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By Kent Larsen
Mountain Meadows Massacre Documentary Featured At Film Festival
ST GEORGE, UTAH -- A film festival held in St George, Utah Saturday featured
a documentary on the Mountain Meadows Massacre made by a local film
professor and relative of then LDS Church President Brigham Young. Eric
Young, professor of film at Dixie College and a descendant of Brigham
Young's brother, said he made the film with the aim of clearing Brigham
Young of responsibility for the massacre, but was unable to find the
evidence to do so.
The documentary draws heavily from the classic 1950 book, "Mountain Meadows
Massacre," by Mormon historian Juanita Brooks. Like the book, the film is
sympathetic to John D. Lee, the Mormon pioneer convicted for the massacre
and shot at the massacre's location, 20 years later. Lee is widely
considered a scapegoat.
Professor Young says he approached the subject after trying to date a
descendant of Lee. "I went to pick her up for our first date," Young says,
"and her mother told me that because of what [Brigham Young] did to her
ancestor, John D. Lee, she wouldn't let me date her daughter."
The documentary was one of 23 films shown as part of the festival.
Source:
Documentary on Massacre Headlines Eclipse Festival
Salt Lake Tribune 11Nov00 A4
By Lin Alder: Special to the Tribune
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