Tuesday, August 2, 2011

17 Miracles

Today I took the kids to see 17 Miracles. Alexander has been asking to see it, but Elisa didn’t want to. But we made a deal that we’d watch a movie Elisa wanted to see (Monte Carlo) and then we’d watch this one. I really wanted all my children to see it so they could learn about the history as well as the miracles.
As we were in line to buy tickets, Elisa asked, “Why do you want to see this?” And I started to answer, but she said, “Not you. I can tell it’s a movie you’d want to see. I meant Alex.” I thought that was a strange question since he likes to borrow my LDS books and talks on CD and he chose to watch The Work and The Glory as our family movie on Sunday.


If you’ve never heard of it, 17 Miracles is a movie about the Willie Handcart Company that uses historical accounts taken from journals of pioneers. They do merge accounts taken from members of both the Willie and the Martin Handcart Companies in the movie. If you'd like to read some of the behind the scenes accounts, read 17 Miracles--An Extra's Viewpoint. Unfortunately, we missed the first couple of minutes of the movie, but I saw online that in the beginning it says: "Some events are not in chronological order, but all of the miracles portrayed are true."



I have read and heard many accounts of the Latter-day Saint pioneers and even some of the events in the movie, but not all of them. It always makes me aware of how many conveniences and blessings I have. I don’t even like to walk from the doors of the university across the parking lot to my car in the snow. I cannot imagine trekking through blizzards uphill, through icy rivers, with very little food and then to lay down on that snow to try to sleep night after night after night. As I watched, I felt, “How dare you complain” and I do whine and cry in my heart about poor me.


I was glad that during the movie, Elisa would laugh sometimes and Sabrina asked a few questions. Sabrina really liked the character Albert
and kept asking me where he was or if he died. Don’t wanna spoil any of the movie so I won’t tell you what happened with him. When we were leaving the theater, Elisa asked me if she had black under her eyes. Yay! She was into the movie and history enough to cry even though she didn’t want to watch something so boring and educational.  *Insert evil mommy laugh here*

To see if the movie is at a theater near you, go to 17 Miracles.com.

12 comments:

  1. I wish this would come to our town but I'm not sure it ever will :(

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  2. So what do you think? Were they robbed?

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  3. I thought this movie was excellent - Our whole family went also and we ALL loved it! Albert was a great character and I wanted to do some more research on him.

    You are funny with your evil mommy laugh! Ha Ha

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  4. Grammy T, on the contrary, like Francis Webster said, that was their privilege to pay to be aquainted with God. Definitely the way to look at it (for them and for me).

    If anyone wants to see what Grammy T was talking about, check her out http://grammytsamazingadventures.blogspot.com/

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  5. After seeing the Foxfire museum, I had he same thought, I am not allowed to complain anymore. My life is way too easy to think about complaining. It's been something I have to constantly watch myself on. I didn't realize how many little complaints I made throughout the day about misquitos, the heat or some other thing I can't control...no more.

    You're so lucky to have movies like that in the theaters out there. I hope I get to see this some time.

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  6. I loved this movie and think everyone needs to see it.

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  7. I don't know what it's up with me today, but I get emotional just looking at this movie's poster. I've been wanting to see it, but we went to El Paso for 1 month (where it's not in theaters) and I totally forgot about it. Thanks for reminding me. This is one I don't want to miss.

    The youth in my ward went on trek this year. Their pictures are incredible. What an experience. I'm so, so grateful for all the blessings I have. I can't complain about a thing in my life.

    Thanks for stopping by my blog too. It always warms my heart to see your name on the comments.
    Have a great day!

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  8. We're so glad you liked the movie. What a great story you share here. Thanks for all the support! Here's a special 'thank you' message from 'Albert'! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E5Ka1aNmTQ

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  9. Thanks for you review! I'll have to take my daughters. I think they won't be excited either, but I think they'll love it. :)

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  10. oh my! hadn't heard of this movie until about a week ago. and even then i didn't slow down enough to watch a trailer. thanks for having it here. i bawled my eyes out! guess i'm REALLY in for it when i watch the whole thing. saw i can pre-order the DVD for next month's release already, at least at DB. might just have to do that. (p.s. i LOVE that its by the same people who made "the best two years." fabulous!) ::hugs::

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  11. btw, idea based on your comment regarding my squeegee post: don't make a to-do list. and if you must have a list, then be sure you have a "done" list. if you seriously cannot live without your to-do list, then keep the done list with the to-do. this way you can look back and see that you TRULY have accomplished a great deal. we really are our worst critics. keep that in mind. and know, that to the rest of us, you've seriously got things handled! love ya.
    ::double-hugs::

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