The Untold Truth Of Imagine Dragons

As a mightily popular band, you'd Imagine Dragons naturally has a documentary named after one of their songs. There is one, called Believer ... only, despite being named after an Imagine Dragons song, it's not actually about the band at all. Instead, as the Las Vegas Review-Journal describes, Believer is a documentary the band's singer Dan Reynolds made about young LGBTQ people who also happen to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly called Mormons) — a religion that doesn't generally approve of their orientation.

Reynolds, who is a Mormon himself, has a strange, dual role where he's one of his religion's most prominent faces, yet has tons of LGBTQ fans struggling with its restrictions. The documentary focuses on his efforts to organize his LoveLoud festival in Utah (the Mormon heartland) to promote support and acceptance of LGBTQ people, with all profits going to charity. In the process, he has to juggle his own genuine wish to help these people while also trying to avoid alienating his church, and address concerns like soaring suicide rates among young LGBTQ Mormons.

Reynolds knows that one documentary can't change an entire religion, but hopes that by addressing this taboo, he might at least help start important conversations at a few Mormon dinner tables. At least in the entertainment industry's eyes the effort was successful: In 2018, Believer received the Hollywood Documentary Award.

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