Bad Faith

Hulu's Under the Banner of Heaven

Andrew Garfield in Under the Banner of Heaven

It is almost impossible to write fiction about the Mormons, for the reasons that Mormon institutions and Mormon society are so peculiar that they call for constant explanation.

So Jon Krakauer quotes William Stegner to open Part II of the journalist’s taut, terrifying 2003 book Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith. The non-fiction novel succeeds at proving Stegner’s point, in that it explains Mormonism with such vivid prose that you realize no work of fiction could surpass the real history of the cult. And, as Krakauer reveals, it is a cult—much more than any casual observer would know. Which is why the new television adaptation is so disappointing. Rather than unpack the Mormon religious landscape in the deliberate, haunting manner of the text, the series leaves you baffled and confused. It takes the most compelling material and renders it incoherent and trite.