REBORN

US, 1978, 91 minutes, Colour.
Dennis Hopper, Michael Moriarty, Francesco Rabal.
Directed by Jose Bigas Luna.

Reborn is a little-seen film about American evangelists - in the tradition of Capra's Miracle Woman, of Elmer Gantry, Angel Baby, Salvation and Pass the Ammo. It was made in the early '80s - and satirises the television evangelists.

The film was written and directed by Spanish director Bigas Luna. It was filmed in Texas and in Barcelona. The American stars are Dennis Hopper, powerful as the Reverend Tom Harley, the evangelist, and Michael Moriarty doing a variation on his weak and bewildered young man, playing the man commissioned to bring back a stigmatic from Italy to bolster the Reverend Tom Harley's mission.

The film shows something of the Catholic religious tradition in Italy, especially that associated with strange phenomena, ecstasy and the stigmata. The film also shows vividly the presentation of tele-evangelism, the studio work, the contrived nature of the mission. It also shows that the Mafia is in control of this particular program - and wants to bolster its success with Italian stigmatics.

Where the film is interesting is in the character of Maria, the mystic. We see her experiencing strange phenomena in Italy. She is brought to the United States by Michael Moriarty. She is a simple woman, not the expected mystical and chaste saint. She falls passionately in love with Mark. He is hesitant, not feeling that he is able to take responsibility. (There is also symbolic helicopters and birds hovering around Maria's experience.) It soon becomes evident that a point is being made allegorically about Maria being parallel with the Virgin Mary, the mystical fatherhood of her child when she becomes pregnant, Mark as a foster father. When they escape from the Mafia, they go into a gas station where Maria gives birth - the Bethlehem parallels are obvious in their modern setting. While professional and fake religion is satirised and exposed, Maria as the genuine mother, offering a child to the world and transforming Mark into some kind of love and responsibility is obviously a play on the Gospel stories. (Similar stories have been told by Fellini and Rossellini in the Anna Magnani vehicle, The Miracle, as well as in Jean- Luc Goddard's Hail Mary where the simple gas station attendant was the parallel with the Mary of the Gospels.)

The film is quite striking visually with its Texas settings, eerie Italian atmosphere as well as the showmanship of tele evangelism. Hopper and Moriarty are quite striking - but, with a small budget, the film shows that it has been made with economies in mind. Nevertheless, it is an interesting and offbeat movie with its variety of religious themes.

1. Interest in the themes, tele-evangelism, American religion, Catholic mystical tradition, strange psychic and physical phenomena? The allegory from the Gospels?

2. Texas locations, the cities, the road, the evangelists' tents? The contrast with the Italian settings? Colour photography, light and darkness? Special effects? Suggestion of symbols? The musical score?

3. The title - its application to born again Christians? Tom Harley and his religion? The congregations, the miracle-seekers? The child who found speech? Maria? The astronaut? The reference to Maria's baby - a new Messiah coming into the contemporary world?

4. Reverend Tom Harley and Dennis Hopper's intense style? The television programs, his preaching and style, content? The attendants and the phone calls, the giving of money? The humour of the bank credit card? The slogans for eternity? Harley and his belief in himself? His assistants, the agent? His wanting an astronaut to boost his show? Their persuading him to take the stigmatic? The miracles, his belief in himself - how much pretence, how much of a fake? His being able to be deceived by the woman pretending to be blind and then seeing? His exhilaration? The contacts with the Mafia and his not wanting to know these? His rehearsals for shows, the various takes? The family values and his preaching of American society disintegrating? The family in the studio and their trying to re-create their spontaneity? His acceptance of Maria? Her place in his ministry, the reaction to the miracle of the little boy? Wanting money, wanting to buy property and settle down? The reaction to Maria's departure? The finale with his having the astronaut on his show - and professional and even an electronic evangelism going on? The presentation of the tele-evangelist, the spoof, the critique?

5. Reed as Harley's agent, the money deals, the plans? The Mafia connections and their control? Mark and his place in the organisation? The training of potential cures? The decision to bring Maria from Italy? The imposition on Harley? The control of Mark? The running away, the pursuit by the Mafia?

6. Mark, his training the woman to seem blind, rehearsing her? His background, self-image, lack of confidence? The connection with the Mafia? Seeing himself as the miracle man? Watching Harley on TV - and his emotional reaction? The commission to go to Italy, his not wanting to go? The encounter with Maria, bringing her to the United States? Looking after her? Her lack of English? His trying to understand? Her emotional response, her declaration of love for him, his inability to cope? Her passionate nature, the lovemaking? His fear for his own irresponsibility? Her being pregnant, his apprehensions? His response to her, to the miracle? Her pregnancy, taking her away, in the car? The time for her to give birth, going to the gas station, in the room, the assistant? The pursuit by the Mafia types?

7. Maria, the vivid visual portrayal of her religious experience, ecstasy and trance, the bleeding, the wounds of Jesus, the stigmata? The nuns and their prayers? Her seeming to have died? The money deals, her going to America? Her simplicity, her spirituality? Her sensual nature, response to Mark, gratitude towards him? The hovering of the birds in Italy, the hovering of the helicopter? Her pregnancy, her giving birth? The mother of a new Messiah? The experience of her miraculous powers, her prayer, concentration? The encounter with the little boy, love and affection, God's power going through her? The authentic miracle worker?

8. The American congregations, their believing in the tele-evangelists, their generosity with money? Being stirred by the preaching? Emotional response, intellectual response? The desire for healings? The reaction to miracles? The young boy, not able to speak, his experience of speaking, the frantic response of his parents and their blowing the car horn? The age range of people in the congregations?

9. The implications about organised religion, media, charlatans? Self-seeking? American society and religion in the control of money interests, the Mafia? The international controls and swindles?

10. The allegory and parallels with the Gospel story? How valid a symbol? A critique of established religion? The hope for a new world and a new saviour? Maria as the contemporary Mary, mother of Jesus?