Saints and Soldiers

Positive—While there is no direct reference to Deacon being a Mormon, he comes from Snowflake, Arizona—a town founded and still largely populated by Mormons, and spent two years—the mandatory time required of all young Mormon men in good standing—as a missionary in Berlin. Perhaps because I live in Arizona and know more about the religious landscape here than many in the country would know, I saw this as a Mormon movie. My son and I saw this together, and his view, not knowing about Snowflake’s religious make-up, was simply that Deacon was a Christian. Nothing in the movie directly states otherwise.

Other than that, it’s not a movie that I (a 47-year-old female) would choose on my own, but it was one that I was willing to attend with my teenage son.
My Ratings: [Better than Average/4]

Positive—This was an amazing film that I saw at the Heartland Film Festival (Indianapolis, IN) October 2003. It took home the Grand Prize. The film makers were interviewed on the local christian radio station. They expressed a very Christian view on entertainment. I was surprised to see this referred to as a “Mormon” film on your site, because it never refers to Mormons or their doctrine. I saw the religious character, Nathan “Deacon” Greer as a positive Christian character (not associated to any particular devotion).

The film explores the ideas of redemption and hope. It explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life.

There are some war time images. They are handled very tactfully. Rather than taking the normal Hollywood approach of sensationalizing the violence, the film explores the consequence of violence. If ever I would want my children seeing a film about a most important historical event, such as WWII, it would be this film!
My Ratings: [Excellent!/5]

Positive—Very Good Film. One of the best I have ever seen. It is a must for all Christians to see.
1. We must show Hollywood that a clean and positive film can make money.
2. Film reflects positive Christian values
3. History does have heros that are completely different than what Hollywood wants us to believe.
My Ratings: [Excellent!/5]

Positive—I have seen this film twice in its entirety (at film festivals, where it won the top award both times). This is easily the most inspirational “war” film I have ever seen, if such can be said of a war film. In fact, war is not the focus of the film, but the conflict faced by a man of deep faith obligated to fight and kill a people he has known personally in a former time of his life.

The specific religion of the man is never known, nor mentioned in the film… This is a powerful, worthy film about honor, faith, and bravery.
My Ratings: [Excellent!/4]

Positive—A stunningly beautiful, emotional movie. Perhaps the finest film of the year, certainly the best war film in a long time. We were breathless at its conclusion.

Four GIs caught behind enemy lines hiding during the Battle of the Bulge explores faith, humanity and survival, both physically and spiritually. The movie is tactfully subtle in its expressions of faith but it is clear that faith does help the men survive. Some mild language, the a-word once. A few darns and hecks. No sexual situations (only two females in the movie, one being a little girl), although some playing cards have a pinup girl for an Ace. Some very tense moments and some blood, although not the “Saving Private Ryan” in your face kind.

The messages of faith and heroism make it an excellent movie for teenagers. However, it is not for children under 12. It is well worth the time and money to see this film.
My Ratings: [Better than Average/5]

Positive—Outstanding film, one of the year’s best. It has been a long time since I have enjoyed as fine of a war movie as this. A very humanistic and inspiring story, despite the war setting. We enjoyed the film very much and highly recommend it for teenagers and up.

A few swear words: one A-word and a few darns and hecks. The intensity makes the movie unsuitable for children under 12. Not too much gore for a war flick, so the light swearing constitutes the only objectionable material in the film.
My Ratings: [Better than Average/5]

Positive—…there is never any mention of one’s religious affiliation… Go see this movie folks it is great. I can’t wait to get the video to add to my “Christian” friendly collection.
My Ratings: [Excellent!/5]

Neutral—This movie has excellent moral values, and if it weren’t an LDS movie, I would recommend it to anyone and give it the highest rating possible. Why couldn’t it have been left out what his specific faith was, not his LDS faith? Then it could have been encouraging for real Christians, too. No, I do not consider LDS as Christians, because they do not believe in the Jesus of the Bible as God’s only begotten Son.
My Ratings: [Good/4]