10: Deseret*

            What an odd film this is.  More than any other title from the 1001 canon, it deserves to be called a film essay.  I’m unfamiliar with the work of director James Benning, but this hard-to-find gem is supposedly his most “commercial” venture.  Deseret (1995) debuted, appropriately, at the 1995 Sundance Festival in Park City Utah, where even the Hollywood big wigs must have appreciated its laissez-faire but fascinating treatment of that state’s history.  Using only text taken from New York Times articles (dating back to the paper’s founding in 1851) as his script, Benning somehow manages to weave Utah, with its harsh territory and controversial history, into the fabric of the American Western narrative.  The images of Monument Valley in the south of the state are familiar to any fan of the Western genre, but in most films they stand in for Texas or Arizona.  Benning uses images of geographic, historic, and contemporary Utah from throughout the territory to create a unique portrait of a place that many Americans still regard as remote and culturally backwards.

            With just over 90 static shots filling the runtime, he unites each image with a summary of a Times article read by an otherwise unknown narrator (Fred Gardner).  Gardner’s voice is plain and to the point, mirroring the images, and while individually these stories are for the most part uninspiring, together the paint a portrait of a land of with a history of struggle and a staunchly independent mindset.  The earliest stories concern Brigham Young and the initial years of Mormon inhabitance, when disputes with Native Americans often lead to violent clashes.  The irony of a people fleeing religious persecution in search of peace, only to enter into bloody conflict as they encroached upon the lands and beliefs of others is not lost, but is not laid on too thick either.  Benning avoids commentary for the most part, even in creating meaning through the juxtaposition of text and images, as well as his use of the Times often simplified explanations of events and remote accounts.  Clearly his intent is to let his audience hear the published Eastern version of each story while they simultaneously view the landscape and civilization of their origin, as if to say, “see for yourself.”  

            All the topics of interest are covered.  Indian massacres play heavily at the outset, and nuclear testing is the focus by the film’s conclusion.  Strung throughout of course is the tail of the historically separatist and openly racist Mormon Church and the lengthy debate over their once common practice of polygamy.  Nestled in between these consistent themes is the occasional tale of the morbid or quirky nature, including that of a man who once helped a seemingly homeless drifter who claimed to be Howard Hughes, and then found himself willed over a million dollars upon the reclusive tycoon’s death.  From a filmic standpoint, Deseret is literally infused with color as grainy 16mm black and white is replaced when the Times stories move into the 20^th Century. 

Upon close inspection is appears that no stock footage was employed, and many sources note that Benning shot at several points throughout the course of a year in various locations to collect the footage he wanted.  The scenery is often stunning, as is the Mormon architecture, and human depiction seems incidental at most.  What he never seems to capture though, and what perhaps he intended to avoid, is any specific thesis as to why Utah remains such a state of mystery.  Like most of its neighboring states it is naturally beautiful and politically conservative, and yet unlike Colorado or Arizona it isn’t a requisite vacation spot.  Its settlers had marked themselves apart from the world for nearly 150 years when Deseret was released, and in that time they had weathered storms that other groups of faith might have succumbed to.  The text of The New York Times ultimately describes a people who are steady, steadfast, and odd, but who are fascinating in their oddness.  This is Deseret’s thesis statement.

Language: English

Runtime: 82 Minutes

Available@Youtube.com

Grade: 3 Hats Off   

*"Deseret" was the name citizens voted on for naming the state.  Apparently, "Utah" just stuck and that's what it was singed into the Union as by Grover Cleveland in January, 1896.