For my last birthday I decided to embark on a new movie watching challenge (similar to ones I’ve done before here and here). This year’s challenge is to do four streams of films, and watch one of each stream in each month. On top of that, we’ll have six “wild card” slots through out the year, to bring it up to 54th movies for my 54th year (I just turned 53). You can read more about the plan here. This is post #46.
Spoilers Ahead
Son of Man (2006)
Directed by: Mark Dornford-Way
Viewing Stream: International Movies
Country of Origin: Sough Africa
On my last journey to Africa in this international tour of movies, I discovered this movie which is an adaptation to the life of Jesus set in a modern Africa. I’m a Christian and a filmmaker and so I’m often interested in the way these things are addressed in cinema, so I’m sort of surprised I’ve never heard of this before.
What it is about: Jesus grows up in civil war-ridden Africa, becoming a leader of a spiritual movement based on compassion and social justice. Betrayed by one of his followers (Judas), Jesus is ultimately arrested and executed, but his followers continue to live out his message. Jesus is resurrected, and his followers continue to praise and worship.
Starring Andile Kosi as Jesus, Pauline Malefane as Mary (Jesus’ mother), Jim Hgxabaze as Judas (Jesus’ follower who betrays him).
My thoughts: I’m always interested in films about Jesus, and so it was fascinating to discover this movie that applies that story to a modern Africa setting. The movie is obviously an interpretation—the goal isn’t to create a historically accurate depiction of the Bible as much as it is to adapt the story a particularly context—an African context—and potentially shows us something about both.
So this Jesus is a lot like the biblical Jesus, but at the same time he’s a political and social revolutionary who preaches justice, equality and peace in a way that focuses on African struggles. And the support he gets and the opposition he faces is all grounded in an African context. I know the gospel story quite well, so we’re swimming in pretty familiar waters here. But those waters are poured into an unfamiliar African-shaped pool.
I’m in no position to judge how authentic that vision of Africa is, but it’s certainly immersive. I also don’t know how much any specific African culture informs what is going on. The movie is just set in Judea, which in this world seems to be located somewhere in southern Africa (in real life, it is not), so the film avoids tying it down in too much detail. But what I really enjoy about the movie is the way it unpacks a bunch of genuine emotional experiences inherent to the gospel, and explores what they might look like in this story’s brutal and gritty world, regardless of how fully grounded in real life that world is.
What does it look like, for instance, to see woman running scared from the oppressive and revolutionary forces that surround her? What does it look like for a man to rise from obscurity to spark a movement that inspires people to put their lives at risk for a greater purpose? What does it look like for the established powers to feel threatened by such a movement? And ultimately, what does it look like to see the followers of a movement stay true to their calling in the face of death and hopelessness?
That last idea gives us perhaps the movie’s most impacting scene. In an unusual twist, Jesus is killed and is then put on the cross by his followers, in order to draw attention to his cause. His followers, including his mother Mary, gather at the cross and sing songs of praise and defiance. Soldiers arrive threaten their lives, demanding that they disperse. After a moment of hesitation, the singing continues. It’s a powerful, gripping moment which is legitimately inspiring.
Does this movie feature the resurrection? This is always one of my questions going into a film like this. I wonder about it because it’s one of the aspects of the gospel story which is the most central to the faith of most Christians and yet it’s one of the aspects which is most frequently minimized or awkardly dodged by filmmakers (see for instance Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar, Pasolini’s The Gospel According to St. Matthew, and others).
The answer here is yes, it does, although it’s not given a lot of time or space. Jesus is shown coming out of the anonymous grave his murderers put him in (odd only because the last time we saw him he was still on the cross, which like I said takes place after his death), surrounded by angels (kids with feathers pasted onto their bodies), leading out in singing a song of praise. So it’s quick, but it’s there, and it’s the movie’s final image, which I appreciate.
Check out the Masterlist here.
Blue Towel Productions 