The Interpreter Foundation is promoting its latest film, Six Days in August.
Because I don't live in Utah or Idaho, I haven't seen it.
If it's anything like their previous film, Witnesses, I'll pass.
Those who watched Witnesses may recall it's portrayal of SITH, which are bizarre and counter-historical, if not blasphemous. The film teaches that Joseph and Oliver misled everyone about the translation of the Book of Mormon, for example. It misrepresents David's trip to Fayette, omits the encounter with the messenger taking the plates to Cumorah, and much more.
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Here are some stills from the movie to give you an idea.
They spent about 3 full minutes relating the goofy narrative attributed to Martin Harris, which wasn't published until years after his death, and was based on a conversation he had with Edward Stevenson on the train to Utah. Shortly before the trip, Martin had fallen in a field and was delirious. Whether the stone-swapping account was the product of a dream, a delusion, or an actual memory is impossible to tell, of course, but the narrative never made sense.
And yet, to the scholars at the Interpreter, Martin's stone-swapping story is so important that it consumes 3 minutes with lots of shots on different locations, all in a film that is only 103 minutes long.
Look at these stills to get an idea of how ridiculous the whole narrative is.
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| Here the Interpreter scholars present their own narrative that repudiates what Joseph and Oliver always said about the origin of the Book of Mormon. Neither of them ever once stated or implied that Joseph used anything other than the Urim and Thummim that came with the plates. |
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| Joseph using SITH to produce the Book of Mormon. We wonder what purpose the screen served if the plates were covered and the Urim and Thummim was not being used. |
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| Martin Harris finds a rock by the river |
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| Martin Harris puts the rock in his pocket |
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| Martin Harris swaps his river rock for the "seer stone" that supposedly provided the words for Joseph to read. |
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| Joseph Smith is supposedly duped by Martin Harris' river rock |
One of the craziest parts of the film appears near the end.
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| This endorsement of David Whitmer's honesty was published a year after his pamphlet An Address to All Believers in Christ, in which David Whitmer related SITH, claimed Joseph was a fallen prophet, that there was never any Priesthood restoration, etc. |
Anyone can read that pamphlet here:
