One Man's Treasure (2009)

Sick Product of a Sick System

One of my all time favorites.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

SPOILERS: There have been many other films that have tried to highlight the work of an LDS Missionary. These films have shown these young folks in more of a comic or a dramatic twist, but this one is different.The fact is that mission work isn't all just comic or enjoyable romps. There are times it's very hard.Like in this movie. Sure, from the standpoint of someone outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, it might seem rather dull or not make much sense.Knowing that the film revolves around two particular missionaries as their district (group of missionaries in a particular area) goes on a treasure hunt, and how they end up serving people they run into, and learning about each other makes this more of a personal story and a story of these two as they look for the best kind of treasure any missionary could look for, someone ready and willing to listen to the testimonies of their work.If you watch, don't watch to see them get gold or money, for, in the mission work of the LDS church, that doesn't matter. The treasure hunt is a treasure hunt for missionaries by missionaries.

When I watch a movie, I do take into considerationthe budget given it. To me, it is the story that matters most,and this is a very nice Mormon story. The acting was not as bad asreviewers lead us on to be. Have you ever watched a Keanu Reeves picture?This is as good , acting wise. John Lyde always does a fine job withwhat little financing he has to work with. I have seen huge budgetmovies which are pure trash. This, by contrast, is a very sweet moviefor a very specific audience. I liked it!! It would be nice to see what John Lyde could do with a large budget, As long as it is not one of his action movies.

Mormon cinema attempts to create it's own version of National Treasure (a team of people following clues to find hidden treasure) in this movie.Okay, the acting is not the best and the story is not the greatest. It was, however, better than some of the really bad Mormon cinema (Out of Step, The Home Teachers, Church Ball) and not as good as others (The Singles Ward, The Errand of Angels, The Best Two Years).The craft needs time to grow and develop and movies like this are going to come out in the process. It can make for an enjoyable Family Home Evening, but will never win any Oscars.Understandably, you are going to hate this film if you are not LDS.

I haven't seen this movie yet but I've found an interesting review from Mormon Times here:http://www.mormontimes.com/arts_entertainment/movies/?id=5973================================ (This review contains spoilers) ================================'One Man's Treasure' absorbing flick By Sharon Haddock - Mormon Times Monday, Jan. 26, 2009"One Man's Treasure" certainly isn't a perfect film. The acting is a little stiff, with lines delivered somewhat woodenly, and there are a few problems here and there in the logic behind the story development. But it's well-done enough that when the picture on the screen started to break up and digitize, people in the audience were quite unhappy.Everyone wanted to know what happened and see the cast of missionaries find the treasure.This Candlelight Media movie -- created and directed by John Lyde -- tells the tale of a half-dozen missionaries sent off to serve in a wasteland area.One uptight elder about to finish his mission (played by Darin Southham) is majorly disappointed to be assigned "to babysit" three other missionaries in a place no one had been for years. His reaction to his plight is to tighten the reins and attempt to force his laid-back companion, played ably by Charan Prabhaker, to strictly obey the rules and meet a minute-to-minute regimen.He has no time for nonsense, yet he joins in the game left to the elders by the last missionaries to serve in Bristol, Penn. (or American Fork/Salt Lake City judging by the signs for Tracy Aviary and the American Fork Library).Sister missionaries played by Chantel Flanders and Shalaina Fotheringham and the companionship made up of Dustin Harding and Paul Hunt round out the cast which spends P-Day (a remarkably long and sunshiny P-Day) tracking down clues and finding the hidden treasure.The story is entertaining and, again, absorbing enough that it's very disconcerting to be pulled off-track not only by a scratched disc but by the occasional cinematic mistake.For instance, the town of Bristol, purportedly a desolate, trash-laden hamlet, suddenly has a beautiful tree-lined cemetery and gorgeous sunlit streets.Missionaries dressed in clean white shirts and beige sweaters can somehow climb into dusty basements and under a stage to emerge without a smudge.A tarantula crawls about in the dark and spooky Pennsylvania basement. Not sure tarantulas are native to Pennsylvania, but it's good video.And the elders somehow expect there to be food on the open shelves in an apartment that's been abandoned for years.A British missionary used to driving on the left side of the "motorway" drives without disaster on a Pennsylvania freeway.Clues left here and there -- stuck in books, door jams and behind mailboxes -- are intact.(It's amazing as well that elders who have only just arrived in a new area, know where the bakeries and cemeteries are and can get there on their bicycles in pretty good time.)There's also time along the path to the treasure trove to, let's see, change a flat tire, help an old man move a bunch of cement blocks, fix an overheated car engine, set up 200 chairs in a cultural hall, find a select bakery, tour a bird aviary, change clothes, do some laundry and teach a discussion -- all in a single afternoon.But if one can put aside these logistical problems, it's a pretty good movie.It won't ever make the big time, but for a light comedy and a story with some spiritual value, it's all right.