"She embraced the religion, and her life was radically changed," Whitney said. "She was an interesting, sassy, irreverent person — sort of a walking advertisement of the best of Mormonism."

The documentary spends time with members of the Dalrymple family, who lost a wife and mother. And with the Tilleman-Dick family, who maintain their faith while dealing with their 23-year-old daughter's fatal heart condition — a segment that will break your heart no matter what your religious convictions.

There are also segments on the "Dissenters and Exiles" — people who have left the church; those who were excommunicated; those who criticize the church. Subjects like African-Americansand the priesthood, feminism, intellectualism and gays are addressed.

Margaret Merrill Toscano tells a moving story of her own excommunication. Former LDS Church member Trevor Southey talks about the struggles of being gay and Mormon.

Their pain is apparent, but they are not strident or angry.

Overall, Whitney did exactly what you would hope for from a documentarian — she reported it like she saw it, neither glorifying nor demonizing her subject.

Which is not to say that "The Mormons" is without flaws. A posting on the LDS Church's Web site has already questioned the documentary in two areas — the Mountain Meadows Massacre and present-day polygamists.

There's merit to that criticism. The Mountain Meadows Massacre segment runs 19:34, which seems somewhat excessive in light of the documentary's length.

And Whitney undercuts her own stated goal of dispelling stereotypes by spending seven minutes on modern-day polygamists. The documentary makes it clear they're not members of the LDS Church, so why confuse the issue?

Would a documentary on the Catholic Church suddenly digress into Lutherans?

And the talking heads who deliver their interpretations of various things related to Mormonism are not adequately identified. Viewers aren't told that Terryl Givens (identified as "author") is an active member of the LDS Church or that Will Bagley (identified as "historian") is a critic of the church.

It hardly seems fair that viewers are not made aware of where Bagley may be coming from when he says, "I'm convinced that (Mountain Meadows) was done explicitly at Brigham Young's orders." Particularly when the counterweight to that is Glen Leonard saying, "He didn't order it done and he didn't condone it," while a graphic identifies him as LDS Church historian.

There is no doubt that, simply because of its subject matter, "The Mormons" will draw criticism from both sides. Which is probably an indication that Whitney has done a lot right with the documentary.

"As someone from inside the culture who is in contention with the culture, I don't think it's in any way a whitewash or a promotional piece," Bagley told TV critics.

KUED's Ken Verdoia — who has not only produced some great documentaries about the LDS Church and Utah but is one of the best "talking heads" in "The Mormons" — knows how hard it can be to tackle a subject like this.

"Church members see it one way. People who look at it in a cold historical fact consider it another. And there's no easy telling of this history," he said. "When you wade into telling a story of faith, you are in very, very deep water very, very quickly.

"I've never seen anyone negotiate it better than Helen Whitney."

---

E-mail: pierce@desnews.com