Darin Scott’s Mormon epic, The Oath, arrives in select theaters this week but taking a good walk outside is a much better use of your time.
The Oath (2023)
Directed By: Darin Scott
Written By: Darin Scott
Starring: Darin Scott, Billy Zane, Eugene Brave Rock, Nora Dale, Karina Lombard
Release Date: December 8, 2023
You all know me, know I tend to operate on the more positive side of things. I’ve had my share of negative reviews over the years and am generally honest about things that don’t click with me. Even so, I do my best to not ‘revel’ in a bad review; hating to feed into the stereotype of cynical film critics who delight in tearing apart a new release. It takes a special film to bring out such writing from me.
The Oath is that kind of movie.
A Movie In Search of a Plot
Set in ancient North America (around 400 AD), The Oath tells the story of Moroni, the Nephite prophet of Mormon/Latter Day Saints beliefs. According to their beliefs, he’s the one who protected and buried the golden plates which Joseph Smith later discovered and translated into the Book of Mormon.
On the run, the last of his people, Moroni (Darin Scott) lives a life of exile and constantly on the run from the Lamanites (the dreaded enemies of the Nephites). In his solitude, he works to preserve the history of his people in a book made of literal gold pages and carry on in a generally righteous way.
When he finds/rescues a woman on the edge of death in the woods, his life takes a dramatic turn. Bathsheba (Nora Dale), the Lamanite mistress of the tyrant King Aaron (Billy Zane). A bond grows between them during their time in exile together until King Aaron and his hunters use Bathsheba to uncover Moroni’s whereabouts. In order to protect the future of his people’s history, he’ll have to take up the sword he set aside so many years ago…
Sounds like there’s some interesting tidbits in there, doesn’t it? A little bit of historical action epic, with a dash of drama, and some interesting religious lore tying it together (even if you don’t believe/agree with it). It’s a shame the film doesn’t actually convey this information to you.
Aside from a few sentences of narrative exposition at the beginning, the film doesn’t explain ANY of what’s going on. Worse it really expects those bits of text to do most of the heavy lifting, with characters barely mentioning those events even when it makes sense to do so. By and the large the movie acts as if the audience is already familiar with these characters (I don’t think anyone said the main character’s name until well into the film’s runtime) and general idea of what’s happening. It just throws things at you.
You see a man living in the woods with no context for why he’s there, or how he got to that particular spot. Randomly it cuts to a Lamanite camp without any real explanation of what they’re doing. Aside from the fact Bathsheba refers to Moroni as “the hunted one,” there’s no indication King Aaron and the others are actively looking for him. For the most part it feels like they just so happen to be in the same general area and accidentally bump into one another!
If it weren’t for the fact my father is a retired minister and I learned about different religions growing up, I would have had no clue about any of the important story beats. Even so, I had to pause the film 20 minutes into it in order to look up some of the religious history it pulls from to even understand what was going on.
While the “heart” of the story is seemingly about Moroni converting Bathsheba from her wicked ways and ultimately falling in love, nothing about it feels genuine. Largely this is due to the fact the film does little to give audiences a sense of time passing. Based off key events, it’s clear the film takes place over a significant chunk of time, but visually it feels like it’s all within the same week. There’s no changing of the seasons to indicate a passage of time, nor does anyone even change outfits.
Technical Problems
There are a number of issues with the script/story itself (it’s boring and filled with holes/conveniences). So many of the movie’s key problems, however, boil down to basic filmmaking illiteracy. Sure, there are some solid moments here and there with shot composition and such. But overall, The Oath‘s production quality reminds me of film students who think they know it all and ignore the lessons being taught by others.
In all the press materials, director Darin Scott regularly mentions how the film was a labor of love and something he spent 13 years putting together. Which makes it all the more baffling considering the film looks like something they spent a weekend out in the woods making.
The sound mix is all over the place, with character dialog regularly drowned out by the musical score (which is actually pretty good). Worse, the editing/pacing is wonky and sees characters essentially jumping from location to location without any kind of establishing setup.
In one scene, Moroni and Bathsheba wake up in the cave, before cutting to Moroni suddenly meditating/praying in a field outside (which was previously established as part of his morning routine). Then it shows Bathsheba finding his hidden golden plates. I mean it literally cuts to her finding them; not even a few minutes of her exploring her surroundings of the man who rescued her. She just stumbles across them.
Next we see her desperately running off with the plates in the woods before she stumbles and sees an Angel (maybe?), before immediately cutting back to the cave where Bathsheba awaits Moroni’s return. Oh and it’s night time now.
We can infer her vision in the woods caused her to return to the cave with the plates, but we don’t actually see that. The film jumps from her running to sitting in the cave. It was so oddly handled, I spent a good chunk of time thinking her being in the woods was actually meant to be a dream or something. Odd editing decisions like the plague the film throughout, making the story and overall timeframe incredibly difficult to follow.
Even basic stuff, like subtitles for when characters are speaking a different language, are poorly handled. I couldn’t read them a majority of the time as the text blended into the backgrounds. Somehow, this level of production quality isn’t the most aggravating aspect of The Oath…
Unhappy Little Indian
I saved talking about this for last because…well, it could easily dominate the whole conversation. And I want to make it clear The Oath was already terrible, regardless of this next part. It’s infuriatingly terrible towards Native Americans (reminder: I am one).
If you’re not aware of the Mormon/LDS background, the Lamanites (the bad guys) are Native Americans. They fully lean into the tropes about savage/godless people who decimated the righteous Nephites (white people); causing their strife here in the Americas. The film does nothing to change this narrative, despite casting actual Native Americans in a number of roles (yay, I guess?).
Instead, it doubles down on the casual racism by incorporating a white savior narrative with the forced love story of Bathsheba seeing the light and renouncing her savage ways. A decision which sees God reward her with the pregnancy she’s long wanted. I shit you not.
Probably my “favorite” part, however, comes near the end of the film. During the climatic battle, Moroni stops to lecture the Natives about following a false king and how they should renounce their ways. Literally stops, mid-fight scene, to PREACH AT THE NATIVES. Worse, it seemingly works as it prompts one of the main hunters to turn on King Aaron (and her own brethren); embracing Moroni’s teachings of Jesus Christ.
It’s all terrible and somehow made worse by the insistence they consulted local tribes to try and be as “accurate” as possible.
