A documentarian looks at 'The Mormons'

Additional information: After you watch ...    » Tell us what you thought about the PBS documentary "The Mormons." Send an e-mail to respond@desnews.com. If you watch ...    » What: "The Mormons," a two-part, four-hour documentary    » When: Monday and Tuesday, 8-10 p.m.    » Channels: KUED-Ch. 7 and KBYU-Ch. 11 See all 4 photos | Click to enlarge Photos provided by Time Life Pictures, Shearer Images, Museum of Church History and Art/Deseret Morning News photo illustration "The Mormons" explores many aspects of the LDS Church, including missionary work, temples and founder Joseph Smith. The LDS Church cooperated with the filmmaker but had no input on final product. From the archive McCain's mom slams LDS – Nov. 10, 2007 Sharpton, LDS leaders still plan to meet, but it may not happen soon – May 12, 2007 LDS leaders looking at dates to meet with Sharpton – May 11, 2007 Seven-part anti-pornography series – April 29, 2007 Seven-part anti-pornography series reported by the LDS Church News – April 21, 2007    » Also: KUED and KBYU will air a local discussion of "The Mormons" during a special edition of "Utah NOW," May 4, 8 p.m.

Anyone who's planning to use the two-part, four-hour PBS documentary "The Mormons" in Sunday School at their local ward is going to be sorely disappointed.

But then so is anyone who's planning to hang copies of the program on doorknobs to convince members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to abandon their faith.

"The Mormons" is not a faith-promoting missionary tool. Although it might turn out to be that for some.

Neither is it an anti-Mormon diatribe. Though some people might see it that way at times.

"The Mormons" is a documentary. Award-winning filmmaker Helen Whitney doesn't take an advocacy position — she neither promotes nor rails against the LDS Church.

She brought great enthusiasm to the project — she did spend more than three years working on it, after all. In an interview with the Deseret Morning News, Whitney's voice rose in delight as she talked about subjects ranging from "Joseph Smith with all of his boundless optimism" to the LDS Church's lay ministry.

"Your next-door-neighbor could be the bishop and you, who are the CEO of American Express, could be playing piano for the choir," she said. "I mean, I love that part of it."

The documentary is built like a good news story: An issue is raised; people who come down on one side of the issue have their say; people on the other side of the issue have their say; the viewers are left to draw their own conclusions.

"It's a thematic portrait, not a chronological portrait," Whitney said. "It is not exhaustive, it is not comprehensive, it is thematic. ... I think film is at its best when it chooses a few big ideas and pursues them."

Working with both Mormon and non-Mormon consultants, "I have chosen, I hope not arbitrarily, what I felt to be the defining ideas and themes and events in Mormon history that would help outsiders go inside the church," Whitney said.

(The LDS Church cooperated with Whitney but had no part in the production and no input into the final product.)

Part 1 of "The Mormons" deals mostly with the LDS Church's history; Part 2 looks at the modern-day church.