bring this story to light, instead of letting it remain forgotten or unknown to the LDS masses.

The overall theme I took from the movie is that, even when a gun is held to your head, you can still feel peace and trust in the Father of us all. Even when you do not know what is coming next, you do not have to worry, because the Lord will provide. And this theme is worth sharing over the cinema. Bravo, Three Coin Productions, bravo.

I have walked away from this movie with an honest-to-goodness strengthening of my personal faith.

"It just doesn't make sense to doubt anymore."

I can repeat those words in recognition of events in my own life, and I hope all that watch this movie can leave the theater and proceed in such faith.


Melissa Condie is a middle school orchestra teacher in Houston, Texas. She loves jalapeño chips, passion fruit smoothies, MS Paint, and the smell of desert rain. She also has a blog: Tacky Galoshes.

Of Course She Knew

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by Melissa Condie:

I recently watched a video on the Tubes of Pentatonix singing "Mary, Did You Know?"

I thoroughly enjoyed the harmonious performance, but was taken aback by the lyrics of the song, which are inherently flawed (at no fault of Pentatonix).

Why are we questioning if Mary knew if Jesus was the Son of God? Why are we questioning if Mary knew her son would perform miracles and save us all?

OF COURSE SHE KNEW.

Doi. Does anyone on our planet read the Bible anymore? Remember when the angel Gabriel pronounces to Mary: "… behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end."

A List I Will Stand Behind

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by Melissa Condie:

I know it is somewhat of a popular thing in church culture to create lists about what you are looking for in a future spouse, but last Sunday, at my YSA ward, I participated in an activity that was different, creating a list I like much better.

What do you want your future home to be like? was the question, which is way more revealing than the selfish, nit-picky-finicky sort of prejudiced list we are apt to make. Humans come in all sorts of shapes and forms, exhibiting several types of qualities. I do not think you need a "list" to decide if you like someone or not. I say that you pick who you like, and you adapt your mental equilibriums around that person because you love 'em, regardless of how they compare to your preconceived notions.

Guest Post: Rants of a Summer Ward-Hoppe​r

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This summer I have been wardless in my travels away from my Houston home, jumping from ward to ward as I please, always with at least the connection of a friend somewhere in the congregation. It has been eye-opening and has made me contemplate and develop strong opinions about three things:

1) I appreciate our church as a Christian community.

Church is a great place to be reminded about the things that really matter in life. It is a great place to connect with other people and their experiences in coming to Christ. It is a great way to find opportunities to serve and accomplish meaningful service. It is an excellent place to examine one's life and get back on track. It is a place where we recommit to Jesus, weekly, as we partake of the sacrament. Church attendance is a refuge from the hectic world, as we pay our devotions to God and make him a priority on our Sabbath.

I am indebted to the HUNDREDS of people who have helped me out in so many ways, due to my involvement in my church activity, which has always provided a true community of love and support. I have learned so much from other people who are striving for similar goals.

Ideally, church is a place we come to 1) remember Jesus's atonement, 2) study Christ's gospel, 3) feel the Spirit testify truths and guide our thoughts to future change and action, and 4) renew ourselves for the coming week.

At least, this is the opinion of Melissa.

2) I dislike it when church becomes a social outlet.

As I have attended a variety of YSA wards this summer, I'm not going to lie, I have observed some disappointing behaviors. The main one being that most people in my situation seem to be going to church solely for social reasons. I see members of the congregation craning their heads around, checking out new people, seeing who is sitting by who, why isn't he sitting by her anymore?, spending half of a meeting talking about upcoming social activities, are you going to that one?, want to come over for dinner? etc. etc.

Guest Post: Declaring His Ministry

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We do not know much about what sorts of things Jesus did after his birth, since no information about his childhood or youthhood or early adulthood can really be found in the Bible.

We do know that, when he was twelve, he stunned all of the learned men at the temple in Jerusalem with his profound wisdom and understanding, but that is it. It is only a glimpse. We know he went about doing his Father's business, but that's all we truly know without haphazardly speculating.

It is interesting to think about how, even after all the glorious signs of his birth, Jesus went incognito for the first thirty years of his life.

This is the Savior! This is the Messiah! This is the Lord!

But Jesus did not draw attention to himself. He used this time to prepare himself for what was to come.

I absolutely LOVE how Jesus reveals himself when the appropriate time finally comes. I am going to quote it exactly from Luke 4, because I cannot give it justice in paraphrase:

"And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

Guest Post: The Reality of the Atonement

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When I was 18, as a freshman at Utah State, I received a phone call from home. It was my mother, and she had called to inform me that one of my childhood friends had committed suicide.

WHAM.

It hit me badly. I did not take it well. Optimism was absent; I was full of darkness, a figurative darkness that was suffocating my soul.

Well, mostly guilt. To quote scripture, "my soul was racked with eternal torment."

I felt guilty because I had not maintained contact with this friend when he went to college. I felt guilty because I could have been a better friend to him when he was in high/middle/elementary school.

Guest Post: I Was Blind, But Now I See

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A friend died, unexpectedly, while I was in North Carolina on my Spring Break.

He was only fifty-one. He was a professional bass player from Dallas. I knew him because he played with the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater, a group I have been playing with in the beautiful summers of Logan for the past four years.

After learning about his passing, I immediately pictured his turkey from two years previous.

His turkey? you might ask.
Yes, his turkey, I'd respond.

Scott cooked a mean turkey, and by that I mean he cooked an incredibly juicy and delectable bird that, though normally only eaten in November, was so entirely om-nom-nom, Scott could totally pull off cooking and feeding it to us in July.

It was an amazingly tasty turkey. I could rant and rave about it for years. I can taste it like it was yesterday. Mmm.

In fact, I remember quite clearly that I was flooding Scott with all sorts of compliments one afternoon about it, so much so that he revealed to me the secret ingredient of his incomparable fowl:

Beer.

Which is funny because I'm Mormon, meaning I don't drink alcohol, which makes me laugh almost to the point of tears, because it only confirms that if I weren't Mormon, I'd be a raging alcoholic. If beer can make turkey taste that good, I know I would be adding it to everything. Beer ice cream? Beer quesadillas? Bring. It. On.