There are always unusual films at the Sundance Film Festival, but few are as bizarre and taxing as "Deseret," which is having its premiere in the new "Frontier" sidebar.
"Deseret" is a minimalist (to say the least) documentary about Utah . . . and the changing face of journalism.The latter element, however, is not revealed until the end of the film, as the credits explain that the spoken narration has been made up of snippets of actual news stories published over the past 140 years in "the paper of record," the New York Times.
Had that revelation come at the front of the film, it might be easier for audience members to recognize that they are hearing evidence of the changing face of newspaper reporting over the years.
Most of the early readings sound like first-person testimonials from prejudiced parties, while the later stories are more tempered and neutral - although they all seem equally sensational.
On the screen there is no action, only static images of various regions of Utah's (mostly) rural scenery - images that seem to have been spliced together at random.
And the narration, those New York Times newspaper stories - or, more correctly, the "soundbite" sentences taken from those stories - read like a laundry list of Utah's image-busting ills.
As such, "Deseret" might be construed - or, perhaps misconstrued - as anti-Utah or anti-Mormon. From raving declarations about Brigham Young and the LDS Church, the Mountain Meadows Massacre and Utah's many ill-fated statehood bids to nuclear testing, toxic-waste dumps, Melvin Dummar, Gary Gilmore, Mark Hofmann. . . .
All that's missing is Enid Waldholtz - and only because the film was finished before her problems surfaced.
The images on the screen are black and white for the first half of the film, shifting to color when the newspaper stories hit the turn of the century.
And while "Deseret" does have its rewards, it's a matter of taste as to whether those rewards are worth the film's 83-minute running time - which definitely seems longer.
Let's just say the Utah Travel Council won't be calling James Benning to see if his film can be used in a "Come to Utah" campaign.
Benning, however, seems quite sincere when he says, "I could live in Utah."
He also insists his film is not meant to be anti-anything - and his intended themes reach far beyond Utah and the Mormon Church. "One of the things I was interested in was how, in the early days of journalism, they were sort of diaries sent across the country. They'd be printed sometimes three or four months after the events. As journalism becomes newer, that disappears and the sense of bias is hidden more.
"Mormonism being a truly American religion interested me, and this country is founded on religious freedom. But in the middle of that, federal authority only tried to squelch the power that this religion was accumulating. I was also interested in the idea of history being written as it happened, news as history.
"But it switches somewhat when Utah becomes a state. The politics in the film change. The journalism language changes somewhat. The concerns about Utah are somewhat different. In the early part, the government is trying to take power from the Mormon people. Then the story changes to a different kind of abuse of Utah, with nuclear testing and building chemical dumps."
Benning is quick to admit that the film is unusual and certainly taxing. "I like the film a lot, but will anybody sit through this difficult a film? It's a trying film and it brings up lots of questions. It isn't a film that is entertaining, it's something you have to work at. I hope people don't read it as being just about Utah people. It's more about the way of American life, the way U.S. politics work, and I hope it isn't pointing a finger at one group of people. "
After 25 years of making movies, Benning knew exactly what he wanted with "Deseret." He passed through the state on a motorcycle trip five years ago and was so impressed with the landscape that he knew immediately he wanted to make a movie of some kind. "I became very aware of the enormous difference in landscapes in Utah. And I wanted to make a comment on American culture. Utah seems to not only have the Mormons but also the settling of the West.
"So, I thought a good way to look at that is to use `the paper of record' to also comment on journalism. It's not really about Mormons or one issue itself. It's about the landscape, federal power, the abuse of power, the settling of the West - a lot of things."
He says his dealings with people in Utah was also rather surprising. "The experience I had was always one that broke certain cliches. I'd have certain images of Utah people, then I'd meet someone else and they'd be just the opposite of my expectation."
And while he did not intend the film to be anti-Utah or anti-Mormon, he can understand how it might be interpreted that way. "Those were the stories in the Times. And it isn't that I just chose the bad ones. That's what they wrote!
"In a way, you can say it's bashing the Mormon people and the state of Utah, which brings up questions about reporting and federal control."
"Deseret" will play Monday in Park City's Egyptian Theater at 10 a.m., then again Saturday, Jan. 27, at 7 p.m. in the Holiday Village Cinema I.