How can the medium of film respond to the ineffable? The ineffable cannot by definition be said so how can film acknowledge this and point towards this unspeakable dimension, affirming that it is in some sense real? To do justice to this question would far exceed the capacity of this blog entry and so I narrow it to focus upon one particular motif that challenges the capacity of language. How has the Resurrection of Christ been addressed in three selected Jesus movies and what is the significance of some specific choices in terms of the theology conveyed?
For each of the movies addressed I will offer some comments on their “Resurrection scene” or lack thereof, but also the motif of resurrection as indirectly reflected throughout the film.
My rationale is two-fold: (1) The canonical gospels were written through the lens of faith in the Resurrection. If there had been no Resurrection faith, there would have been no canonical gospels as we know them. Therefore the entire gospel narrative is affected by this central faith-claim. Some gospel passages such as the transfiguration account and, arguably, nature miracles may be concerned with the Risen Christ who is conflated with the Jesus of Nazareth. That is, it may be overly simplistic to assume that the gospels are chronological biographies of Jesus’ life, and that everything recounted before the burial of Jesus is concerned with a pre-Easter Jesus. The gospels do not neatly distinguish between the flesh and blood Jesus of Nazareth and the Christ of Faith. For the Gospel-writers, Christ was risen and they could not view Christ except through Easter-tinted spectacles. Therefore to whatever extent Jesus movies are influenced by the gospels, long before an empty tomb scene if indeed there is on, they depict choices with implications as to how Resurrection is to be understood. (2) A strain of Christian thought since the enlightenment conceives of Resurrection not in terms of an event in a tomb on a particular date in history but rather as a transformation of perspective that is ever-available. Kant divests Jesus of a virgin birth, miracles, substitutionary atonement and Resurrection. Subsequent voices in biblical criticism (Bultmann) and of Jesus scholarship (Crossan, Borg) have continued this tradition of demythologization. While such thinkers may deny the historicity of Jesus’ bodily Resurrection in 30-33AD, they do not necessarily deny the doctrine of Resurrection per se. This broad understanding of Resurrection makes more complex the question as to how a movie portrays “the Resurrection”. What follows are reflections on three of the more innovative renderings of Resurrection in Jesus movies.
(I) Jesus of Montreal (Denys Arcand, 1989): The movie’s protagonist is named Daniel, his name evoking the biblical book wherein the author recounts an apocalyptic vision of “one like a Son of Man coming on the clouds of Heaven” (7:13) Daniel “resurrects” a passion play which had become tired and unappealing. However his reinvigorated version of the play falls foul of the ubiquitous Catholic authorities. It could also be argued that Daniel prompts Resurrection as a transformation in perspective on the part of his fellow actors, prompting them to challenge institutional authority and demand human dignity. Having committed assault and destruction of property in protest against the degradation of an actress by the sleazy producers of a beer commercial, Daniel incurs the interest of the civil authorities. However, it is neither the ecclesiastical or civil establishment that brings about Daniel’s death. Rather, the cause is a tragic accident during a performance of the play. It could be argued that callous incompetence and a failure to treat Daniel at St. Mark’s Catholic hospital contributed, through sin of omission, to this tragedy. In a surreal subway scene an impliedly brain-damaged Daniel yells apocalyptic warnings along the lines of the visions recounted in the biblical book bearing his name. The Book of Daniel envisages “One like a Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven” (7:13) Such apocalyptic imagery is evocative of the Second Coming and a general Resurrection. After Daniel later expires at a Jewish hospital, one of his co-workers, shocked by this death, murmurs consent to the donation of his organs. While Daniel’s heart and eyes, it is implied, will bring a new lease of life to their recipients, this is a problematic Resurrection. Daniel’s death was neither at the hands of the forces of evil not chosen by Daniel so as to fulfill a mission. So too his “Resurrection” is difficult to attribute to any intention of his part. Neither does this Resurrection seem capable of inspiring authentic continuation of any mission Daniel may have had. The prospect of a theater company founded in his honor seems ill-fated and is cynically portrayed in this movie in which all institutions are viewed as evil. At best, the Resurrection implied is one guided by an unseen hand that transcends the intentions of Daniel or his disciples. Such an interpretation would suggest the agency of apocalyptic forces beyond human intentionality.
(II) The Last Temptation of Christ (Scorsese, 2004): If one were to consider the Resurrection only in terms of a specific event in Jesus’ tomb, then this movie does not portray the Resurrection at all. Indeed, the encounter between Jesus and Paul of Tarsus evokes doubt as to whether Jesus rose from the dead. This said, the movie offers glimpses of the afterlife as Jesus receives several visitors from beyond the grave: the master of a monastery, John the Baptists and Isaiah, as though to signify that Jesus exists at the portal of life and death. If Resurrection can take the form of a change in perspective and the awakening of eternal life within, it could be argued that this movie offers an exquisite study of the topic. I suggest that Resurrection in this movie is constituted by death to self and rising to other-centeredness. In a paradoxical sense, spiritual death is this movie would be for Jesus to accede to the temptations presented in his reverie of escape from the cross. In this vein of thought, Resurrection ironically takes the forms of Jesus’ transformation of perspective wherein he embraces his crucifixion. That is to say, within the world of this movie, Jesus’ cross is Resurrection whereas evading the cross would constitute spiritual death.
(III) Son of Man (Dornford-May 2005): The film set in land identified as Judea but clearly steeped in the culture, languages, vistas and struggles of southern Africa. The movie exhibits a tension between a gospel of supernaturalism, represented by the presence angels and Satan, and a gospel of liberation. David Jenkins writes of the rise of supernaturalist, evangelical Christianity that thrives in Africa, a faith more concerned with apocalyptic concerns than with justice in the here and now. Before embarking upon a mission of liberation, Jesus tells an angel, ‘This is my world”. This Jesus is concerned about the struggle for earthly justice. It is he who has been incarnated into the midst of a desperate struggle for liberation. I argue that the Resurrection in this movie is most powerfully conveyed through the actions of Mary the Mother of Jesus who exhumes the battered corpse of her murdered son, exhibits it on a cross for all to see and defies armed soldiers poised to gun down the band of Jesus’ followers chanting a song of protests before his cross. Jesus also lives on in colorful murals depicting scenes from this ministry, perhaps an equivalent to the “oral tradition” and the eventual committal of the Christian scriptures to writing. At the movies end however, Jesus is seen celebrating with the angels, perhaps in an indication that he has returned to the supernatural order. His incarnation in this world is continued in the witness of Mary and his followers. “Son of Man’ drives home the point that the Resurrection is not complete without Pentecost and Ascension. At Pentecost, the mission of the incarnate Christ is passed on to the Mystical Body of Christ made incarnate in the emboldened Church that is empowered to continue his mission. Also, as Jean-Luc Marion proposes, the incarnate Jesus must in some sense ascend so his disciples can become the face of charity. On a related notion, Peter Trachtenberg refers to the “presence of absence”, the bitter-sweet sense in which a deceased loved one is more present than ever they were, no longer subject to spatiotemporal limits but mysteriously and, perhaps, painfully present in all that is.
In conclusion, the portrayal of Resurrection in Jesus movies can permeate the mise-en-scène beyond an explicit “Resurrection scene”. None of the three movies considered in this piece include a reconstruction of an empty tomb scene yet all convey a perspective on Resurrection. In Jesus of Montreal, Resurrection is an instance wherein a mysterious providence prevails in the affairs of humanity, largely beyond the agency of any of the characters, including the Christ-like Daniel. In The Last Temptation of Christ, Resurrection is a transformation of perspective, whereby Jesus recognizes his temptation as evil and comes to embrace the will of God as best he knows it. In Son of Man, Resurrection is made manifest in human courage and integrity in the face of oppression. Each perspective may validly identify a dimension of Christian belief in Resurrection, perhaps representing aesthetically aspects of Resurrection that cannot be rendered in the prose of doctrinal propositions. Resurrection carries apocalyptic overtones that agencies beyond human control are operative in the world. Resurrection may be a transformation of perspective wherein self-centeredness dies to other-centeredness in an act of sacrifice. Equally well, Resurrection is witness to justice, defying the forces of oppression. Each of these movies can challenge viewers to think beyond Resurrection as resuscitation and stone-rolling.
Alan, your title is brilliant!
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