Sometimes it's not until we see something for the first time that we realize how much we've missed it.
     Starting way back in 1911 with A Victim of the Mormons and reaching a new low point last year with Orgazmo, the Mormon people (or Latter-day Saints, as they prefer to be called) are often portrayed in the movies as dangerous fanatics, hypocrites and/or simpletons.
     As a people, they've repeatedly taken a cinematic beating at the hands of non-Mormon filmmakers…and why not? They're an easy target. They don't fight back. Until now.
     With God's Army, which hits movie theaters this March, a young Mormon director finally enters the ring. But instead of throwing a punch at well-deserving Hollywood, Richard Dutcher turns the other cheek. He points his camera instead toward his own people and, for the first time, shows us what flesh-and-blood Mormons are really like.
     He doesn't take us down the wide streets of Salt Lake City. Instead he pushes us through the front door of an apartment full of missionaries in present-day Los Angeles. There of all places, he leads us on a journey deep into Mormonism.
     The main character is young Brandon Allen (MATTHEW BROWN) a newly-ordained missionary struggling with a tragic history and with his own infant faith.
     His companion is 29-year-old Marcus Dalton, the oldest missionary in the L.A. Mission, played by Dutcher himself.
     Dalton is a harsh mentor, and life as a missionary is not the sugar-coated experience that Allen (and the audience) expects.
     These days, when so many young directors view independent filmmaking a merely a springboard to big studio budgets and the cover of Premiere magazine, it's refreshing to hear a truly independent voice, a voice thick with the vocabulary of a peculiar people, revealing characters that we've never before seen.
     Richard Dutcher is not talking to the studios. He's so engaged in a conversation with his own faith that you get the feeling he truly doesn't care if all the non-Mormons out there even like this movie.
     For non-believers, watching God's Army is like entering a foreign country and eavesdropping on the natives' most private conversations.
     For believers, seeing God's Army is like getting the best toy for Christmas, a toy you didn't even know existed.
     Dutcher is not the first and only cinematic voice of his culture. Yes, there are other Mormon filmmakers out there, but they're all telling Hollywood stories. In true Mormon fashion, Richard Dutcher has found an unwanted piece of the landscape and claimed it as his own.
     It's always a danger to talk up a film. Moviegoers may expect too much. You won't see explosions or car chases or gunfights. But unlike most multiplex fare that passes through your mind without a snag, God's Army will stay with you. It is a quiet and a powerful film. Don't be surprised if you find yourself thinking about it days later.
     In these jaded times, you may think you've seen it all. You haven't. Admittedly, if you're not a Mormon, you may or may not miss it. But if you are a Mormon, as 11 million of you are, you'll wonder where this Dutcher guy has been for the past 89 years, and when is he going to make his next movie?
     These days, you seldom hear an audience react at the end of a movie. On March 10, turn an ear toward Salt Lake City and expect to hear the sound of applause.

Wade Major is a Los Angeles-based film critic. His reviews and articles appear in BOX OFFICE Magazine and in ENTERTAINMENT TODAY.