Black Jesus film preaches politics over religion

[leftchick]

http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/va/20060119/113767936400.html


Billed as the world's first black Jesus movie, "Son of Man" portrays Christ as a modern African revolutionary and aims to shatter the Western image of a placid savior with fair hair and blue eyes.

The South African film, which premieres on Sunday at the U.S. Sundance festival in Utah, transports the life and death of Christ from first century Palestine to a contemporary African state racked by war and poverty.

Jesus is born in a shanty-town shed, a far cry from a manger in a Bethlehem stable. His mother Mary is a virgin, though feisty enough to argue with the angels. Gun-wielding authorities fear his message of equality and he ends up hanging on a cross.

"We wanted to look at the gospels as if they were written by spindoctors and to strip that away and look at the truth," director Mark Dornford-May told Reuters in an interview.

"The truth is that Christ was born in an occupied state and preached equality at a time when that wasn't very acceptable."

[Child_Of_Isis]

1. This will get the freeps in an uproar. eom

[OneBlueSky]

2. fundie heads will be exploding all over the place on this one . . . n/t

.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

3. Wow!

Sounds like an amazing film! I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

[gratuitous]

4. Sounds like a kick-ass movie to me

Practically anything that has people thinking about old forms and received wisdom in a new way is fine with me, as long as the upshot is supposed to be an honest give-and-take, and a real discussion. When someone is bringing a "radical new ides" like creationism or intelligent design, which is nothing more than centuries-old shit gussied up to look new, then I'm not terribly interested.

But what does it mean to be born to the oppressed population of an occupied country? Why is a message of love and redemption so terrifying to folks on both sides, occupier and occupied alike? If the Romans hadn't done Jesus in, the Jewish authorities almost surely would have. And if both of those factions had dropped the ball, the Zealots probably would have taken care of him.

[f-bush]

5. I would love for our Church to see that!!!

How would one get ahold of a copy?

[leftchick]

7. good question

I would love for my church to view it as well.

[NorthernSpy]

6. African Jesus is just as valid as Nordic Jesus

Actually, I imagine that Jesus probably looked most like the indigenous population of the land of his birth: those currently referred to as Palestinians (some of whose ancestors were likely Hebrews at one time).

Why is 'Jesus the African' any stranger a concept than the usual 'Jesus the Norseman' stuff?

[struggle4progress]

8. A shanty-town shed is a far cry from a manger in Bethlehem?

[Voltaire99]

9. Beats the US vision of Jesus...

...as an SUV-driving CEO of a napalm manufacturing plant.

Who also enjoys golfing.