One Man's Treasure (2009)

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Although the plot is somewhat hokey, I rather enjoyed One Man's Treasure because I got an insight into the Latter Day Saints young missionaries and their shared experiences. For what it is supposed to do it is an effective teaching tool about the faith. Having actually had a couple of Mormon missionaries over at my house a couple of weeks ago, One Man's Treasure was a nice insight to their private lives.Three pairs of missionary young people stumble on to a cryptic message in a locked cellar of their new home in Bristol, Pennsylvania. Two pairs are men and one pair are young women and all are intrigued by this message which says there is a great treasure to be found at the end of the search. The primary focus is on two of them who just don't cotton to each other. Darin Southam and Charan Prabhakar just don't get along, Southam is the head of the household and one who believes in the rules, Prabhakar who is from Pakistan has a more laid back attitude. During the course of the film we learn about both of them from the others and the experience of the hunt binds them closer. My favorite scenes in One Man's Treasure are the domestic ones, the missionaries in an around their own house seeing the various rules of their faith they deal with. I wasn't converted by any means, but it was a great insight into the Mormon missionary experience.As for the treasure and the experiences that make Prabhakar and Southam the people they are you have to watch the film. And if you are not an LDS member and are willing to approach it with an open mind I think you can enjoy this film on a certain level. It's a lot better than some of the Christian evangelical films I've seen and reviewed.

SPOILERS: There have been many other films that have tried to highlight the work of an LDS Missionary. These films have shown these young folks in more of a comic or a dramatic twist, but this one is different.The fact is that mission work isn't all just comic or enjoyable romps. There are times it's very hard.Like in this movie. Sure, from the standpoint of someone outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, it might seem rather dull or not make much sense.Knowing that the film revolves around two particular missionaries as their district (group of missionaries in a particular area) goes on a treasure hunt, and how they end up serving people they run into, and learning about each other makes this more of a personal story and a story of these two as they look for the best kind of treasure any missionary could look for, someone ready and willing to listen to the testimonies of their work.If you watch, don't watch to see them get gold or money, for, in the mission work of the LDS church, that doesn't matter. The treasure hunt is a treasure hunt for missionaries by missionaries.

When I watch a movie, I do take into considerationthe budget given it. To me, it is the story that matters most,and this is a very nice Mormon story. The acting was not as bad asreviewers lead us on to be. Have you ever watched a Keanu Reeves picture?This is as good , acting wise. John Lyde always does a fine job withwhat little financing he has to work with. I have seen huge budgetmovies which are pure trash. This, by contrast, is a very sweet moviefor a very specific audience. I liked it!! It would be nice to see what John Lyde could do with a large budget, As long as it is not one of his action movies.

It is good that we are allowed to express personal opinions, never have I seem one so biased against a new movie than the first published here in IMDb.One Man's Treasure is a real enjoyable movie and the young actors/actresses do a superb job (okay I can fault the false English accent used by one of the cast, but that is a typical American perception and so wrong) I have purchased every one of the Producer JOHN LYDE'S movies, he started with real short movies first and they have all been so well produced and they have introduced many good young actors, most of them not being full time professional.If you purchase the DVD which I recommend, there is a making of feature and John Lyde is totally honest of how limited the budget is on a production like this, but you would never know unless you are going to be over critical. By the way I am not a member of the LDS Church.Well done John.