Latter Days (April 27, 2010)

People have been bugging me to see this movie for awhile now. I try to ignore it when people do that, because people bugged me to see "Borat" and "Napoleon Dynamite" and I'd like to puke on the people who got me to see those movies. But I finally caved today and watched "Latter Days," and damned if people weren't right this time (there's a first time for everything, right?) This movie focuses on Christian, a happy-go-lucky guy who flits through life seemingly without a care, and Aaron, who is on his 2 year long mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (the Mormons). For those who need a crash course, Latter Day Saints (LDS) send their kids away on a mission once they turn 18, and said kids spend two years going door to door and teaching other people about their church. So Aaron is sheltered and kind of geeky, but he takes his faith seriously (more seriously than his 4 roommates who are on the mission just like he is) and when Aaron and Christian meet, sparks fly and Aaron has to make a choice (his church is...um...less than thrilled with gay people, to put it mildly).

I know why people were badgering me to see this movie. I kind of wished I'd listened to them earlier, but at the same time, this movie came at a good time in my life. I've been on this ridiculous roller coaster with my faith for years now, and I just started going to a new church on Sunday. It's not that I don't realize that I can pray at home by myself, I just miss being around other people who share my faith (of course, being around them always seems to get me in trouble, so we'll see how that turns out). I related to every single scene in this movie in a different way, and it didn't seem forced or manipulative. Others may disagree with me, but believe me when I say I know what manipulation looks like, and I think this movie rises above that. It's unflinchingly honest, and while watching it felt a little like running sandpaper across my skin (it rubs my issues raw, you see) it was still something I think I needed to see. You should check it out sometime, too.