“In the name of heaven”, Andrew Garfield in one of the most beautiful detective series of the season (vote, 8)

from Maurizio Porro

The title of Dinesy + skilfully mixes the intrigue of classic thriller with a deep religious component that belongs to the philosophy of the Mormon sect

In the name of heaven available on Disneyplus.com is one of the most original and interesting detective series of this season, because it mixes the intrigue of the classic thriller – a woman and her 15-month-old daughter murdered in the deep dark mystery of Utah – with a deep religious component that belongs to the sect’s philosophy of Mormons, indeed it all starts here, when the Mormorians (formerly the subject of a famous John Ford film) entered the region trampling the rights of the Navajo Indians. The spirituality of Mormons has a value that can make religious fundamentalism dangerous, the feeling of the personal call of the Lord, with those dangerous deviations that lead to violence and even polygamy exercised without metaphors. There are films that have explored the mysteries of these religions unknown to the majority, as well as that of the Amish explained by Witness with Harrison Ford and that of the Quakers, pacifist subject of the Law of the Lord by Wyler with Gary Cooper and Anthony Perkins.

Focused dilemmas

Mormon connections, more or less evident, perhaps in the script or in the ideological intentions, lie in Star warsin Schindler list, Star trekin the cartoon by Fievelin Cocoonin Willoweven in the Ten Commandments And Forrest Gump. In the name of heaven
(Under the banner of Heaven) is, however, something more and more, also because all the dilemmas focus on the unhappy conscience of the detective who conducts the investigation of the crime, and who is himself a Mormon, but respecting morality: it is Jebediah Pyre, excellent proof, still with mystical halo as in the Tommy Faye eyesby Andrew Garfield, far from his popular Spiderman, and committed to understanding what lies behind the religious solicitation that becomes not only a mystical neurosis but also an invitation to disobey the laws of the state, even not to pay taxes, a custom not only that sect. The suspects of that horrendous murder are the members of the Lafferty family, one of the oldest in the Mormon land, with some brothers who come to draw aberrant outlines of family life, imposing on women an almost slave role.

The usual suspects

The policeman tries to understand and starts from himself, in a continuous praise of doubt, thanks to the beautiful script, albeit with some prolixity in 7 long episodes, by the creator of the series Dustin Lance Black (Oscar 2009 for Milk on the gay community of san Francisco), raised in a Mormon community, then already author of a double outing, sexual and religious affiliation, explored in the documentary The mormon Proposition on the group’s denial of LGBTQ rights, but this crime in the series really happened and has only been expanded to a question of how and why it could have happened, over there in 1984. The usual suspects dribble responsibility in a continuous ping pong of revelations and atrocious family diktats that put the lives of women and children at risk, which is why the investigation is particularly painful and delicate for Pyre, who risks himself and works with an Indian colleague, therefore also informed about the facts . Under the volcano of the Mormons are dogmas, intolerances, and racisms that were promoted by Joseph Smith, founder and first president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Saints.

A compound fracture

The narration is a fractured fracture in time and space but also recomposed by a direction that holds the moral reins of the story without then telling us the ending of the crimes and punishments, always also with the suspicion that the males of the family did not want to pay taxes, but with a dogmatic artificial construction. The miniseries is very far from conventions and so it fascinates us with measure and fear, going to find and dig into the big family in which it is not always easy to enter, but giving us a high proclamation against violence and female submission and beyond.

October 26, 2022 (change October 27, 2022 | 11:01 am)

“In the name of heaven”, Andrew Garfield in one of the most beautiful detective series of the season (vote, 8)