Film

The Faith of Angels comes to theaters throughout Utah September 12, and to theaters nationwide September 26. To get your tickets, CLICK HERE.  

It was with excitement and nervous anticipation that 10-year-old Joshua Dennis entered the Hidden Treasure Mine in Utah’s Oquirrh Mountains on September 22 of 1989. He was a little under the age of the other boys on the trip, but with his scoutmaster dad, and a few others, he embarked on what promised to be a thrilling adventure exploring the tunnels and shafts. But not far into the mine, one of the other boys asked to leave. Josh told his dad he’d like to stay with the others. His dad agreed, seeing their flashlights only a little ways ahead.

But as his dad and the other boy departed, so did the remaining group who did not know to wait for Josh. He watched their flashlight beams dancing off the rough stone as he struggled to catch up, but as they turned a corner, he was left in darkness so thick he couldn’t see his own hand in front of his face. It was quite some time before the mistake was realized by the rest of the group. The search that ensued, to find this lost and earnest 10-year-old, would take five days and have the entire nation holding its breath with intense concern for him.

The search’s astonishing conclusion left even then President George H.W. Bush saying, “these events serve as a testimony that miracles do happen”.

And now, this miraculous story is coming to the big screen for the first time. From writer/director Garrett Batty (The Saratov Approach, Out of Liberty) comes The Faith of Angels, the true story of the unbelievable rescue of Joshua Dennis.

“It’s so hard to make a movie,” says director Garrett Batty, but “this story selected me”. After directing an episode of the Book of Mormon video series for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the producers contacted Garrett to let him know that one of the extras had a family story they wanted to share with him. Though the story was unfamiliar to him, as he sat and interviewed the family, there was an overwhelming sense that this movie needed to happen.

Bringing the story to the screen presented two distinct difficulties. One, was that so many of the details that make it a miracle and not just a lucky break come in the powerful, but nuanced spiritual impressions felt by various people involved in the search; particularly John Skinner, whose relentless pursuit of the opportunity to help quite literally saved Josh’s life. The still, small voice was sometimes communicating in still, small ways and illustrating the life-or-death impact of something internal and spiritual like that is a considerable cinematic hurdle.

But Batty emphasized that the spiritual promptings in the stories of both the Dennis family and John Skinner are what stuck with him, though portraying them is difficult. They were both a challenge and an opportunity to depict—“but that’s what drew me to the story, honestly.”

The second major challenge Batty faced was how to show a kid, who is in utter darkness, on the screen.

It was certainly another issue that demanded creative problem solving, and it took many, many iterations of the script to get it all just right. I happened to be at a reading for one of the earlier versions of the script where the 20 or so of us who were there had the opportunity to reflect afterwards on what worked and what didn’t. I was impressed with the level of due diligence that was going in to perfecting the text, but also thought, “well, now I’ve already read it, I’ve probably just spoiled the future movie for myself.”

How wrong I was.

There is a critical moment where Josh asks his dad if he can stay in the mine. His father, who wants his son to be brave and to make friends, looks at him with a bit of fatherly pride at his courage, but we all know what will happen. He says his son can stay and it just tore my mother heart in two. We all wrestle with when to protect our children and when to allow them to strike out on their own to foster independence. How could the father have known that this particular decision would have such initially devastating consequences?

The story, as it unfolded in real life, had a similar emotional impact on my mother [Maurine Proctor], who was pregnant with me at the time, and had many other young children at home. “As a mother, my heart was agonizing over this little boy that was lost in the mine,” she says, “I could hardly bear it. I rushed to the papers every morning to find out what was happening next.”

She was not alone in that deeply personal investment in the outcome. Batty says that as they have presented early screenings of the film around Utah and Idaho, many have voiced similar sentiments; they remember just where they were for various events as they unfolded, or they remember pulling their car over to the side of the road to offer a prayer for Josh.

The massive coordinated efforts of desperate prayers were answered with a massive coordinated effort of spiritual promptings that led to the miraculous rescue. Batty says that figuring out the “logistics of a miracle” and aligning all the different experiences into the arc of the story was part of the joy of this project.

“It made me feel good that with all the eye-popping moments—that make the audience say, ‘did they really feel this or experience this or find this little angel figurine?’ Yes, that is all true,” says Batty. “We tried to be very, very attentive to the details of the story. Our young actor is wearing the same jacket [Josh] was wearing when he was lost and the actor playing the rescuer is wearing the same jumpsuit he was wearing when he found him.”

When Josh Dennis himself, who is alive and well today and serving as a stake president in Taylorsville, Utah, looked over the 13^th draft of the script, he told Batty, “There’s a detail I just want to make sure we get that isn’t quite accurate, if you can fix that, we’re good to go.”

Garrett was nervous to hear what it might be.

“There’s a moment where I’m riding up in the car to go to the camp and it says in the script I’m eating Twizzlers, but I was actually eating Nibs, so if we could fix that, then we’re ok”. True to his commitment to accuracy, the scene in the movie now features Nibs.

The attention to detail went so far as to include, in the movie scenes, many of the people who were actually there all those years ago. The real people that helped search were able to participate in the search on camera as well. And those involved in the final search that ultimately brought Joshua back into the light when it felt like all hope had been lost, were there on set to shoot that scene. “It’s a pretty touching experience for me as a filmmaker to see them recreate and still be affected by this,” says Batty. “It was an emotional day—an emotional shoot”.

And indeed, the only reason honoring the details matters so much, is because of the truth that resonates at the heart of this story. It is a feeling that continues with those that felt it so long ago. When Josh was lost in the dark and no one could see him, God knew where he was and knew who needed to help in the search. Miracles really do happen.

“Back in 1989 when this happened, mainstream news—Inside Edition–was saying ‘This is a miracle. This is a miracle”, explains Batty, “Nowadays, I don’t think we get that conversation on the news. Anytime miracles might come up, it’s with skepticism or mocking. Our goal is to flip that and reignite that conversation. These things happen. Just as much as they happened in 1989, they happen today and we should not shy away from embracing that miracles are happening.”

That is the impact that Batty hopes this film will have. When this movie has played in its early screenings, Batty has been thrilled to find that the conversations that follow, quickly become about sharing miracles. “Let’s get the movie out there, great,” he says, “But hopefully the impact is, what’s happening in our lives, let’s connect the dots.”

“This story has been around a lot longer than I’ve been a filmmaker and I feel like each one of us has our own little stewardship and involvement in this story. It’s bigger than any one individual and to say, ‘what is my stewardship as a filmmaker? I’ll do all I can to create and share and do my part to make sure that this conversation about miracles and angels continues’. But that didn’t start with me. The news reporting it, the people that were pulling over their cars and praying—that’s their stewardship in the story and they continue to share it as well.”

So, get your ticket to The Faith of Angels and be a part of the conversation about the miracles that continue to happen in your life and the lives of those you love. The film opens in Utah on September 12 and hits theaters nationwide on September 26, the 35^th anniversary of the day Josh was found.

To get your tickets, CLICK HERE.