One of the curious facets of how the modern LDS film industry has developed since “God’s Army” in 2000 is how little emphasis there seems to be on truly spiritual films. 

One might have guessed that as prospective LDS filmmakers started to ply their craft, they would have been more likely to err on the side of taking their films too seriously, with over-the-top spiritual sermons in the solemn tone of an average General Conference talk.  Instead, we’ve largely seen the opposite: embracing cheap laughs about LDS culture and (only occasionally) throwing in a spiritual moral at the end, almost as an afterthought.

While there’s a time and place for laughs (even in GC talks), I’ve wondered if LDS filmmakers haven’t in large part forgotten the fundamentals that define and unite Latter-Day Saints to begin with.  Don’t stories that are, in some context, about spiritual enlightenment and progression represent the most unique and compelling element of filmmaking that LDS writers and directors have to offer?  

“Return With Honor” is not a great film, but it has the right approach for an LDS film—it attempts to set a spiritual tone, and tackle its somewhat grounded subject matter with an aura of seriousness, without constantly attempting to lighten the mood with “wacky” characters or jokes about home teaching and missionary work.

Now, “Return With Honor” is not a particularly deep movie in terms of its spiritual message, and it has its share of clunky dialogue and so-so acting, but in the end the fact that it embraces ideas of the spirit rather than running away from them helps alleviate a host of flaws in my eyes.  “Return With Honor” is a movie that seems to "get it"—it understands what an LDS movie ought to be about, and—imperfections notwithstanding—should be commended for moving the LDS movie industry in what I view as the right direction.

Ironically, “Return With Honor” features a main character who doesn’t "get it"…at least, not for the first 90% of the movie.

Returning home from his mission, Elder Rowe McDonald has the rest of his life all figured out…until he gets in a car accident and has a near(?)-death experience.  Finding himself unexpectedly dressed in white and surrounded by glory, Rowe pleads with God to allow him to return to Earth, and is granted a 60-day window of time to accomplish his outstanding goal in life—converting his non-member mother—before he goes on to “bigger and better things”. 

It doesn’t go well at the beginning, because, as we see, Rowe’s primary tactic in “helping” others to change is simply to show his disapproval;

He states his disapproval to his mother for working in a bar…where *gasp* they serve ALCOHOL!

He tells his friend with a shaved head and ear piercings that he can’t believe he has a friend who “looks like the DEVIL”!

Later—and this is now 75% into the movie--when his mother doesn’t feel like listening to the missionary discussions anymore, he tells her he doesn’t want her to “throw her life away”!  (Um…hello?)

Not surprisingly, his ‘efficiency rate’ at promoting change in the people he cares about is not very high.  He has a girlfriend (Ally) whom he cares about and has a good relationship with, but you can imagine if she ever wanted to have her ears pierced more than once…boy, LOOK OUT!

Eventually, Rowe (as you presume he must) learns the difference between being loving and being judgmental—and although the conclusion wraps things up a little too neatly given what has come before, “Return With Honor” finds an ending which is appropriate and finds a nice way to reconcile the “fantasy” aspect of the premise (God giving a departed spirit a 60-day ‘reprieve’ from death in order to return to mortal life) with more established and realistic LDS doctrine.

Again, “Return With Honor” is not a great film, but it is a positive film, both in content and as a representation of the newest wave of LDS cinema in a hopefully more spiritual direction.  This one is worth a look…

Final Grade: B

Analysis and Other Comments (may contain plot spoilers):

(1) We find out that Rowe’s mother isn’t LDS, and his dad has been absent since he was a baby, but we never hear much about how Rowe became Mormon in the first place.  Some additional background information about both Rowe’s (and his mother’s) pre-mission exposure to the Church would have provided valuable context for the post-mission events.  (Rowe’s mom says originally that she had “too much church” thrust upon her in the beginning but that, in the end, she “always knew it [the gospel] was true”.  Unfortunately, we have no context or background on either of these statements to really parse them effectively…)

(2) "Return With Honor" also has what Roger Ebert typically calls the “Idiot Plot” where romantic misunderstandings could be cleared up in just a few words of dialogue…which the characters then utterly refuse to say even when it should be obvious that they’d be better off for doing so.

It’s understandable that Rowe wouldn’t tell Ally about his 60-day time limit, but surely he might find it wise to mention that his reason for visiting a bar involves his mother (considering she dumps him over it when he doesn’t…).  I suppose you can take the view that he, in his heart, wants her to dump him since he knows he’s not going to be around to be a husband for her anyway, but within the context of the movie it sure seems like he passes up two or three golden opportunities to say, "Hey, you know what...my mother works in a bar, and I'm going to visit her." and clear things up with her, instead of remaining silent…

(3) “Return With Honor” takes the path of lesser-ambition in one case:  Ally never finds out about Rowe’s 60-day deadline until after everyone knows that he’s actually still going to be around for a while.  I think it was a missed opportunity not to have it part of the plot where Ally finds out about the 60-day deadline…and then has to really consider whether she’s still willing to marry Rowe or not.

It’s one thing to talk about time and eternity when mortal time is still stretched out endlessly before you, but quite another to do something for, in essence, eternity only with the prospect of being widowed and alone at a young age staring you in the face.  It would have been interesting to at least present that dilemma in the course of the movie—not to mention give Ally a more significant role in the proceedings--since it would have fit naturally into the ‘happy ending’ at the end, anyway…

(4) The movie does drag in the middle, with scene after scene of Rowe waiting in the bar hoping to talk to his mother with nothing else going on.  This goes on for a LONG time, where basically no progression in the plot is made (and the movie has to play ‘catch-up’ later in terms of his mom’s spiritual progression within a short time period) and would probably have been a good target for judicious editing.

Also, since it doesn’t appear that Rowe has a job, we’re not quite sure what he does during the day, and why it wouldn’t be more effective for him to stake out his mom either leaving her house or arriving at the bar earlier in the day, instead of showing up after she’s already at work…

(5) This middle section also contains a curious scene where Rowe (waiting in the bar as usual) takes part in a bet by a waitress with other non-member patrons that she can get him to drink a ‘beer’ (really sparkling apple cider).  This is odd because Rowe is hesitant initially to even enter the bar (presumably, for "appearance of evil" reasons) at the beginning…and yet, he then happily agrees to appear as if he’s violating his religious covenants in front of a host of non-members?  Hmmm...   This is probably another scene that could have landed on the cutting room floor without being missed…

(6) While other LDS films have made great efforts in being accessible to non-member viewers, “Return With Honor” is strictly a by-LDS-for-LDS movie.  No effort is really made to explain many of the LDS concepts, including temple sealings and proxy work for the dead, that are referenced without context by the characters in the movie.   And very little effort is spent trying to explain why Rowe’s mom would be better off for being Mormon—it is pretty much taken for granted that she *needs* the gospel and it will bring her happiness in the end.  This is not necessarily a flaw, as every film is free to choose as broad or narrow a target audience as it wishes, but there’s really nothing here to attract a non-member audience…

(7) The film, while remaining pretty orthodox for the most part, seems to take a casual view of getting married civilly first, and then getting a temple sealing later.  We see Rowe and Ally run off to Vegas to get married at the end and it is unclear whether we’re supposed to assume they got sealed in the temple, or rather just went through one of the ‘drive-thru’ chapels instead. 

Las Vegas has a temple, of course, and we are shown pictures of it during the closing credits, leading one to assume we’re supposed to think they got sealed the ‘right’ way.  Except…you can’t just ‘drop by’ an LDS temple and get married.  You need your bishop and stake president interviews first (and it’s obvious they *didn’t* do that before they headed to Vegas, being a spur-of-the-moment thing), and even then you have to schedule a time in advance.  Showing the Las Vegas temple picture may have been a nice idea to leave a positive impression in the audience, but there’s just no way they would have realistically been able to get a true temple sealing under the circumstances.