| TV fiction tackles the heavy lifting for us | |
|
By Daphne Bramham, Special to the Sun The Vancouver Sun | |
Polygamy in a religious context raises so many questions about rights, freedoms, familial bonds, choice, informed consent and politics that, at times, it seems easier to just ignore it than puzzle it out. For the most part for more than 100 years, Canadians and Americans have been doing that -- ignoring followers of Joseph Smith's teaching that only men with multiple wives will enter the highest realm of heaven. They call themselves fundamentalist Mormons. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- mainstream Mormons -- hate that because the LDS renounced plural marriage in 1890. And nobody is more eager for the fundamentalist Mormons to be forgotten than the 12 million members of the LDS church. Yet it's almost impossible to ignore fundamentalist Mormons. They are always doing something creepy or illegal like forcing under-age girls to marry men who are double, triple and even quadruple their age, moving these young brides illegally across international borders, reassigning wives and children, kicking young boys out for the simple offence of falling in love, and bleeding money from the government in child-tax credits, health services and grants for schools that few parents seem to want their children to attend for more than a few years. But what to do about it seems to paralyze us and our political leaders. And here's where the wonder of drama comes in. Instead of all that mental heavy lifting, it focuses us on what it might feel like to be a plural wife in a polygamous community. That's what In God's Country does. It's a two-hour drama that airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. on CTV about life in a polygamous community that bears some striking resemblances to Bountiful, B.C. The main character Judith Joseph (played by Kelly Rowan, who is also one of the executive producers) is a second-generation polygamist, mother of five and eighth and most favoured wife of the bishop. She has little education, knows nothing of life outside the community and is constantly monitored by "sister-wives" and a cadre of young men loyal to the bishop. In this fictional depiction, the church's prophet forces a 14-year-old to marry a middle-aged man she'd just met. Joseph's bishop-husband makes it clear that their 16-year-old daughter will never be able to marry the young man she loves. And Joseph's 12-year-old is raped by a teenaged boy. When Joseph tries to report the rape to child protection services, her husband expels her from the community to be shunned until she repents for her sin. Instead, she leaves. What's notable about the production is that Peter Behrens and Esta Spalding didn't sacrifice the complexities in writing this compelling story. That's why it is such a bracing antidote to HBO's Big Love, a sitcom about a wealthy, suburban polygamist family. In God's Country offers a glimpse of how powerful religious leaders within this particular cult use faith, scripture and fear of eternal damnation to subjugate "maternal instinct" -- something that we're taught is an innate and unalterable impulse to protect the young. This is a drama not a documentary, so there are things that don't square with what I know about fundamentalist communities. Women aren't punished by being sent away with their children. They're guarded even more closely and even put into mental institutions. Women, children and vans are all deemed to be the property of men. And in many court battles, men have regained not only their vans, but their children from the wives who have left. Only in the utopian world of television does a woman -- within hours of leaving an abusive situation with five children -- get handed keys to a fully furnished home, money for food and clothes and a cellphone to call for help if her husband comes after her. In reality, there are no fully equipped homes sitting empty. In fact, few transition homes are even large enough to accommodate a woman with five children. Finally, although beautifully filmed, it is undeniably and disconcertingly shot in rural Ontario where, as far as I know, there are no fundamentalist Mormons. Fundamentalist Mormons are concentrated in remote and rugged western locations. They live in log and wood-framed houses. There are no picket fences, red-bricked Victorians or white-painted churches. People from Bountiful will no doubt find dozens more things "wrong" with In God's Country to try to discredit it. But they'll lose the public relations war because there is simply too much truth to this fiction. "I would love it if [as a result of the movie] something could be done to help these young girls." Rowan said when I spoke to her this week. Ironically, she is not a fan of actors stating political positions. But this isn't about politics, Rowan says. It's about child abuse and human rights. dbramham@png.canwest.com | |
|
canada.com Originally published Saturday, January 20, 2007 | |
| Back | |
| For more information email: | |
