Prophet's Prey

Director: Amy Berg

Institute History

  • 2015 Sundance Film Festival

Description

When noted author Jon Krakauer stumbled upon a closed polygamous community in southern Utah in 1999, it caught him by surprise. Private investigator Sam Brower (whose 2011 book shares the film’s name) was already investigating the rogue sect known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints (FLDS). Here the two men share their alarming allegations of sexual abuse, underage marriages, and pregnancies. Collaborating with a local Texas journalist who first reported the story, they retrace their involvement that led to the capture and conviction of the group’s maniacal leader, Warren Jeffs.

Gripping first-person accounts from former members and descendants of FLDS leadership paint a harrowing portrait where women are property, and men are forced to comply with the oppressive guidelines or face expulsion from their own families. Veteran director Amy Berg’s sobering examination of current religious indoctrination is a chilling reminder of the danger of a tyrannical "prophet's" unchecked power. —L.V.

— Lisa Viola

Screening Details

Credits

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