Out of Liberty (2019)

'Out of Liberty' tells the story of LDS Church founder Joseph Smith and a handful of associates stay in the jail at Liberty, Missouri in late 1838 and early 1839. The group, that included Joseph's brother Hyrum, First Presidency councilor Sidney Rigdon, and future Apostle Lyman Wight were there charged with treason as part of the 1838 Missouri Mormon War. The film drops into proceedings with little context at first, it reminded me of how Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ' just drops in to Gethsemane taking for granted that you know the story. While Gibson's film was jarring this movie is mostly slow, staid, and kind of boring, actually really boring at times. Like say 'God's and Generals' the film works better as a collection of scenes then it does as a whole. It felt like this would have been better as a radio play. 

The audience surrogate figure here is Samuel Tillery (Jason Wade) the chief jailer at Liberty, an actual historical figure about whom relatively little is known allowing the screenwriters take dramatic liberties. Joseph and his associates are eventually "allowed to escape" when the prospect of their trial and probable release and/or lynching becomes increasingly problematic politically for powerful people in the state. The movie implies that Smith and Co won Tillery (a veteran of the War of 1812 and aspiring lawyer) over. While it is possible that they did it seems most likely that the reason Tillery let them go is that he was acting on instructions, direct or implied from his superiors, rather then out of strict sympathy. This movie surprisingly leaves out the most famous anecdote from Joseph's stay, his rebuking of foul mouthed guards, but does keep in elements related to Smith's writings in the jail that become sections 121 - 123 of the LDS Doctrine and Convenients. While the movie has some good moments, it is to often a slog to sit through. Perhaps the most intriguing thing to me about the film is why Corbin Allred (the only actor in the thing I recognized) decided to endow his portrait of Porter Rockwell with such a raspy voice. Is that historical? I want to know. **