The Messianic Figure in Film: Christology Beyond the Biblical Epic
With the decline and fall of the religious epic, christology (the study of the person of Christ) in film has moved into genres outside of the biblical spectacular. Deliberate attempts to harmonize the Gospels and offer a literal rendition of the life of Jesus have proven mediocre to some and offensive to others. What has proven more successful is the Messianic Figure: a formula in which the central character is a non conformist or unlikely redeemer who transforms lives and ultimately undergoes martyrdom. Four films offer the prototype of such a character: Cool Hand Luke (1967) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) Dead Poets Society (1989) and most recently Sling Blade (1997) This article is available in Journal of Religion Film: https:/digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol2/iss2/3 As a general rule, motion pictures which attempt to offer a literal rendition of the life of Jesus typically fall short of cinematic excellence. At one time, the Christ of the silver screen was a red haired, sunburned, blue eyed "Jewish Palestinian" standing on the banks of the Colorado against the backdrop of religious calendar art. The four Gospels were harmonized, one discourse, parable or mighty work was depicted at the expense of another, and Jesus sounded like Hamlet. The evolution of Jesus films is rooted in the religious or biblical "epic;" a popular genre in the 1950's usually accompanied by towering budgets and names such as Charlton Heston, Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, or Yul Brynner. Melodramatic dialogue aside, religious epics of the 1950's were actually good. Quo Vadis (1951) had fine location shooting and an acceptable musical score. The parting of the Red Sea in The Ten Commandments (1956) was decent considering that computer graphics were non existent at the time. The chariot race in Ben Hur (1959) speaks for itself. The ensuing decade brought the first attempt by a major studio to produce a religious epic in which the Christ Event was its singular focus. MGM released King of Kings in 1961, inspired by a Cecil B. DeMille film of the same title from 1927. Critics suggested the film should have been titled I Was a Teenage Jesus. Jeffrey Hunter, a "pin up boy" in the title role, was upstaged by a more interesting Barabbas. The screenplay seemed less concerned with Jesus as Messiah than with 1 McEver: The Messianic Figure in Film Published by DigitalCommons@UNO, 1998 rendering him as a non violent revolutionary or Peace Corps volunteer. Four years later, The Greatest Story Ever Told, directed by George Stevens, was completed for $25 million. The film's true claim to notoriety is its monotonous cameo appearances: John Wayne as a Roman soldier, Sidney Poitier as Simon of Cyrene, and Charlton Heston as the Baptizer to name a few. Swedish actor Max Von Sydow's portrayal of Christ was lambasted for being emotionally removed and humorless. The same could be said for Jesus of Nazareth, a 1977 made fortelevision mini series scripted by the same writer who penned A Clockwork Orange. The film received mostly favorable reviews on the part of the evangelical community but it was profoundly overemotional. Robert Powell's paint by numbers Jesus rises to speak his lines as if he has a secret ambition to join the cast of Days of Our Lives. It wasn't until 1989 that another major studio took a gamble on a movie involving the life of Jesus, but this one involved a new wrinkle. Universal released The Last Temptation of Christ amidst what was probably the most inflamed protest against a film in history. The pre release publicity centered around demonstrations taking place outside of Universal after celebrated figures in the evangelical media began speaking about heretical content in the film. Theater managers across the country were terrified to screen the movie and no major video chain would carry it. 2 Journal of Religion Film, Vol. 2 [1998] Iss. 2, Art. 3 https:/digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol2/iss2/3 Screenwriter Paul Schrader, an admitted Calvinist, adapted The Last Temptation from the Nikos Kazantzakis novel which engages in a fictional exploration between the two natures of Christ divine and human. The film was not intended to be a Gospel portrait. The fictional aspect, which apparently provoked opponents of its release, centered around a vision presented by the devil to the Jesus of the film while on the cross. In this vision, Jesus is shown what it would have been like to marry, have a family, live until an old age, and die a natural death. The struggle for the Jesus of the film is the torment between his human wishes for a normal Jewish life and his longing to accomplish the divine mission set before him. The aesthetic value of the film is that Jesus conquers these temptations and carries out his sacrificial death by crucifixion. People missed what was really bad about the film. The casting was dreadful. Willem Dafoe, who portrayed Jesus, still evoked memories of all of those times he has played a terrorist or Vietnam veteran. Harvel Keitel's Judas sounded like a gangster and appeared as if he had dyed his hair orange. Evangelicals were offended by the notion that Jesus had a libido, but they never objected to a scene in which he pulls his heart from his chest nor to the suggestion that Christ was a pantheist, as rendered in the Gethsemane sequence. Either way, the damage had been done. Film makers have characteristically fallen into the pit of localization. The present the Christ event with the assumption that the Gospel stories were written 3 McEver: The Messianic Figure in Film Published by DigitalCommons@UNO, 1998 exclusively for today, as opposed to exploring what the writers sought to convey to their first century audiences. King of Kings, for instance, was filmed against the backdrop of Kennedy's new America. The Barabbas of the film symbolized the violent side of social change while Jesus personified the alternative. Another problem is that virtually all screenplays dealing with the Christ event have attempted to harmonize the Gospels. Each Gospel offers a unique portrait of Jesus from the perspective of that particular writer as he addresses his community and its questions. To mix all four perspectives simply does not work. Choosing to do the life of Christ according to Mark or Luke would offer a more coherent script. Nevertheless, we are unlikely to see another attempt at such an effort for quite some time. To produce these films authentically is expensive, they are impossible to cast, and producers run too great a risk of offending too many people. The failure of the Jesus epic has produced an alternative manifestation: the Messianic figure in film. Christology has managed to move into genres outside of the biblical spectacular, both intentionally and unintentionally. Paul Newman's character in Cool Hand Luke (1967) has long stood as the archetypal Messianic figure in religion and film studies. In the story, Lukas Jackson is arrested for destroying parking meters while intoxicated, but his true crime is non conformity. Sentenced to two years in a hard labor prison, Luke introduces a new way of existence to his disciples by injecting amusement into the mundane obligations of 4 Journal of Religion Film, Vol. 2 [1998] Iss. 2, Art. 3 https:/digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol2/iss2/3 incarceration. Conflict with the prison establishment is inevitable and the last straw comes when Luke encourages his fellow inmates to complete, with enthusiasm, the arduous task of repaving a highway well before five o'clock. The road paving episode is the equivalent of Jesus cursing the Jerusalem Temple. Luke is seen as a dissident and the ruling authorities plot to humiliate him. The story concludes when, in the midst of a third escape attempt, Luke stands in an abandoned chapel engaged in an intimate and informal conversation with "the Old Man" and reaches the conclusion that his martyrdom is inevitable. Luke is gunned down by the spiritually blind "man with no eyes," a guard who wears reflective sunglasses throughout the film. "Dragline" (George Kennedy) Luke's companion, attacks the guard and his trademark glasses are crushed, suggesting that Luke's death has liberated the inmates once and for all. In the final scene, Luke is regenerated as "Dragline" retells the incident and the disciples remember him. The formula repeats itself in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) when Randall McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) is sent from the state penitentiary to a mental hospital in order to be evaluated. The institution hinges on routine and proper procedure while its patients, most of whom are voluntary, and who accept their reduction to an inanimate existence. McMurphy is promptly situated as the deviant who will challenge the establishment, embodied principally by the villainous Nurse 5 McEver: The Messianic Figure in Film Published by DigitalCommons@UNO, 1998 Ratched (Louise Fletcher) Randall demands to know what medication is being administered to him, attempts to teach fellow patients basketball and black jack, and instigates a futile campaign to have the schedule altered so that everyone may watch the World Series. His threat to the stability of the institution is finally acknowledged by the Board after he commandeers the hospital bus in order to take his disciples on a fishing expedition. The ruling establishment convenes and determines that McMurphy is indeed "dangerous," pondering "what will we do with him?" As High Priestess, Nurse Ratched asserts that it would be abdicating responsibility to simply "pass him on to someone else," insisting the institution can reform him. The plot against McMurphy is intensified following another group session characterized by a newfound defiance and assertiveness in which the patients begin to question hospital procedures. A violent uproar ensues, causing Randall's beloved disciple "Chief" (Will Samson) to physically assault a ward who attempts to subdue McMurphy. After the administration