Meet the Mormons spent the weekend in theaters, grossing $2.7M, which will be donated to the American Red Cross. The movie was originally intended as a feature to be shown visitors to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (formerly the Hotel Utah). However the Church decided to release the film in theaters throughout the country for one weekend.

Considering that the majority of viewers were likely Mormons, this film gives an indication of the power of the Mormon audience. The film placed 11th in terms of total box office earnings – amazing considering the film was only released in 317 theaters and most Mormons wouldn’t have gone to see it on Sunday.

As my friend and I left the theater, she commented that the film was enjoyable, but had not shown average people. And yet, I could imagine a film like that made using individuals just from our ward. Heck, I could imagine five films of similar power made just from individuals from my ward. And I imagine many of us could say the same.

For someone who isn’t a Mormon, the film introduces the unique nature of the lay ministry we take for granted, along with the lack of “career paths.” We see peaceful co-existence between Mormons and other religions, and a multi-cultural people of generosity and resilience.

Below is a summary of the film.

The movie opens with a bit of Q&A in New York City, intermixed with clips from various mainstream movies and TV shows making humorous comments. The best of these is the classic from The Simpsons, where Homer mistakes two aliens as Mormon missionaries. The point is made that arguably most people really don’t know much about Mormons. Although this introductory montage served a purpose in the film, I felt it was the weakest part.

The first segment goes to Atlanta and features a young black man who is a bishop in his local ward. This was a great segment to put in the beginning slot, quickly informing audiences that Mormon leaders are laity and that black individuals are members of the Church. It touches on the struggle it can be to balance a career, family, and ministry, and the undue burden that falls to the spouse – particularly when there are three young, active sons. There is some fun dancing, and a great barbecue, complete with an active rivalry. We also see a harmonious relationship between the bishop and his baptist sister.

The second segment goes to Annapolis and covers the head coach for the Naval Academy football team. We get lots of footage of football and Naval Academy stuff, along with footage of the coach getting the award for the top service academy football team, presented by President Obama. This is after we have learned that the coach made a decision that there would be no mandatory football meetings on Sundays, which he spends worshipping and teaching ten-year-olds.

In the third segment we go to Costa Rica, where we are alerted to the fact that traditional ideas about family roles will be challenged. For a few minutes we are not sure why this segment is titled “The Fighter.” The couple is cute with two kids, and a very active life. Then we see the wife getting ready to fight in a martial arts competition. This is a passion she shares with her husband, and she’s very good and could be professional. However they’ve decided to take another path and teach (along with amateur competition). However they do make adjustments to ensure she has time to train – we see her running in the early morning against various gorgeous backdrops as her husband takes care of the household. Again we see how the couple’s faith interacts with the Catholicism of her family, which includes joining together to raise donations for school children.

Next up is Gail Halvorsen, now 92 and still an active pilot. The segment starts with him talking about the joy of flying, and then we see him re-enacting the candy drops that occurred during the Berlin airlift in 1948-1949. We learn about the tension when the Soviet Union cut off ground shipments to portions of Berlin that were controlled by non-Soviet Allies. The only route for food was via air transport. World War III loomed, we learn. Then Gail shared two sticks of gum with the children at the fence around the airfield. Seeing how the kids were happy to even just have a scrap of the foil to sniff, Gail felt inspired to tell the kids he’d be dropping his candy ration next time he flew in – he would wiggle his wings so the kids knew it was his plane. After three flights, his commanding officer almost court martialed Gail, but instead the candy drops became Operation Little Vittles. The boost in moral is credited with helping stave off war, and developed a fondness between the Germans of Berlin and Americans despite the brutal experience of World War II. And the inspiration for the whole thing was an impression felt by a young man who had been raised a Mormon, taught to heed such promptings.

In the penultimate segment we go to Nepal, where we learn of a native from a small village in Nepal who ended up going abroad for college – where he met Christians. Before, he maintains, he worshiped out of fear. But the gospel of Christ taught him to worship out of love, and to treat all individuals as his brothers and sisters. An engineer, he is now part of CHOICE Humanitarian, a group focused on ending poverty around the world. In Nepal, their work focuses on building schools and erecting basic utilities, such as water storage, for small villages. We see how the engineer continues to honor local traditions, despite his different faith. And we see the intense benefits his work is providing to these disadvantaged villages, and how his example, as one of their own, inspires love and devotion (despite his odd style of dancing, of which his daughter characteristically makes fun).

In the final segment we see a large group of people gathering for the opening of a mission call. However the segment isn’t so much focused on the attractive young man, but on his mother. We learn she had been born to young teenagers who separated almost as soon as she was born. In her early teens she had left home to escape the neglect and abuse only to become a teen mother herself, at which point we realize why the prospective missionary doesn’t look like the child of the couple we saw in the opening segment. After the young woman gave birth, the birth father got back together with her, only to abandon her again when she became pregnant a second time. The young mother had met the missionaries around this time, but then tragedy struck. The new baby died shortly after birth. Alone, bereft, the young woman rejected the missionaries. How could God do this? She moved to another city, but the pain was overwhelming. And there she was helped by a cashier who happened to be LDS, and who called on the missionaries to give the grieving woman a blessing. And so we cut back to the count-down to the mission (English-speaking in South Africa). We see the loving life the woman has found, the love and acceptance she found as a single mother, and see the circle complete as she sends her son off to serve as a missionary, to teach others of the gospel that saved her from despair.

I enjoyed the movie and suspect it will make a nice gift from Mormons to friends and family they’d like to introduce to their faith.