UPDATE:: The Fundamentalist Mormon Sect That Blends Polygamy, Child Rape and Organized Crime
Jeffs made the FBI’s Most Wanted list in the mid-2000s, spent several years as a fugitive, and was ultimately convicted on two counts of sexual assault against children by a Texas jury in 2011. During Jeffs’ two trials (an earlier conviction in Utah was thrown out), Mormon fundamentalism became an object of cultural fascination, inspiring the HBO series “Big Love.” That has faded, and Jeffs is almost certain to spend the rest of his life in prison. But as filmmaker Amy Berg’s new Showtime documentary “Prophet’s Prey” makes clear, the FLDS empire of rape and misogyny and child labor and relentless ideological and psychological domination appears to go on much as before. Despite his isolation and his precarious mental condition, Jeffs continues to command the devotion and obedience of his 10,000 or so followers from behind bars, like an old-time Mob boss with a direct line to God.
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Along with author and journalist Jon Krakauer (and arguably now Berg, whose documentary features both of them and is based on Brower’s book of the same title), Brower has done more to expose the enormous but almost invisible criminal empire built by Warren Jeffs than anyone in the world. Furthermore, in the larger context of social and religious history, Brower is clearly correct that the disturbing story of the Jeffs family and the FLDS Church reflects issues that go far beyond the contradictions of Mormon theology and the weirdness of the American West.
More on Warren Jeffs, 'Prophet's Prey' and the FLDS:_____
Ben Thomas, a former work manager for Hildale’s Phaze Concrete, watched with some discomfort Friday night as he was projected on the big screen at Springdale’s O.C. Tanner Amphitheater during the DOCUTAH film festival’s premiere showing of “Prophet’s Prey,” a documentary on the local polygamist community.
“I thought it went really well. … It was really well done,” Thomas said prior to being invited onstage at the film’s close for a question and answer panel.
“But it was really hard to watch,” he said. “My brother-in-law runs (Phaze) now – as far as I know. They feel like I threw them under the bus” by deciding to appear in the documentary.
A few hundred people made the trek to the outdoor amphitheater on the doorstep of Zion National Park to see the insiders-on-the-outside accounts of life under Warren Jeffs, the prophet of the film’s name. DOCUTAH officials estimated about 800 more filled Dixie State University’s Cox Auditorium nearly to capacity Saturday for the film festival’s final-day showing.
Among those viewing the film for the first time were a number of the film’s participants, such as Thomas. Thomas’ role included talking about how he monitored the contractor’s large commercial concrete jobs from Seattle to New Mexico and helped funnel money to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints under the direction of Jeffs’ religious hierarchy.
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Following DOCUTAH, the movie will have its East Coast theatrical premiere in New York City at an event attended by its executive producers, including famous director-actor Ron Howard. Then it will debut on the West Coast in Los Angeles, followed by additional showings in big markets across the country, Brower said.
On Oct. 10, it will premiere on Showtime’s television outlet and completes its bid for consideration among Oscar and Emmy award nominees.
FLDS exiles praise documentary film on prophet's abuses
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