Saints and Soldiers is not just the best LDS film of the past year, but the best LDS film of any year. It is so superior on almost every level, especially in its technical aspects, that it puts some of the more hastily assembled films to shame.

Directed by Ryan Little and written by Geoffrey Panos and Matt Whitaker, Saints and Soldiers follows a small band of American and British G.I.s as they sneak through enemy lines following the Malmedy massacre of December 1944. The film powerfully evokes a wintry atmosphere and a sense of foreboding and danger, while drawing characters who earn our sympathy and respect.

It also explores the inherent conflict between religion and war, the idea that one must sometimes give up one's personal responsibility in order to fight for something bigger, even if it means doing things one is normally opposed to.

And yet, despite the film's intense atmosphere, and though distinctly "light" moments are few, it nonetheless is not oppressive or dreary. It is dramatic, in the most complimentary sense of that word. It engages the emotions and the senses subtly and expertly, and the Association for Mormon Letters is pleased to honor it.

© 2005 The Association for Mormon Letters