States of Grace

States of Grace
Directed by	Richard Dutcher
Produced by	Richard Dutcher
Written by	Richard Dutcher
Starring	Lucas Fleischer Jeffrey Scott Kelly J. J. Boone
Music by	Ben Carson
Distributed by	Zion Films
Release dates	2005 (2005)
Running time	128 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

States of Grace (also known as God's Army 2: States of Grace) is a 2005 drama film by Richard Dutcher which tells the story of two Mormon missionaries in Santa Monica, California. While it features none of the original main characters from God's Army, it is set in the same location and has some of the original secondary characters.

Plot

In Santa Monica, California, neighboring Los Angeles, a pair of Mormon missionaries—by-the-book Elder Farrell (Lucas Fleischer), and his soon-to-leave companion, Elder Lozano (Ignacio Serricchio)—proselytize to strangers until they encounter a group of aggressive thugs who intimidate and threaten them. Immediately after this encounter, rival gang members in a car open fire in a drive-by shooting targeting the thugs, leaving the missionaries and other bystanders caught in the crossfire.

The shootout wounds one of the thugs, Carl (Lamont Stephens), who had intimidated Elder Farrell, and kills another thug. After the attack, Elder Lozano saves Carl's life using his shirt, which reveals several tattoos, commenting only about his past that he made a better convert than a missionary. After the hospital releases Carl, he tracks down the missionaries, thanking Lozano for saving his life, who gives him a Book of Mormon.

Later, the missionaries notice an unconscious street preacher—who had previously preached outside their apartment—lying behind a Dumpster. Despite Farrell's hesitation, the Elders bring the man—later identified as Louis (Jo-sei Ikeda)—to rest in their apartment.

Carl, who has been reading the Bible and Book of Mormon, is eager to be baptized and begins taking lessons from the missionaries. While they do so, the missionaries ask their next-door neighbor, Holly (Rachel Emmers), to check on the homeless preacher in their home. Upon their return, the Elders have dinner with Holly and Louis and continue to do so for a few days. In this time, the Elders learn that Louis once was a preacher who lost his congregation due to alcoholism and that Holly—a struggling actress—acted in a few adult movies, her parents back home discovering and cutting off contact with her as a result. Elder Farrell promises that God will never stop loving her regardless of her mistakes.

At a local ward luau, another missionary interviews Carl for baptism, teaching him the story of Ammon, a missionary who teaches a group of people to give up their weapons and bury them deep in the ground, vowing never to use them again. The night before his baptism, Carl buries his weapons in the yard and Elder Lozano baptizes him the following day.

On Sunday, as Carl is being confirmed a member of the Church, his younger brother, Todd, seeks revenge for Carl's friend killed in the shootout. The gang responsible corners Todd and its leader stabs him to death. After church, Carl and his grandmother Mae return home to find the police at their door, who inform them of Todd's death. Carl digs up his weapons and with his fellow gang members hunts down the man responsible. They find him, but Carl—despite his initial desire for vengeance—sympathizes with the man and does not kill him, leaving another gang member to kill the man to Carl's dismay. Distraught, Carl returns to the ocean where he was baptized and throws his gun into the wake.

That night, Elder Lozano wakes up, finding Elder Farrell gone. In his search, Lozano notices Holly's lights on, but no one answers the door, inferring Farrell's sexual indiscretion with Holly. The following morning, Farrell—who returned in the night—begins sobbing at the breakfast table, realizing the consequences of his mistake. After Farrell confesses to the mission president, a replacement missionary comes to the apartment in a van that will take Elder Farrell home; however, just prior to his leaving, Lozano finds Farrell locked in the bathroom unconscious, having slit his wrists in an attempt to commit suicide.

Other missionaries rush Farrell to the hospital, which saves his life, and there Holly repeats Elder Farrell's words to him—that God will love him no matter what mistakes he's made. After his release, Elder Farrell prepares to leave and return home, being drawn to a Lutheran Church "living Nativity" display nearby their apartment. There, he begins crying as he holds the living Nativity scene's baby Jesus.

In a mid-credits scene, Louis preaches a lively sermon to a packed congregation in a meetinghouse he acquired from a widow.

Cast

• Lucas Fleischer as Elder Scott Farrell, a by-the-book LDS missionary
• Ignacio Serricchio as Elder Lozano, Farrell's missionary companion and former gang member
• Rachel Emmers as Holly, a struggling actor and the missionaries' neighbor
• Jo-sei Ikeda as Louis, a homeless street preacher the missionaries take into their home
• Lamont Stephens as Carl, a gang member wounded in a drive-by shooting and rescued by the missionaries
• Allen Maldonado as Rob
• J.J. Boone as Mae, Carl's grandmother
• Jeffrey Scott Kelly as Elder Mangum
• Adam Conger as Elder Collens
• Allison Evans as Doctor
• Richard Franklin as Gang Banger
• Jennifer Freeman as Jennifer
• Brett Granstaff as Elder Stearman
• Aaron J. Hartnell as Burn victim
• Samantha Klein as Sister Hershey
• Rege Lewis as Jordan
• Danny Martinez
• Michael May as Elder Myers
• Aiyani Mersai as Sister Savea
• John Pentecost as President Beecroft
• Karyna Shackelford as Mary
• Julia Silverman as Nurse
• Desean Terry as Banks
• Randy Tobin as Beach Guy

Production

Music

Ben Carson composed the film's original score. The CD release of the soundtrack is evenly divided between dialog excerpts and original score (that is, all even-numbered tracks are short dialog excerpts from the film and all odd-numbered tracks are music).

Controversy

In San Diego, California, a local theater was showing States of Grace. A box office employee told customers that it was "being advertised as a Christian film, but it's really a Mormon film." Some Mormons were outraged and planned a protest, but the film's director, Richard Dutcher called them off, preferring to keep the peace, "turn the other cheek" and let the film speak for itself.^[1]

References

External links

• Official website
• IMDb