Sons of Perdition (2010) - full transcript

- The truck's not there,

the minivan's not there.

That means mom's gone.

Let’s do it Sam.

- Right!

Oh young people,

eternity is within your reach if you

will just live faithful so the prophet

can place you properly in marriage.

I want you to believe these stories.

There are no monogamous in Heaven.



The men have many wives.

And that is the way men become

Gods and their wives
become Heavenly Mothers.

I want to tell you young
people it's a sin to even talk

about boyfriends and girlfriends.

Because you know the right way.

But what happens to people
that turn away from it?

The revelation says
they will be destroyed.

- Do you ever get nervous
being back out here?

- No, not really cause,

I don't know it's just,

I've lived 17 years out here
so I ain't really nervous.

They ain't, they can't do anything to me.

I get nervous when I see my dad though.



He was kind of physically abusive like he,

started choking me once and stuff.

I don't know it's just, I think he just,

his way of showing me
that he loved me so much.

Wanted me to live forever in Heaven.

I was the oldest and
the first one to leave

and I can't even talk to my mom.

Or any of my brothers and sisters.

To them I'm, to them it would have been

better for me to die than to leave.

I'm Sam Zitting, I'm from
Colorado City, Arizona.

I have ten brothers and sisters,

I'm the oldest one.

And I left the Crick for reasons that

I wanted to be something.

I wanted to think for myself,

wanted to become somebody

instead of just living
by a code my whole life.

In a way you escape but in another way

you're leaving everything behind.

It's a tough decision,

and they make it that way too.

To choose between family

and what somebody else wants you to be.

That's pretty messed up.

- Whoa! Yeah! Extreme!

Nice!

Okay ready?

One... one,

two... three!

Want me to kiss it better?

- Hey there buddy! You okay?

There's a lot
of places I've slept,

just sleeping on the couch.

The older generation,

they give you a launching pad.

They know how hard it's gonna be.

Usually we just band together

and split the rent and everything.

Cause everyone out there
is just one big family.

I mean you ain't gonna write your

name on a gallon of milk really.

I mean I'd pitch in where I could.

- How does it go damnit?

Bruce is my cousin.

My mom and his mom are sisters.

There's some people that

they actually really do kick out.

But once you do leave though

like me and Brucey did,

then you can't ever go back.

- Came back in the house

and all the moms were
tickling dad like hell.

They're all on the floor
all tickling him and shit.

- I'm Bruce Barlow and my
father had three wives.

And I'm from the first mom.

We had twenty-two people in my family

and it was a little family.

Family is everything.

Your best friends are
your family, you know?

Every day when you come home,

all of them that can
walk are climbing on you,

tickling you, you're trying
to get them off of yeah,

just so much fun,

you can't explain it you gotta be there.

You know every night
that's what kept me going.

- I drew quite a bit out of the Crick.

I won one contest out of the whole class.

- Have you read any comic books?

- Huh?

- Do you ever read comic books?

- What's that?

- Comic books?

- I'm not a real good
reader so I don't read.

I should, but I suck.

I'm Joseph Broadbent.

I have two moms, I have 21 siblings,

and I ran away from Colorado City.

I gathered up my stuff
in two wheelbarrows,

ran them out there to the truck,

loaded them in and I was like, go go go!

And we left.

Out there, we are so
crammed into this little

piece of earth that I
thought that that was earth.

And once we leave and
we see the whole world,

what do you say to that?

- You're so sheltered from

the world from the outside,

you don't have a fucking
clue what's going on.

- I don't know the capital
of the United States,

what is it?

- Washington.

- Oh, it is?

- Washington DC.

- Oh I see.

- That's cooler than hell.

Now that's cool.

Your whole life you're taught,

if you leave you're gonna go to hell.

You're gonna burn in
hell for all eternity.

That's why all of us get
into drugs real hard,

do stupid shit, because we
don't really care anymore.

My family's out there,

I'm out here and I'm going

to hell so what the fuck
am I supposed to do?

You know you're not taught
to think about this life,

you're taught to think
about the next life.

- My name's Kevin.

I've been out of Colorado City
now for close to eleven years.

They practice polygamy there.

It came about and in
1890 they made polygamy

illegal in the Mormon Church.

And a group of them,

or the group I was raised with or in,

moved to the Short Creek area,

or also known as Colorado City

and started their own religion.

They call themselves the FLDS,

which stands for Fundamental
Latter-day Saints.

They believe that polygamy

was never supposed to be outlawed,

and they live it no matter
what the consequence.

Warren Jeffs, the current prophet,

has over 80 wives.

Now he went to them and said,

I've had a revelation from God

that I'm supposed to marry you.

And married them.

He was slowly turning
things from a religious

place to more of a cult.

No more harvest fest, no more dances,

no more public gatherings,
not even church.

A lot of people that didn't like it,

they were simply told to leave.

You know, men with more than,

5, 6, 7 wives.

When Warren Jeffs took over,

he ordered all the elders to take

all their kids out of public schools.

- Boys are sent out to work on

construction sites at a very young age.

- There was really no recreations left.

No TV, no bicycling, no sports.

- They can't read magazines
or newspapers or books.

- Zero dating, absolutely
no connection of any kind.

When you're ready and chosen to be married

you are given the person
that they see fit.

- Some of the boys have been targeted as

competition for the brides.

But I think it's more like,

who is going to fit into
our good ol' boy club,

who's gonna be more likely,

whose son is gonna be like dad?

- They keep putting more
and more constraints

on you and if you don't do what they say,

you are compelled to go,

I mean whether they say so or not.

- Since Warren Jeffs has come to power,

well over a thousand
young men and boys have

been exiled from the community.

- It's just like losing your

whole family in a bus wreck or something.

It's actually worse
because you can't control

the bus wreck but you can drive out there

and cause a scene try to see them.

But it's, you're punishing them,

you're hurting them, making them look bad.

- Drive past the house and
see if my Dad is there.

- I actually wanna see all
my brothers and sisters.

- If he's there than I'm screwed.

He'll just kick me out
of the yard, out of town.

I'm the most devious guy
on the face of the earth.

- Hi we're in town now…

but hey, could you like bring Wayne

or somebody cause I haven't seen

any of the family for a long time.

I won't say anything or do anything,

I just want to see them...

Oh, I see... okay.

You get treated like a king

when you get baptized.

They tell us that we were chosen

by God to be born into that religion.

We were pure blood,

the pure blood of Ephraim.

We were supposed to fight Satan's Army.

One will chase a thousand

and two will chase ten thousand.

All the wicked will be
wiped off the earth.

There won't even be so much as a

yellow dog to wag it's tail.

Earth is supposed to turn
into a ball of glass,

and you can look into the earth and

ask it questions and it will tell you

everything that has been and will be.

The moment you leave is the moment you are

this person that they always preach about.

I'm a son of perdition.

- There's your dad Sam.

- Where?

- Right behind me.

- Yep.

- Well, go talk to him dude.

- I don't know...

- I want to see my mom because she's gonna

give me some pictures
of me when I was a kid.

I asked him,

I was like come on isn't there any soup

or anything from the house?

Dude I miss my mom's food so much.

Stuff is good.

- My mom made me tuck in my shirt.

I can't believe it.

- There's our whole family.

And, there's my father.

That's all of them.

- Hey wasn't that preschool?

- Yea that's preschool man.

- Aw hell yea.

- Everybody got a reward.

I've gotta get me a
baby picture of myself.

- That's it.

Those were good times.

- Yea these were good times.

- Those were the days.

Every
father and every mother,

Is going to have to
account for the children

they have and how they have taught them.

We've shut down your library.

We want to present to
our children only truth,

and Walt Disney, and the Care Bears,

and all the little creatures are lies.

You're planting frivolous,

useless things, in your childrens' minds.

Let us take out of our homes these

damnable books of the world.

Your children should grow up

with the stories of the prophets.

- So where you been staying Sam?

- Right there on the couch.

- How long you been
sleeping on that couch?

- About a month.

I don't think it actually settles into

your mind that your whole family

is gone until a little while later.

That's when you start
realizing exactly what

kind of a choice and
how deep it really was.

Right when you get out,

you're just so overwhelmed by this freedom

and this awesomeness of
life that you can live,

and I don't know,

just breathe air that
nobody's already checked over.

- You don't want to see these.

Nah, just kidding.

I didn't wanna give all
my life into one man,

ya' know and let him
completely dictate me.

So that's one of the reasons why I left.

- It's damn nice to have
free education and stuff,

I just don't want it to be like a prison

and control everything you do.

I don't know, I just hope it
ain't like way too strict.

- I want to freaking get
this on hard or something.

- And the guy with the laser gun,

- Oh yea, yea.
- He can knock out everybody.

- Okay, come and see my room you guys.

This is the entry to my room.

I just hung up all my stuff
that's cool like this.

I got a letter, my grades are behind.

Can't see my grades.

And this is proof that I was born.

This is saying yeah, I was born.

These are all my numbers.

Those two right there,

I go to school with and they're nice.

Don't write their number down!

Don't get their number!

- Do the kids treat you any
differently cause you're...

- Hell yes!

For one, they don't ever come
up and say what's up man!

Hit you and shit they
don't ever slug your arm.

What's up dude?

They go like this, what's
up, just like that.

First they'll be dissing,
and hating on you,

and then all the sudden you'll be like

yeah I'm from Colorado City, you know,

and they're like the person who was all

dissing on you they just totally change,

they have a thousand questions, that fast.

Did you used to be married?

All this shit and I'm all like, no.

I think I have some plyg CDs in here.

Oh, I think that this has
Cricker music in it… yes!

Yes!

- I don't know why but out to the Crick

this was my favorite song.

- This is my favorite song.

It was, my favorite song.

- Guess how many kids that is?

Does it sound like a lot?

- All of Warren Jeffs'
little girls, or kids.

- Here, listen to this.

- I still know the words dude.

♫ Father’s heavenly smile… ♫

♫ it shines in every face. ♫

♫ Puts a sparkle in our eyes ♫

♫ and heaven in our heart. ♫

♫ For with father’s heavenly smile… ♫

♫ He’s forever in our hearts. ♫

- Uno, dos, tres!

Is this thing nailed down?

Prop that nail so we can slide it over.

I went and worked
for my dad for many years.

I started when I was eight years old,

seven... eight.

Welding.

The equipment that I can run would be a

backhoe, a trackhoe, a skidster,

a loader, earthmover, road grater,

water truck, almost any equipment.

I can do concrete, sheetrock,

finish work like trim and doors.

My money went to my dad,

and ten percent of it went to tithing.

And the tithing went to Warren.

Out here you go out and you work

and that money's yours.

- Everybody falls.

- I've never fallen.

- I don't know anybody that's framed

and hasn't fallen,

so I know my time is coming.

- My time's coming too.

And it sucks.

I wanted to get
into school with Bruce,

but it didn't happen.

- Son of a bitch.

- So whatcha gonna do with your money?

- I'm gonna save most of it,

and I'm gonna go get braces,

go pay a ticket and...

go to the mall and see if I can

hang out with some girls.

Things that you do in life like that.

I hate these damn nails.

- Hey Shannon this is Sam.

Hey, I was just wondering
if there's any way

I could get into a regular high school

instead of Job Corps.

I know, yeah,

but I want to go to high
school for everything,

for the social life too.

Get used to talking to girls and stuff,

you know what I'm saying?

Yeah sure,

I appreciate anything you can do for me.

Alright okay love you,

okay, okay, bye.

- What is it you want out of a home?

- Just family life pretty much,

pretty much what I been missing.

- Who are you living with?

Who, now?

- Job Corps.

- What is, it's a group home what is it?

- No, it's like,

it's like a school kind of
but all they do is help you

get a GED and they give
you a place to stay.

- Do you like it there?

- No.

- Do you have goals,

like short term goals,

long term goals.

- Yeah, my long term
goal is to be a doctor,

so I need to get into college and stuff.

- What kind of doctor?

- Probably a radiology
technician or something.

- Okay Jake, Conner, go downstairs.

Do you mind if we ask

you some personal questions?

- Yea go ahead.
- Uhm, we're certainly

not ready to make any
decisions but we definitely

want to get to know you.

And you're not on trial or anything,

we have to make sure it's
a good fit for both of us.

- Yeah, definitely, I understand.

- And I guess if you don't mind tell me

a little about your background?

- You're welcome to sit down.

You left on your own.

- Uh huh, it was about five months ago.

- You don't regret it?

- Uh uh.

- Do you miss your family?

- Definitely

- Do you talk to them?

- Uh, yeah once but every time I do

then they just kind of
like hang up the phone.

- Are they mad at you?

- Yeah.

- Are they ever gonna
try to come find you?

- No, they don't even want me.

- They don't want to then.

- Uh uh.

- So what is it that
made you want to get out?

- I don't know just you do
everything the prophet says.

- Do you think he's the prophet?

- No, not anymore.

- My only, this is our only concern Sam,

and I'm gonna be really blunt.

The only concern I have is that

my kids would be safe.

Does that make sense to you?

- Yeah it does,

I mean I have little brothers and sisters

and I definitely would have punched

anybody who messed around with them.

- I mean would you tell me if there

was anything that I had to worry about?

- Definitely I would.

- And would you be okay if I was

a little uncomfortable for a while.

- If what? If I was?

- If I, you know just wasn't
as trustful right away?

- Yeah sure.

- I mean you wouldn't
take that as offensive?

- No, not really.

- Does that make sense?

- Yeah It'd be kind of weird but...

- Does that make sense Mike?

- It does, you just
have to earn our trust.

- And only around, just the kids.

I don't know
sometimes it just seems like

it would have been easier to always

stay out there because
then I wouldn't have ever

had to think for myself or be on my own.

- Jacob!

- Cause I was raised to believe everybody

out here was evil and wicked.

- Jacob go show Sam around the house.

- Even now it still feels like

I don't let anybody close to me.

- That is really good...

- Oh is it?

- I'm sure there's a lot of parents

that stay awake at night,

you know, the one that got away.

You got, you know,

you're like a hen you've got

all your eggs under your,

you know under your feathers or whatever

and that one egg that got away.

You're always gonna be thinking about it.

And it know it's hard on the parents,

they try to act like it's not

cause that's what they're supposed to do,

and if they try to act
like they care you know,

they're gonna be in trouble.

You can have, you know,

you have the prophet, this guy up here.

And he controls everybody.

The prophet has a revelation from God,

God tells him who these
guys were supposed to marry.

So he'll give, guy number one,

let’s say, one wife...

Draw her a pretty little dress...

oh gotta cover the ankles, sorry.

And if they do what
they're supposed to do,

then they'll get a second wife.

And they literally have
to be close to perfect.

It plays a big advantage
if you have a name,

and if you pay your tithing and you have

a nice house and have been successful

in your business, you're,

you're gonna get more wives,

and you’re gonna get them sooner.

But if this guy isn't doing what he's

supposed to do, he's gone.

And the wives go down to

good guy number three.

And all the children go with this guy.

They start calling him dad now.

And a lot of them,

a lot of the children
will change their names.

And often times if this
guy had a nice house,

and this guy doesn't,

he gets to take over this house too.

Often he will end up not only the moms,

but he'll end up marrying
the daughters as well.

And that's his reward for being good

and that's his punishment for being bad.

And he loses everything his kids,

his livelihood, everything.

- My mom and dad, they loved each other.

Oh yeah.

But Warren broke up my family.

He asked my dad to leave town,

asked my third mom and my second mom to

move back with their mom and dad,

and then my mom stayed in

the big house with all the kids.

That killed my dad's spirit
when we got broke up.

He just died inside.

You ever seen your old man cry?

Just crying where he's
trying to not but he can't?

He's just crying like a big baby?

And what the hell you supposed to do?

You can't tell him anything,

he's your old man, you know?

He was like my hero.

When I left, my dad didn't say anything.

You know just like, make
the best of yourself.

- Out there Warren says straighten

your sons up to get all
the evil out of your house.

Got thrown around in dad's office,

he just threw me around and, oh my God.

He never would just sit down and talk,

he'd just beat the shit out of the kids.

One time he slapped me so damn
many times I peed my pants.

One of the reason why I left is,

I didn't want Warren to
take dad's family away.

I got caught like six or
seven times with movies

and music, and if I would have stayed,

it would have torn our
family apart you know?

Warren would have took Mother away

and married her off to some

other sickening ass bastard...

One of the best things that could happen

to me right now is to have Mother leave,

and just having her live out here

and just be herself.

Many a young
lady gets married thinking her

husband should submit
to her will and wishes.

But a woman's duty is to bless her husband

every moment of her life.

How does a woman try to
rule over her husband?

What tools does she use?

I'll call them tools of the
Devil that she calls forth.

Complaining, criticism and jealousy.

It is a woman's innocence and obedience

that has power with her husband.

Other sister wives are
griping and complaining,

she will say, lets just obey
and do what father wants.

Young ladies just know,

there will come a time in your marriage

where he must step out to be the boss.

Did you get that?

- You know when you marry a man,

he's not yours.

He is not yours, he is not your only.

You don't get true love with that man,

you have to share him with God,

with the prophet and with other women.

You're giving up your physical emotions

toward your husband for greater glory

when you're in the afterlife.

I had two mothers and
my mothers were sisters.

My mother said it was horrible to

know her husband goes down to

a bedroom with your sister.

It just, it was anguish for her,

and you could just see in

every aspect of her life after that.

You're only there to bear children.

You don't think, you don't have a say,

you don't have education,

you just do it day in day
out cause you have to be

cause what else do you do when

you have fifteen children?

- Getting ready to go out to the Crick

and bail my mom out, out of there.

She wants to start her life over.

I'm not sure what's gonna happen,

Mother's gonna get an excuse to go

get some milk or something.

She'll jump in her big
van and meet us out there.

- I was so damn happy.

Seeing my little brothers, my mother...

my Sisters.

So awesome.

Hopefully father doesn't
wash her brain out to

where she wants to go back.

I hope not.

We've got nine children,

nine people in the house.

I don't see how it's crammed.

It's how I lived out to the Crick.

- Is it scarier the day you leaving

or scarier the next day?

- Probably both.

- Yeah I don't know if he's gonna come.

- Chop your head off.

- Exactly, chop your head off.

- Take you away

and throw you in jail.
- Kidnap you.

- If he thinks that
you'll tell anybody about

how he beats on the kids or anything

then he has no chance.

- The legal system, the legal system...

- is on your side, not his side.

All they want to do is
help you and your children

and they're not gonna take them away.

- All you have to do is call.

- You there?

She's staying here, she's done with you,

she don't want to have
anything to do with you,

she's staying here.

She's done.

Are you still there?

He's gonna be here.

Lock the doors.

Here's your phone.

- She doesn't want to come

out here and talk to you.

- She will not.

You've done enough to
screw with these people.

- She's not coming out to talk to you.

Why do you tell her that they're

gonna take her kids from her?

- You don't answer to
anybody but yourself?

Cause you're so high
and mighty is that it?

I need the Sheriff to
respond to a domestic

disturbance at 3555
East Silver Creek Drive…

- What did she say?

3555 East Silver Creek Drive.

They're at my house
and I'm protecting them

we're trying to get a protective order and

he won't leave.

Now he just drove off because

I called you guys so…

he drove down the street but

I don't know how far away he went.

I don't know if he has any weapons

in his truck or not.

He'll do anything he has to.

He'll freaking tie her up and

haul her back against her will.

Breaking
news this morning,

the FBI just announced that they have

polygamous leader Warren Steed Jeffs

in custody in Las Vegas.

- Jeffs was wanted in Utah and Arizona

on suspicion of sexual misconduct

for allegedly arranging marriages

between underage girls and older men.

- Jeffs has been charged

with various criminal violations,

including sexual conduct with a minor,

conspiracy to commit sexual
conduct with a child,

and rape as an accomplice.

- Warren, you know,

was born three months premature in 1955.

He was seen as this
miracle baby by his father

the prophet Rulon Jeffs.

So he got away with murder.

In some ways it's the
child abuse and sexual

abuse that is most repellent.

But the more you learn
it's all the little things

of just ripping off his own people.

- Before his dad died,

he had his dad sign over all the rights

to the UEP trust to him
as a sole beneficiary.

Everyone in that town has

a house built on the UEP property,

which is short for the United Effort Plan.

He owned all their property.

He's had followers stop
work on their homes

and give the money that
they would normally

put into their own homes and family

and donate that to the church.

The leader says something,

you don't let your mind say

is this the right thing to do?

If he says it then it's
basically what God's

asking you to do and you just don't say

well I wonder if God's right or not?

- This religion isn't
going away and in fact

it's the history of the Mormon faith that

whenever the prophet is persecuted,

the faithful become even more faithful

and more believing,

I mean it's been that way since 1830,

and it will be that way forever.

- Everything was so fun back in the days.

Every year, harvest fest,

candy apple, pies, watermelon,

cantaloupe, hamburgers, just… anything!

The park was just full of people,

and then I guess Warren thought

the Lord's house needed cleaning.

And he was the mighty vacuum

that blew everybody out.

- Right over here is where I went

to high school, ninth grade.

They don't teach anything
but religion and math.

Right down here is my
Grandma's painting shop.

She's one of the famous
painters in the world.

- This used to be all zoo,

we used to have elk and
everything out there.

- Zebras, llamas…

Fred the bishop got up

and said everybody
- get rid of your dogs.

- Cops took all the dogs out there,

out there by the gap and shot them all.

Right here is the meeting house…

that's the graveyard.

- So if you were to die where would

you guys be buried?

- Right here.

Oh us?

Hell no we couldn't be buried here,

I don't know where I'd be buried.

Right there, if we died in St George

we'd be buried in St George.

- We couldn't be buried here.

- Did you paint this car?

- I did.

Oh man!

They over painted it, it said right there,

it said Warren Jeffs and
then right here 'sucks'.

- If it does catch on
fire underneath your hood,

pop your hood so we can spray it out.

- My prediction is, it's anybody's game.

- Since I left I'd dyed
it six or seven times.

- Okay, sweet you're done.

- What are you doing?

- Fucking spiking it so it looks cool.

- Why don't you just comb it back?

- No dude that's lame,

you wanna look like a fireball and shit.

Pull the sides back like this...

alright comb.

Okay sweet.

- Hell yeah.

It takes so
much guts to just leave.

To stare Satan in his face and say,

I don't give a fuck anymore.

I mean, if I'm gonna go to hell for being

who I'm gonna be then fucking take me.

- Uhm, take this exit.

Right up in this subdivision
is where I think,

I'm pretty sure, that's
where dad's working.

Fuck!

- Truck's not there,
the minivan's not there.

That means mom's gone.

Lets do it Sam.

- Alright!

- Suzanne!

We're not stopping at the house because

Dad's gonna be there any fucking minute.

It’s totally different Hillary.

Okay, mango, guava raspberry, apricot.

- Mango.

- So where are you gonna stay?

- My brother Jimmy's house.

Right here in St. George.

- Who is it?

- It's Sabrina, again.

This is my big sister from the Crick.

- Just turn it off.

- She still lives out there?

- She has four children.

- Yeah so they're probably a little upset.

- What an interesting situation.

- It is.

- Yeah,

I'm not at the house right now.

I'm clear somewhere else.

Love you. Bye.

Mother's like, don't
let father find Hillary.

- What?

- Just barely.

- Dad has all the police.

- Let her stay here.

You guys can both stay here.

- Might be a good idea.

- Let her stay here for now.

If she wants to go somewhere else

we can work it out after
things settle down.

And that's her mom,

her mom just wants to make
it work with all my kids.

- She's at my house right now,

I'm Jeremy Johnson.

- Oh.

How are you?

She didn't want to come so I wanted

to come down and meet you anyway.

- I want to see if
Hillary will come with me

and just stay with me for a week

and then she can figure out from there.

- Okay, but if she doesn't though

which she says she doesn't,

I'll have to take her to

the Children's Justice Center

and it's not gonna be you deciding

or him deciding or us working it out,

it's gonna be a judge.

I don't want to do that.

- Well I'm wondering
if you want to talk to

my husband and tell him
that's gonna happen.

- Should we do that?

- Well, he wants to know where she is,

he wants the address.

- I'd be happy to give it to him…

is this James?

It's Jeremy Johnson, how are you?

I, your daughter's at my house...

- Do you want me to go
up there and talk to her?

- Yeah he wants to go talk to her.

I don't think you're going to be able

to change her mind.

- The mother is locked into that society.

She will obey her husband.

At the expense of her child.

She will obey the husband first.

When you have a woman with children,

she's fighting a battle on many levels.

Cause you care.

But when you go over that line,

how are you gonna give

that child to the priesthood?

How are you going to
take that child's hand

into that man to have that child abused

by your husband?

How do you do that?

You have to let that
child become an object.

- I'm sorry that she didn't stay.

- For some reason mother

was helping Hillary move out.

- Then all the sudden she switched

and took her straight to her dad.

- You think she will?

- She has to be ready,
it has to be her choice.

Because if she isn't willing to make

the sacrifice she's gonna regret it.

So...

- We had the police over
last night at our house.

Dad signed some papers to where if me Don

and Sam come close to
Hillary mother Philip

and Russell, he can have us arrested.

- What do you think your dad's

thinking about Hillary?

- He's gonna wanna
marry her off real fast.

- Think he will?

- Maybe.

I don't know.

- Is she somebody that could be married?

- Oh, she could get married definitely.

She's fourteen.

All Warren has to do is make

a phone call and bam, they're married.

Just like that.

- I'd probably have six kids
right now, I don't doubt it.

Because for almost two and a half years

while I was out there,

those two and a half years father freaking

hounded me to get married.

I'm like I don't wanna get married.

He's like, yeah you're
not gonna be living here

under my roof forever,
I'm like I don't plan to.

He never thought I'd never leave.

Until one day I just left.

For a whole week every damn night

he come down and tried to get me.

He succeeded five times.

- When you're a young girl

you do keep an eye on everybody.

Because you don't know who's going

to be your assigned man of God

that will lead you into
the Kingdom of Heaven.

You could be married to

somebody who's very successful.

You could be married to somebody who is

older than your father
and your grandfather.

And looks very bad.

You could be a first wife.

You could be a second, third,

on up to probably about the fiftieth.

I think there are some men

who have had seventy wives.

- We had guards around our house,

and every time you leave,

then you had to stop and tell them

exactly where you were going.

And if they didn't believe
you they'd get in their

car and follow you through town.

- They treasure the girls,

father always told me
when I was growing up

that girls are precious
gems in the eyes of God.

They said a woman's hair

is sacred so we don't cut it.

It had to be what they called done up,

which means you can have

no dangling hair in the face.

I didn't want to be a plyg kid,

but I was just there, you know?

And like people would stare at us

and point at us and laugh at us.

And it was almost like I wanted to

scream because I wanted to yell at them

and say I don't want this.

Just because I'm like this doesn't mean

I want to be like this.

- Do you think it was a lot harder being

a girl out there than a guy?

- Oh my gosh.

- Yes.

- They didn't keep tabs
on the boys at all.

- The girls were always in there like,

sewing or cooking or tending the kids or,

ugh...

- We can wear these as long as

we wore a knit shirt under it.

Here's the shirt,

in fact this is the shirt
I wore the day I left.

This feels weird.

Oh my gosh.

I can't look at myself in the mirror.

- Why?

- Cause it's too creepy.

- Here's the thing, me and Joe and Suzanne

all have a temporary restraining order.

- If you can get her to
an officer and she says,

I don't want to go back,

no problem then they can take her.

But the officer can't
approach her and say,

are you okay, do you want to go to the...

- She's coming to tell
you she wants to leave.

- Do you?

- Yes.

- Okay I'm right here.

I'm taking Hillary with
me to the Crisis Center.

- Hillary just pulled her coat off cause

I saw Sabrina had a hold on it.

That's the kind of shit I
was waiting for right there.

- He's the piano genius.

I can't even hit the key right sometimes.

I'm magical!

Woo!

- I was able to become really

financially successful all on my own,

and if someone had given
me a hand at that time

I would have just done
it faster and better.

And so to me I thought you know,

I know these kids can really be something.

I mean I'd love nothing
more than be a part

of seeing any of those kids go to college.

- Nice job Joe!

People say if only I had a little bit

more room or more money,

and I just think well it's not like

we have all the room in the world

but you put them where you can.

They need a home,

they need somewhere to go.

If you can provide for them, why not?

- It's hard for me to
be all like emotional

with these guys I mean they're dudes.

I just want to get to know everybody.

And I'm always bringing home strays.

If I had my way we'd probably have

fifty people living with us all the time.

Have a giant house.

- I love this helicopter.

And they have me do search and rescue

in it sometimes.

I've done a couple of things
for the police in this

where I was scared I was gonna get shot.

When you hit a helicopter
in the right area

with a bullet your goose is cooked.

- They all call me mom now.

Sometimes I hear it
and I don't react cause

I'm used to only Allie saying it,

and then I realize they are talking to me.

- Can I snack on a banana?

- Oh yeah!

- Hey Sam, you can eat anything here.

- Anything?

- Uh huh.

I've never been
inside a house that fancy.

I mean I've helped frame them but I've

never really seen them done when

they're all finished up.

So it's just, you're
afraid to touch anything,

you're afraid to talk to
anyone that lives there.

It's just so hard to grasp
the concept of somebody

giving me something instead of me just

giving everything to them.

- You're gonna teach Rudolph to Sam?

Okay teach it to him.

♫ - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer ♫

♫ had a very shiny nose. ♫

♫ And if you ever saw it, saw it, ♫

♫ you could even say it glows. ♫

- You could even say what?

- It glows.

- Oh, that's awesome.

Landing in a great house,

it ain't all about riches.

There's a lot still missing.

- You can't find me.

You can't find me.

- Where are you?

- How long do you think it's gonna take

you to get your GED?

- I don't know, I've never done it, so.

All for history all we did
was listen to Warren Jeffs

explain how the prophets came along.

- Yeah Sharla said you guys had

a good discussion about it.

- Yeah it's pretty cool.

- What did you' guys talk about?

- World War One and Two and Bill Clinton.

About how he fried all those little kids.

- Bill Clinton?

Not Bill Clinton.

- What's his name?

- You mean Hitler?

- Hitler.

Who's Bill Clinton?

- Hey hey hey.

Give him the cushion.

Let go!

Let go!

Thank you.

Disrespecting my cushions.

Shit's wrong!

It's all right cushions,

it won't happen again.

- I've been kind of slacking on like

all the rules and stuff so,

you know, kind of like saying I'm sorry

and it's Mother's Day, you know?

I'm trying to score points with my mom.

Yeah like that.

It might need some baby's breath.

Be perfect corsage man.

Nothing says Happy Mother's Day better

than Happy Mother's day.

Like nothing.

Dear Mom.

Good start.

Oh... right.

That's all I got I'm
pretty stumped on this

mother's day stuff it's all new to me.

- Why is it new to you?

- Oh I never celebrated
Mother's Day before.

First time.

Tell you this year's
my first for everything

that's why sixteen has been like, ah…

Not to get off the subject or nothing

but do you realize I've been out

of the Crick for a year in a month?

If I'd have stayed I would have to

more and more depressed.

I swear the longer I stayed there

the more depressed I got.

That's why I hate going out there.

I finally figured that
out the other day cause

I went out there and I just felt depressed

just looking at it and the way they

are all isolated and stuff,

they are just depressed.

I mean, who sits in the house all day?

Here we go, dear Mom...

well there's one day,

comes one time a year.

I know you've give me good advice

on not to drink beer.

Happy Mother's Day.

Yeah I'm gonna write that.

Yeah.

Love Brucey.

Mom's gonna love that view right there.

Bam!

Like,

woooh!

Now I feel kind of weird.

- So how are we cutting you?

- Let’s get a book!

- Yeah I was in it pretty dang good.

I mean I had gone through every one

of my brothers and sisters leaving,

and me going with my father and police

to get them back.

I just didn't want them
to get hurt out here.

After being told what to do,

what to wear, what to eat,

who to talk to... I don't know,

I just don't…

I wanted to do something
with my life cause,

I know there's so many
opportunities out here.

I know they're just waiting

for someone to come dig them up.

I'm still learning,
still trying to fit in.

- I think it's gonna look hella good.

Especially with the girl cutting it.

- How old were you when you got married?

- I was seventeen.

The youngest marriage I've ever heard of

getting done out there was about thirteen.

- And Hillary's fourteen and father

already wants to marry her off.

- I didn't even know how to have sex

when I first got married.

I didn't know shit about anything.

Jake was, he's demanding.

He went to his dad for to get counsel

how to handle me or whatever.

And he told him, get her pregnant cause,

she'll mellow way out.

Get her pregnant and she'll change.

- You have to do everything
your husband says.

I'm serious.

- Yeah be submissive and humble and sweet.

- Lets find a drink.

- No!

- Yeah whatever.

- Oh yeah last time she
did she bruised her back.

- You all right?

- I want...

- Who?

- Was she pissed when
she got drunk or not?

- You want Suzanne?

- You want your kids?

- She's like...

- Normally she's so fucking' mellow

but when she drinks everything comes out.

- She acted like we were

kidnapping her or something.

- Most my days were very depressing,

cause I was always fat, always pregnant,

always home, always pregnant,

my kids are a year apart
and I have four of them.

- Jesus Christ.

- And how old are you?

- Twenty-four

- Holy shit.

- I'm not sorry for leaving.

I don't regret it one bit.

But I only get missing your family.

- For the first two and
a half years I bawled

every fucking day cause
I missed her so bad.

- I miss my kids.

Big time.

- Well, what could she be
stressed out about right now?

- Dude whenever she gets drunk,

all the memories from the Crick come out.

- Do you want to go upstairs?

Do you want to lay down?

- Yesterday morning we was all asleep,

he comes walking in,

wake up here piss in this cup.

And I was like, okay,

so we pissed in the cup and
he did a drug test on us.

And I was like, wow that's weird.

- They all tested positive for

amphetamines, meth-amphetamines,

THC or whatever it is they only thing they

didn't test positive for was opiates.

Actually one of them tested positive for

coke too and the other too didn't.

- He's like, I guess I
don't need tell you guys the

results I want you and
Joe out of here by today.

And I was like didn't do any drugs

he's like wanna come look at it?

When I looked at it the
bottom line was lighter

than the top one but it was still there.

And I was like, that says negative.

- I'm not happy.

They know I'm not.

- I know I'm clean.

So I don't know what the
fuck he's tripping over

but I can just tell by the
way he's acting that...

- He wants us to leave.

- I'm pissed off because he thinks

I'm a druggy and shit.

Just talk to us, God.

Nobody will be a dad like
my real father, sorry.

I mean, I can get close to moms

because I had three moms.

Can get used to that.

But one dad all my life.

Not gonna get close to another person.

I mean...

- If I get kicked out I
don't have anywhere to go.

- I hope they realize that they're about

to lose a good opportunity that they have.

Because I talked to
them all real seriously

about it before they moved here.

I said I just won't tolerate it.

I'll tolerate a lot of
things, but I won't,

if you're gonna drink,

if you're gonna do any drugs,

you just, I don't want it.

You know, there's not like
any in between I guess.

I won't be mad at them
I'll never be mad at them

I'll just, I'll be done with them.

- Me and Sam are joining the Army.

It's the only option I have because

- It's a great option too because

you get to see the world,
paycheck every month.

- Fuck yeah!

- Kick ass dude!

Kick ass!

- Damn they gave me a bumper sticker.

- Did they?

What the fuck,

I want one too.

- Go get one.

- You don't even have to go fight,

there's over 300 jobs you can do.

- Yeah, on base.

- Just a great job.

- I don't know about direction
and all that stuff but...

- That guy was doing
exactly what I want to do,

he's getting his pilot's license,

he's gonna be flying choppers

and big damn jets and shit.

That's exactly what I'm aiming for.

Be a mega-time airbase dude.

Going seven hundred miles.

- Screw that dude,

I wanna run a sniper and snipe fools.

- Well, is there anyone
around who can put you up?

- It's just I don't want
to sleep on the floor,

know what I'm saying?

I don't know what to do.

- We have eleven kids stacked

on top of each other.

And I get on average two new ones

that I've never seen before every week.

I think that community is in turmoil.

And I think the kids that are leaving now

are really really young.

That's scary to me when you have thirteen

and fourteen year-olds who are trying to

bust out of their community.

That's frightening.

We don't have the resources to deal

with those kids.

- I still kind of look at
Jeremy and Sharla kind of

like parents cause that's
what they was there for.

They showed me like there's a happy side

to you know, to like,
you know being out here.

I needed that.

You know just kind of wish that I had,

you know, like my personal family,

my mom, my dad,

at least my mom and dad get back together

now that Warren's in jail.

- Can they get back together
now that he's in jail?

- Nuh-uh.

My dad has to get re-baptized

and reinstated in the church,

re-ordained, and then maybe.

- And who decides all of that?

- Warren.

Warren
Jeffs was slapped with two

consecutive sentences
today of five years to life

in prison for his role in the marriage

and rape of a fourteen-year-old girl.

Most of the world knows Warren Jeffs as a

convicted felon but his
followers consider him

a prophet, a seer, a revelator,

a descendent of Jesus Christ.

The self-proclaimed prophet now looking

at life behind bars.

The question is whether
his influence will wane

or whether he'll now be seen

as a martyr with even more power.

- You know they're always told,

follow us as it was by a thread,

you know.

Just follow us no matter what.

Don't ever even look the other way,

don't blink just do whatever we tell yeah.

So that's the way they live.

- Dad tried to get mom pregnant again.

Mom's like, I am not having any more kids.

- How old is your mom?

- Almost forty-four.

- And how many kids does she have?

- Thirteen, oh yeah thirteen or fourteen,

I can't remember.

- Yeah my mom's like forty-something now

and dad barely got her pregnant again.

She's gonna have her tenth kid.

And she already has heart problems

and now she's gonna be stuck on her bed

all day long or else
she's gonna lose the baby.

- What a fucking dick.

- Yeah.

- Yeah dad's like,

oh this is what Warren wants to make

our families big so we can build Zion.

And the fucking wives are dying,

they're on their deathbed,

and they're fucking still
getting them pregnant.

- I mean seriously,

think about this is like
a new modern day slavery.

It's always gonna be there.

Feels like something just holds you.

I mean it's just I have
all these memories of me

with my brothers and
sisters and I can't talk to

anybody about them you know,

they're my memories and
nobody else was there

with me when they happened
so it's just like,

fuck, I don't know.

I don't think religion

should ever come between family.

Family should be your religion.

That's your blood,

you should love them no matter what.

Forever you know.

I mean forgive them for anything.

Because in all reality that's
all you have is family.

I mean some people,

sure they think they have
God but, I don't know.

It cuts deep
in my heart when I see

any of the young people
of this priesthood leave.

They're on a different level than

the people of the world.

They were offered so much,

and rejecting the greater lies,

no matter where they go,

they can't get away from
the memory of this work.

It just won't happen.

- I get a phone call and answered it

and it was Hillary and
I was like me and Don

are gonna come get you tonight.

Okay I'll tell you where to go.

- Are you gonna go get her?

- I'm gonna go find her, yeah.

- Oh my gosh, come here sweetie!

Hi sweetie! What's his name?

- Trevon.

- Trevon, that's right.

- Trevon Jay.

- Hillary is it true that
dad tried to marry you off?

- Oh yeah.

He was like,

Hillary you shouldn't be
scared of getting married.

I just sat there, I was so dumb.

I don't remember you with glasses take

them off so I can remember you.

Oh there she is!

- A lot of kids think that okay,

we're leaving so we're gonna bring

a piece of Hell with us.

Like there's Hell in our hearts.

But in my mind, yes there is a God.

It's weird how I think about life now.

Opened my mind to a whole new book and

I'm just sitting there
writing down my new life.

- Remember that we're in a pagan society

and they have rituals.

They would take goat and
take it to the altar,

slit it's throat,

the goat would sing a sort of swan song...

When I left,

I was worried that I
might be a bad person.

That's what I thought
like I'm a bad person.

Sometimes you make bad choices

and they're tough as hell.

But I'm not a bad person.

I feel like I've achieved more

than I thought I could have.

By the time I graduate,

if I go right into college after that,

I'll be the first one in
my family to go to college.

Do you know how proud my mom would be?

She'd probably be proud,

I'm pretty sure she'd be proud of me.

- Leaving Colorado City
has changed the way

I think about family forever because,

you don't know what you
have until it's gone.

They say well, it's
cause you left that you

can't see us so it's your own fault.

And I say no, I left because
that's what I believed.

I believed that that wasn't right.

And so, was I supposed to live
a lie and be able to see ya?

What good would that do?

- You couldn't drag me back,

I think I would die before
I went back to where

I didn't have the right
to do my own thinking.

That's how important thinking is to me.

Oh I just so love not
having to go to church.

That's the thing that I
really enjoy the most.

Not having to go to church.

- Not having to be in
that community anymore

I, I'm Benda Jensen.

I have choices that I
never thought I would have.

I have, love I never thought I would have.

I mean I truly, finally, like me.

- What you want to look at is on here,

is you're gonna see the name,

you're gonna see the class...

- I would not change my
childhood for anything.

I had the best childhood.

I mean, it's just, ya'know after you

start growing up you start realizing shit.

It's a huge moment in anyone's

life from out there,

when you actually accept
the fact that you are

not going to go to Hell
because you don't believe

in whatever they teach you out there.

When you finally come to realize

who you really are, and
what you're capable of,

that's when you start climbing back out.

I can't really blame my
parents for any of it really.

It's just so deep and ingrained into you.

I mean, I can't,

I can't hate my dad and shit.

I know somewhere he still loves me.

I mean he has to I'm his son you know?

He can't, I'm his oldest son,

he can't completely hate me.

I just wish that he could love me

as much as I still love him you know?

I mean... he'd at least
come out to see me.

Cause I'd make the effort,

I even told him I'd put on my plyg clothes

and go out there to talk to him if I could

and he wouldn't even let
me go out to the house,

wouldn't even let me…

I don't know it just, sucks.

It just gives me a better picture of what

I do not want to be when I become a dad.

So...

- I'll be the best dad,
that's for damn sure.

It feels so good
to be with you here today.

Every person in this room,

here to do our prophets will.

I want to describe to
you as best I should,

what the people are
like that make the music

and movies of today.

They are the most filthy,

immoral adulterous people on

the face of the earth.

Why, what are you partaking of?

I can guarantee to you,

you sing a rock song in your brain

you're not saying a prayer.

There's one thing you never stop doing,

you never stop praying and obeying.

You never stop keeping sweet.