If anyone had their doubts, today's movie will make it clear what my religious affiliations are. As it was Sunday, I figured it was high time to break out one of the discs in the vast collection of the Living Scriptures Stories my in-laws received for Christmas. It was a gift given to them by my brother-in-law so that the grandchildren would have something to watch on Sundays. I had seen some of these video shorts before, but the memory of them was quite vague.The story of Helaman and the two thousand sixty Stripling Warriors was not new to me, being a Primary, Seminary, and Institute Graduate. Still, it was interesting watching this with Erini, because to my knowledge, this was the first time she had been told the story beginning to end, and I learned something new as well.
During the expository montage at the beginning, which gave the background story as to how these two thousand young men volunteered to fight for the Nephites, there was a recap of the slaughter of the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's. While I knew one thousand and five people were killed, it never occurred to me that the men killed were survived by their wives and children. With this upsurge of single mothers, they still kept their faith and taught their children the gospel.
The fact that these men were raised without fathers struck a chord. I tried to stress this point with Erini, as I had never thought of this idea before, and I wanted her to remember it. She was rather docile for the whole twenty-eight minutes of the production. Whether she was taking it all in, or still waking up, it didn't matter to me. I was just happy that she was learning some sort of scripture story with her father.
When the two thousand sons are faced with the idea of going to battle, they were fearless because of their mother's testimonies. This faith is what preserved them all, as not one was killed in the battle. That's not to say they were not injured, many were, but everyone was alive and accounted for. In the end, all the Stripling Warriors returned home alive.
On a side note, the cartoon seemed like it was done by animators from He-Man, She-Ra, or some other production featuring muscle bound characters. Wouldn't you know, I was right.
As a war film, this is very, very tame, but I was slightly surprised with the amount of blood that was shown on screen. There weren't any body parts flying around, or shrapnel embedded in bodies, but there was a fair share of dead bodies and bloody swords.
War is an ugly thing, but necessary under some circumstances, such as fighting for freedom. Whenever the Nephites fought in defense of their country, they always were victorious. If they were the instigating party, they would lose.
Politics has always been a subject I try to avoid, mostly because it's simple, yet complicated. Knowing right from wrong is a simple thing, but knowing when your rights start on others is what I need to teach to my daughter, and by so doing relearn myself.
Finding war movies that are appropriate for children is quite the task, but I've selected a few that I think might work: The Sound of Music (Nazi occupation of Austria), Remember the Titans (Battle of Gettysburg/Racism), The Iron Giant (Cold War/Xenophobia), Newsies (Capitalist Oppression), Wargames (Nuclear Threat), and Joyeux Noel (Have to screen that one first). To those reading this, if you have any suggestions to add, please let me know.
The common theme in these movies is how wars are fought. It's not necessarily done by killing your fellow man, but by overcoming your own fears and prejudices that dictate who your enemy is and helping others to do the same.
Conflict is inevitable; violence is not. Let's hope my daughter can learn that through these movies.
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