Discussion Questions -- Oprah's Documentary of the Month: "Sons of Perdition"
The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) has a documentary-of-the-month club. Last night, as June's film, they premiered Sons of Perdition, "the story of polygamy's exiled youth." (Note: This is entirely different from Road to Perdition, the 2002 film by Tom Hanks.)
Sons of Perdition is a 2010 documentary that tells the story of Sam, Bruce, and Joe, teenage boys who have run away from Warren Jeffs's polygamist Mormon sect. They struggle to find jobs, schooling, and homes in the outside world while still trying to communicate with and liberate families members who still live under Jeffs's control in Colorado City.
For parents thinking of watching this film with children, it's most appropriate for high schoolers and above. Here are a few questions that can get you talking before/during/after the film:
1. Can you think of any valid reasons to exile a teen from his home?2. In what ways do you think these teens improved their lives by leaving the sect? In what ways are their lives harder?3. In one clip, Warren Jeffs says, "Walt Disney and the Care Bears and all the little creatures are lies" and are "frivolous" and "useless." He says that children should hear truth. What do you think about Jeffs's stance?4. What do you think about Sam's decision not to be adopted?5. If you haven't already, read about the Amish tradition of rumspringa, the period of time when Amish teens consider whether to join a non-Amish community. How would an Amish teen's decision and exploration of "mainstream" society compare with the changes that these Mormon teens underwent?
Oprah's July film will be Serving Life, about an inmate-staffed hospice program inside a maximum security prison. August is Life 2.0, about online interaction between users of the virtual computer world of Second Life.
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