Novelist-turned-filmmaker Chris Heimerdinger breaks Mormon Cinema's green Jell-O mold in "Passage to Zarahemla," ambitiously transposing settings from the Book of Mormon into a stimulating action-adventure drama.
Orphaned siblings Kerra and Brock McConnell (played by Summer Naomi Smart and Brian Kary), ages 16 and 11, are on the run from social workers and L.A. gang members, opting to hide out with relatives of their long-missing father in Leeds, Utah.
Kerra remembers the woods outside the McConnell farm, where she once played with an imaginary friend named Kidonni. Returning to those woods, Kerra finds Kidonni (Moronai Kanekoa), now an adult, is quite real - a Nephite warrior. She also discovers the woods contain a portal that links modern Utah with the jungles of ancient America near the Nephites' capital of Zarahemla. Kerra reads up on the Nephites, via the Book of Mormon, while Kidonni prepares for an invasion from the evil Gadianton Robbers. But as the portal widens, suddenly the Gadiantons are running amok in Leeds, too.
Heimerdinger, best known for his "Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites" books, makes a few rookie mistakes - adding one song-driven montage too many, or occasionally getting too cute with the editing. But he squeezes a lot of visual flair from a minuscule budget, and laces his adventure with bits of comedy (like when the Gadiantons try to raid a mini-mart) and lots of warmth.
To his great credit, Heimerdinger explains Mormon beliefs to a potential crossover audience without watering down the LDS message. Not since Richard Dutcher's "God's Army" has a movie balanced its Mormonism and its entertainment value so well.
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* SEAN P. MEANS can be reached at movies@sltrib.com or 801-257-8602. Send comments to livingeditor@sltrib.com.
Passage to Zarahemla
* WHERE: Area theaters.
* WHEN: Opens today.
* RATING: PG-13 for violence and some drug references.
* RUNNING TIME: 107 minutes.
* BOTTOM LINE: A popular LDS writer makes an assured film debut with a Mormon-themed fantasy adventure.
