Electrick Children - movie (FLDS-ish)

[mockingbird]

I just watched this movie on Netflix and would definitely recommend it to another FJ-er. Has anyone else seen it?

It is about a fundamentalist Mormon girl, Rachel, who is pregnant and is so sheltered that she thinks she has had an immaculate conception. Before she gets pregnant, Rachel finds a cassette tape with rock music on it and knows it was wrong to listen to, so she thinks the singer on the tape is the one who got her pregnant. Her family arranges a quickie marriage to a boy in their community, but she doesn't want to marry him so she runs away in the middle of the night to Las Vegas in search of the man on the tape. While there she meets up with a teen rock band and explores the modern world.

I thought the movie was really well-done. The main actress, Julia Garner, is brilliant. Her character is laughingly innocent at times but the actress has a mature, developed style - great physical acting. The movie is funny at times playing off Rachel being so naive, but also serious. I definitely spent the whole time haunted by the question of how Rachel really ended up pregnant. Her brother also escapes with her, accidentally, and I was just rooting for him to stop being so legalistic and come to see Rachel as a person he can respect. Her mom doesn't seem as supportive of the legalism as Rachel's dad and we eventually find out some of her past. All in all, great movie and storyline, and it really gets into not only some of the problems with such a legalistic religion, but the diverse personalities of those who practice it and who might be drawn to it. It was definitely critical of groups like the FLDS but managed to do so while still being respectful of the people who practice it.

The director is a former mainstream Mormon who was researching a documentary about the FLDS/other groups when she had the idea for this movie. She says she wanted to adapt a Bible story and in the end it is about "Joseph accepting Mary unconditionally". Interesting interview here: http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/r ... hildren/#_

[bal maiden]

I saw this a while back when it came out in the UK; really liked it!

I thought the undercurrent was that she got pregnant by her creepy abusive father, or am I misremembering?!

[mockingbird]

I saw this a while back when it came out in the UK; really liked it!

I thought the undercurrent was that she got pregnant by her creepy abusive father, or am I misremembering?!

Yeah, that's what I thought too. I think they wanted you to believe it was her brother for awhile, but I'm pretty sure it was the dad.