Product: The 19th Wife (2010)
Rating: 3.0
A large story told well in a movie but a cop-out too!
I read the book and thought it would be a good series but unfilmable as a movie. I was wrong. The movie concentrates essentially on the modern 19th wife and the murder of her husband. It's not necessary to have read the book to follow the story and it is a good 'who-done-it?'. The movie does refer to the history of the wives by brief scenes that take place in Salt Lake when Brigham Young was the profit. Those scene inform the viewer as to how we came to be where we are today. It's a film-making strategy that, in this case, works well. Probably because those scenes aren't flashbacks.The movie adds colour to a dour book and illustrates (peoples?) the story with the multiplicity of the wives: a house full of wives (and their children is memorable. The setting is visually very pleasing.As for the gay aspect: Jordan is played by an attractive young actor however the story is coy as to his sexuality hinting that he may not be attracted to women, or he may. It's a pity that the makers were cowerdly with this as Jordan's sexuality was a defining element to his character in the book and so the movie emasculates him.I give it 3/5: well worthwhile to see.