One Man, Six Wives, and 29 Children, which premiered in 1999, portrays the intriguing and surreal story of a devout polygamist who lives with his vast family in the middle of the Utah desert. The filmmakers chronicle the family’s daily routine while also delving into the contentious issues of the fundamentalist Mormon faith that defines their way of life.
Tom Green, the family patriarch, is 51 years old. He had left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints two decades before to engage in several weddings, a behaviour long prohibited by church officials. Green, who was convicted of his crimes in a court of law after the film’s release and released from prison on parole in 2007, comes across as a charming man who rationalises his conduct with impenetrable religious conviction.
This sentiment is shared by his spouses. While they acknowledge the concerns of the outside world, they believe their way of life symbolises a divine calling from God, one to which they have all aspired since childhood. They do not consider their shared husband to be a pervert in any way, and they all claim to feel respected, supported, and free to express their own unique personalities. Even when it is revealed that two of the wives are mother and daughter, the cameras fail to detect any hint of jealously or strife.
The kids are homeschooled, and some of them are the same age as or older than one or more of their father’s wives. This scenario is exacerbated further when their father considers taking a seventh wife, who also happens to be the romantic crush of one of his young sons.
Throughout the video, we learn about the family’s unusual living arrangements, sex life, and the difficulties of supporting such a large family on just over $36,000 per year. We also discover that Green and his family are not as unusual as one may think. We are told that there are over 50,000 illegal polygamists in the region at the time of the film’s filming.
The reality shown in One Man, Six Wives, and 29 Children are likely to frighten and fascinate most viewers.