OREM, Utah — Director Jorge Ramirez received a raucous round of
applause after the debut of his Spanish-language LDS theme film,
"Melted Hearts/ El Otro Lado del Corazon."
"As far as I know, this is the first one (of its kind)," he said Friday
at the ninth annual LDS Film Festival at the SCERA Theater in Orem,
Utah.
The 90-minute movie humorously follows the life and struggles of Pedro
Rodriguez, a missionary from Mexcio City. Initially wary of his new
American companion, Elder Brian Lauper, the two overcome their
differences and Rodriguez eventually falls in love with Lauper's sister.
Ramirez shows the audience it's going to be a very different kind of
Mormon movie from the get-go, when English subtitles appear on the
screen as the leads speak in Spanish. The language alternates between
English and Spanish throughout the entire film, as almost all the
characters are bilingual, yet the transitions take place so seamlessly,
the viewer rarely feels as though they are struggling to catch up.
The film's title suggests it's a love story, and while that's true, the
strongest scenes in "Melted Hearts" take place in the first 30 minutes
or so. The interactions between Lauper and Rodriguez are so
convincing, light-hearted and compelling, they make the viewer wish
they could have had companions like them. The mission field isn't
glamorized in the production, yet somehow Ramirez makes even the
sicknesses and cultural incongruences seem fun.
At one point in the film, Rodriguez becomes very ill. Over the course
of his companion's fever, Lapuer chaotically attempts to help him
recover, at first by putting a handful of ice in his armpits, then by
giving him a shot of penicillin, which sends Rodriguez into an allergic
reaction that eventually lands him in a pet hospital. Once Rodriguez
recovers, Lauper exclaims "The U.S. and Mexico will always be
neighbors," and whatever animosity existed between them disappears.
Although the mishaps are funny, Lauper is clearly concerned about his
companion, and the scenes showcase another way in which Ramirez
achieves a tender-heartedness throughout the film.
The storyline takes a turn about a third of the way through when the
pair complete their missions and meet up in Rodriguez's hometown,
Mexico City. Lauper is accompanied by his parents and sister, Wendy
(played by Monique Loumeau-Derr), who
instantly captures Rodriguez's heart. What follows is a lengthy
collection of scenes in which Rodriguez attempts and continually falls
short of wooing the red-headed beauty. Both Wendy and her suitor are
likable, yet the film from that point on lacks the dynamics it held
when Lauper was central to the plot.
In the Q&A following the show, Ramirez said there were certain
inconsistencies in the film which may have distracted some viewers from
the storyline, such as the shagginess of the missionaries' hair.
Neither of the actors playing the missionaries were LDS, and both were
working on other projects at the same time they were filming "Melted
Hearts," which required hair past their ears.
Overall, "Melted Hearts" brings something special and fresh to the LDS
market as it welcomes both English and Spanish-speaking viewers to
relate to the same story.