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Some movies, some movie-making, and Book of Mormon geography

Some movies, some movie-making, and Book of Mormon geography

Last updated on: May 7, 2025 at 8:19 pm by Dan Peterson

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Some movies, some movie-making, and Book of Mormon geography 2025-05-07T20:19:44-06:00 Dan Peterson

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The core of our Interpreter Foundation film crew is (from left to right) James Jordan, Mark Goodman, and Russell Richins, of RedBrick Film Works. They were all involved in filming the interviews on Monday and Wednesday (today), as well as in our recent filming in Nauvoo and Carthage and upstate New York and Kirtland. They are very, very good to work with.

We spent another solid day today filming for the Interpreter Foundation’s forthcoming Becoming Brigham series of short documentaries, this time doing indoor “studio” conversations at a home in Pleasant Grove. I think that we captured some good discussions, and I’m looking forward to eventually making these materials public. I hope and I believe that people will find them interesting and helpful.

Monk’s Mound, at Cahokia, not far across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. The staircase is modern, but is located in the same place as the original stairs. (Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph). Is this an archaeological remnant of the Book of Mormon peoples?

I’m afraid that I’ve fallen a bit behind on alerting you to new posts on the website of the Interpreter Foundation. Which is, I admit, a bit odd, since the Interpreter Foundation is supposed to have died many years ago. Puzzling, no? Here are some recently posted items that are worthy of examinationt:

“The Heartland Versus Mesoamerica: Part 3: Up, Down, and Distance,” written by Brant A. Gardner
“The Heartland Versus Mesoamerica: Part 4: Directions and the East and West Seas,” written by Brant A. Gardner
Nibley Lectures: Come, Follow Me Doctrine and Covenants Lesson 20: “Seek Ye Earnestly the Best Gifts” Doctrine and Covenants 46–48 “During 1978, 1979, and 1980, Hugh Nibley taught a Doctrine and Covenants Sunday School class. Cassette recordings were made of these classes and some have survived and were digitized by Steve Whitlock and recently enhanced by Nick Galieti. Most of the tapes were in pretty bad condition. The original recordings usually don’t stop or start at the beginning of the class and there is some background noise. Volumes vary, probably depending upon where the recorder was placed in the room. Many are very low volume but in most cases it’s possible to understand the words. In a couple of cases the ends of one class were put on some space left over from a different class. There’s some mixup around D&C 90-100 that couldn’t be figured out so those recordings are as they were on the tapes. Even with these flaws and missing classes, we believe that these will be interesting to listen to and valuable to your Come, Follow Me study program.”
Interpreter Radio: Come, Follow Me in Context May 12-18: “Seek Ye Earnestly the Best Gifts” — Doctrine and Covenants 46-48 “For the 20 April 2025 Come, Follow Me segment of the Interpreter Radio Show, Bruce Webster and Kris Frederickson discussed the Come, Follow Me Doctrine & Covenants lesson for 12-18 May covering D&C 46 through 48. Their discussion was recorded and, shorn of commercial interruptions, has now been made available for you, at your convenience. The other segments of the 20 April 2025 radio show are accessible at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreter-radio-show-april-20-2025. The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard live on Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), on K-TALK, AM 1640, or you can listen to it on the Internet at ktalkmedia.com.
Come, Follow Me — D&C Study and Teaching Helps (2025): Doctrine and Covenants 46–48: May 12 – 18: “Seek Ye Earnestly the Best Gifts”

An aerial view at twilight of St. Peter’s Square, St. Peter’s Basilica, and the Vatican (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

BBC: “Watch: The first day of the conclave in a minute” Black smoke came out of the Sistine Chapel today, so non habemus papam. Some of you are no doubt wondering, so, for the record: If nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve. Just so you know.

“Schwur auf dem Rütli”/”Oath on the Rütli” (1891), by Jean Renggli (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

On the Emirates flight from Dubai to Houston last Friday, I watched four movies and listened to a range of classical music and, over Iran, listened to the Beatles’ first British album, which struck me as rather amusing. Here are the four movies that I watched:

Godzilla Minus One (2023; in Japanese, with subtitles) — The original Godzilla was very important to me as a young child. I watched it nine times during a single summer week, on Channel 9. So, seeing this among the movie offerings, I couldn’t resist.
Gladiator II (2024) — I rather liked this one, despite the considerable liberties that it takes with Roman history.
September 5 (2024) — This was a good refresher for me about the Munich massacre of 1972 . It’s told entirely from the perspective of the ABC Sports crew that was there in Munich for the 1972 Summer Olympics.
William Tell (2024) — This film, I now see, has received extremely mixed reviews. Some people love it, while some loathe it. At least in the place that I looked, there seems no in-between. I quite enjoyed it, actually, and certainly not least because it involves my beloved Switzerland and is set in places (like Sarnen, Küsnacht , and especially Altdorf) with which I’m familiar. It was fun to see the coat of arms of Canton Uri prominently displayed, and to see a depiction of the famous Rütlischwur or “Rütli Oath,” which is fundamental to the establishment of Switzerland (officially, the ): “Wir wollen sein ein einzig Volk von Brüdern, in keiner Not uns trennen und Gefahr. Wir wollen frei sein, wie die Väter waren, eher den Tod, als in der Knechtschaft leben. Wir wollen trauen auf den höchsten Gott und uns nicht fürchten vor der Macht der Menschen.” “We shall be a single people of brothers, never to part in danger or distress. We shall be free, just as our fathers were, and rather die than live in slavery. We shall trust in God Most High and never be afraid of human power.” The film is loosely based upon Friedrich Schiller’s classic play Wilhelm Tell. It’s shockingly brutal in at least one scene and invents a rather politically correct version of Tell (who may be wholly legendary anyhow) and of the women in the story. And, although the landscape shown in the movie is pretty, the cinematography doesn’t begin to do justice to the spectacular beauty of the real Switzerland. Still, I liked it.

Camille Pissarro, “The Harvest” (1882) (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

But now, alas, it’s time for a septet of abominations from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™. Some of the harvested fruit of theism, if you will. Brace yourselves:

And then there are these two, from the subsection of the Hitchens File that is known among the cognoscenti as “Utah is Hell on Earth, Thanks to the Mormons”:

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