Review of Saturday's Warrior (2016) by Sheila B — 02 Apr 2016

Doug Stewart baptized my mom into the LDS Church when he was serving as a missionary in London in the 60s. (Jeffrey R. Holland was an AP to Marion D. Hanks at that place and time, btw.) So I have always felt a powerful connection to Saturday's Warrior anyway.

I saw a stake production of the play in Stuttgart, Germany when I was 9. And although I was thrilled to see it brought to life on the small screen in 1989, I have been wanting to see this on the big screen for 35 years -- most of my life.

So in fairness, I'm already a super fan going in. Grain of salt alert.

But consider this also:

Being a filmmaker myself, I would have loved to have done it myself. Just like I once had dreams of doing movie versions Lord of the Rings and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

And just like with those movies, I was so blown away by what they accomplished in this big screen version, that I was actually filled with gratitude that others had done it instead of me, because what they realized was so much greater than anything I had envisioned, and far exceeded what my version would have been.

It's an abnormal review, but it's truly the highest praise I can give if you get what I am trying to say. I loved this. I was crying, toe-tapping, and singing along almost non-stop. I was so blow away by every aspect of this movie except for one minor make-up detail which keeps me from giving it the full 5 stars... oh never mind. I'm giving it 5 stars anyway.

Lastly, they did some wonderful things with non-linear storytelling that added much-welcome extra dimension to many of these beloved characters and situations.

Please please please... if you hate all the "dog poop on the brownies" in our culture, and you want to see higher quality work in the future, please support this production and others like Once I Was a Beehove as much as you possibly can.

So important.