Last night the cinetrix came to Jesus. OK, the commie version, but Jesus nonetheless. And you know what? In Pier Paolo Pasolini's movie Il Vangelo secondo Matteo, Christ looks just like his mother. He has a monobrow. He gets angry. Country blues and African choral music and "Motherless Child" play on the soundtrack. It's beautiful--dare I say, passionate--and the Harvard Film Archive owns a really gorgeous print.
The paisans Pasolini cast as apostles and Pharisees and whatnot reminded me of how each culture makes Christ over in its own image. All those fascinating southern Italian faces. Ever seen the Book of Kells? The four evangelists and Christ have ruddy Mick visages like sides of beef.
Now, I'm not going near what that other movie [no link] says about its culture, see, because I gave up Mel Gibson for Lent. [It's been surprisingly easy so far, thanks for asking.]
A few years back, Hal Hartley made a 70-minute DV film answering the question, what if Christ came back on the eve of the millenium? Would he just want to wipe the slate clean and start over? This sort of meditation is much more to the cinetrix's liking than, say, a pandering snuff film. I won't give away the answer, so you can see for yourselves how Hartley does it [as part of the 2000 Seen by series]. But I can tell you that Christ not only comes back via Kennedy airport, he finds the titular Book of Life in a locker at the Bowlmor Lanes. Hey, why not? PJ Harvey plays Christ's personal assistant Mary Magdelene, and Satan gets all the best lines. What's not to like?
Satan: It's amazing the things they do. They're inventing themselves now. Artificial intelligence and cybergenetics and so on.
Jesus Christ: It's impressive, I admit.
Satan: They're cross-fertilizing pears with apples and goats with sheep, tobacco plants with lightning bugs.
Jesus Christ: Now that's just stupid.
Satan: Well, I agree.
