User Reviews

I enjoyed this film. I had heard about the Willie Handcart Company, particularly their great suffering and casualties as they crossed the plains to Utah. Their faith and perseverance are a great example to us. This movie captures their struggles in a way that made them come alive for me. I was touched by all the miraculous events that occurred during their journey.

However, the way the company leaders treated Levi Savage left a bad taste in my mouth. Levi Savage was a seasoned veteran from war and had seen a great deal of death and suffering. He warned the company about departing at the "lateness of the season". He warned them that they would encounter a treacherous winter and suffer many casualties with "bones strewn about the way". He advised that they wait until spring to depart west.

Despite his sincerity and experience, the company leaders dismissed his recommendation. To add insult to the injury, they publicly humiliated him twice by calling Levi to "repentance" and saying that he "was an opposer to the faith". (Of note, I admire how graciously Levi Savage handled the situation.)

Unfortunately, Levi Savage was vindicated. The company experienced food shortages and had to cut rations. They had to cross freezing rivers. Winter came with all its fury. Approximately 67 out of 500 people died. If the rescue company had arrived a day later, the number of deaths most likely would have soared. The circumstances proved that Levi Savage had been right!

Therefore, while I admire the courage of the Willie Handcart Company members, I am less sympathetic of the company leaders. They made a egregious mistake by not listening to Levi Savage, and 67 people paid that price with their lives.

I understand how non-Mormon (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) viewers might have difficulty with this movie. It is definitely a religious film. They did a very good job portraying how difficult this journey was... probably a little too well. I know this is history but the way a story is presented can make a world of difference. Was it really necessary to graphically show death and mass graves? I would have better appreciated there being more emphasis placed on the actual miracles, maybe even enumerating them instead of me having to guess half the time. This movie did bring tears to my eyes but it also left me with a shadow of darkness. Go ahead and tell the story but I didn't particularly find this "inspiring", just depressing.

A lot of the LDS films out there are plain bad. This one takes the biscuit. It is meant to be an uplifting, emotional story where they combine stories of two of the more infamous LDS Handcart companies and track their journey west. It was meant to showcase the faith of those who undertook the journey, and make me wonder how I can exhibit such faith in my life.

Instead, it taught me the opposite about faith than we are taught about on Sundays. It also made me furious at the LDS church for their treatment of the only sensible character, Levi Savage. There is not really a point to watch this film if you aren't LDS. There is also no point watching it if you are. Pick an old classic, or just read a book. You will regret it less.

If you are looking for a churchy film to watch on a Sunday evening, or at a church event, don't bother with this one. The tears you shed at the end will be for the 113 minutes you will never get back.

The production values for Mormon films have certainly improved since 2001's Book of Mormon Vol. 1: The Journey, but still haven't achieved Hollywood levels.

17 Miracles is a film about pioneers journeying westward with the Martin and Willie Handcart Company towards Utah. Their trek left too late in the fall and they ended up struggling to survive the harsh winter, starvation and more as they continued on.

I was bored with the dialog and predictability, but there are a few positive moments in the film that help to buoy it up. The clothing and set pieces were distractingly nice for clothes and handcarts that should've been far more tattered and beaten up. I think the most distracting and hilarious bit to me was that the dwarf who travels with the group is shown in an angelic form later on, no longer a dwarf, but he continues to have vision problem since he still has his glasses.

For LDS audiences looking for a staunchly Mormon film, this is one of the best options for your viewing pleasure. For everyone else, this is an inspirational film that pushes a strong Mormon belief system, and if you still want to watch it after hearing that, then go for it. Otherwise, there are much better films to see out in the world.

This film is diabolical. How has it got 7.3 as I watch it. Without giving anything away when daughter prays for mother who has lost hope and a pie arrives in a tray COME ON! I had to switch off. I thought it was miracle in a complete chance circumstance type not bible type crap. If I watched on I can imagine they would have parted a sea and fed the 5000. Disappointed. If you believe Jesus worked miracles watch this you will probably enjoy it. If you believe Jesus was a nice bloke that could not then stay clear of this film because it is very fanciful. Wasted a hour, glad I called a halt to this film YUK!

First: I want to say is the acting in the movie was good. For that I gave it 2 star alone. Second: If god is alive and well (and I believe he is) then he would look down upon the events and in this movie and say"this is not what I am had in mind when I told you to go forth" For a church to belittle or ridicule a person for telling people that making the crossing across the Oregon trail during winter is wrong, is NOT what god had in mind when he said "sacrifice leads to heaven". God gave us a brain and intelligence to know that when something is right, and something is wrong. To rise up people hopes just so they can drag half way across the US to the promised land and die while on the journey is wrong. Blind trust in god is one thing, throwing your life away because the church leaders vanity is at risk is another. God gave man life, not so it could be thrown away on the journey, no one should have made.

I have faith in God, as well as His miracles, but more like every-day ones like the astounding growth, and birth, of babies in nine short months, and the splendor of His many creations. Nevertheless, at the same time, knowing the difference between real Christianity and well-organized cults, like the well meaning, but off the rails, Mormonism, the disclaimer that should be put in large font in the first frame of this gentle, well meaning film is "For the enjoyment and edification of LDS (Latter Day Saints) only" For that is about the only folks who are going to be able to suspend disbelief enough to enjoy this myth-enhanced story.

Let's make this clear, on the one hand, a bunch of naive, zealous, newly-inspired, Mormons did actually wend their under-prepared way across the US territories with only two wheeled HAND CARTS to reach their refuge, their 'Zion', in the Salt Lake valley of Utah Territory. The fact that any living person back in the early 1800's made it to their destination from this poorly funded, poorly planned, poorly led misadventure is, in my opinion, a genuine miracle. It is.

On the other hand, this amateurish production just stretches all credibility related to the alleged 'miracles', and the veracity of the entire history around the pull-cart pioneers of Utah. Any Christian scholar worth his/her college credits knows that the Age Of Miracles had long passed since shortly after Jesus' death, and the martyrdom of His twelve disciples and the brilliant Apostle, Saul/Paul of Tarsus and Rome. This doesn't mean that God isn't paying attention, or constantly intervening with a loving hand in our pitiful little lives in the past 2,300 years or so, but the era of showy miracles to shake us boneheads up about the reality of a higher, supernatural power, is past - because the Big Miracle already is completed: Jesus became alive again three days after being brutally and assuredly murdered. He beat death and Satan. "It is finished" He said.

All that is needed at this sad point in mankind's tenuous hold on peace, love, or hope for humanity is a strong, dedicated faith and study of God's word in the original Holy Bible. There is no 'other' testament of Jesus Christ, no 'Golden Plates', and no angel named Morona. Lastly, there's no 'new' organized religions to help mankind finally get it together. That new experience occurred already over two thousand years ago.

Therefore, the fictional chicken-pot-pie that just shows up, complete in aluminum baking pan (Aluminum pans were not invented yet) out in the middle of the desert wasteland, to two starving women; or an angry husband staring straight at his runaway wife and two kids and not recognizing ANY of them, is not only not believable, but belittle's the viewers' intelligence and definitely weakens the credibility of the Mormon organization. We have to give this wholesome film at least one star just for the privilege of reviewing. I give it three more stars just in gratitude for it not being crammed full of gratuitous violence, blood, gore, or sex.

It's just too darn bad such efforts on proselytizing are spent on a secondary track to a dead end, while missing the actual train that gets us somewhere.

A few days before leaving for Utah I heard about this movie. While there in Utah we looked it up and made a special effort to go see it in the theater. At present time it is only being shown in the Intermountain West. We were not disappointed. This is an outstanding movie that shows the courage and faith of a people who were ridiculed and ostracized for their beliefs. You get a real feel of the fear one must feel when being threatened by mobs in almost every town that they stop in. You also discover the reason that they are in such a hurry to push on to the Salt Lake Valley, the sealing power of the Temple that binds families together forever. This is the real story of the famous Willie and Martin Mormon handcart company.

Their is a lot of comic relief and romance. The pure and deep abiding love and sacrifice that one can feel for another is present here in this story. Levi Savage who whiteness' the ugly effects of the Donner party when faced with starvation and death worries about the fate of the handcart pioneers who are leaving so late the season. All of the events have come from actual events recorded in the pioneers journals, including the amazing young men who unselfishly carried the weak members of the party across the ice cold waters of a river all day. And the recorded stories of people pulling the handcarts up hill, when they look back to see who is helping them, see no one there.

This is a great family film but not a movie for young children. I would suggest the age of 10 or older. The directing is first class. The acting is amazing. You feel like you are in the story. The score is a perfect blend for the look and feel of the story. You leave with a lasting impression of these amazing pioneers. This is not just a story for Mormons but for all Americans.

According to the movies title it is pretty obvious the movie is based off the christian faith. The title attracted me but the movie plot kept me watching til the end. I simply loved it. It was a reassurance not only in the christian faith but in faith of our fellowman. For each pull cart family at one time or another during the long ordeal learned to rely on their fellowman. They started working together to help each other make the long hard trip. So in my opinion the movie is indeed of the christian faith but it is also faith in our fellowman.