3 NEEDLES
Canada, 2005, 127 minutes, Colour.
Narrated by Olympia Dukakis.
The Patience of the Buddha: Lucy Liu, Chokpikultong
The Passion of the Christ: Shawn Ashmore, Stockard Channing.
The Innocence of the Pagans: Chloe Sevigny, Olympia Dukakis, Sandra Oh.
Directed by Thom Fitzgerald.
A film about the spread of AIDS and the social, medical and religious challenges it offers. It is made up of three separate stories (though with a unifying voiceover by Olympia Dukakis) from three quite diverse parts of the world, reminding us of the global culture that cuts across boundaries. The film was written by Thom Fitzgerald, a Canadian director who made The Hanging Garden, Beefcake and The Event. Fitzgerald has a Catholic background which is evident in two of the stories. He also has focused on homosexuality themes and AIDS in other films (especially The Event and the issue of assisted dying). In 3 Needles, the nature of the illness is never named directly as AIDS but is referred to as the virus.
Fitzgerald has given titles to each of the three stories, each with religious implications: The Patience of the Buddha, The Passion of the Christ, The Innocence of the Pagans. Fitzgerald wants to communicate his message via narrative and immerses the audience in the three worlds.
However, the film starts with a prologue in South Africa with an episode that will be background to the third story. A group of young men experience initiation rites in the bush, especially circumcision, before they return to their communities as men (in the context of the AIDS epidemic in Africa).
Lucy Liu is the star of The Patience of the Buddha. In southern China, Jin Ping (Liu) operates a blood donor racket, giving simple villagers $5.00 which can change their lives, help them buy seed and oxen. However, when a whole village is infected with the virus, the authorities have to step in. It is a sad story of poverty and death. Jin Ping is herself pregnant, with a sick husband. Sam, one of the local farmers, has a successful crop – but at what cost.
After the beautiful Asian settings, we are taken to suburbia in Montreal, rather dark, rather drab, for The Passion of the Christ. A young porn star argues about condom use or not and the film-makers consider the dangers of infection. The young man’s father is on life-support and his son takes his father’s blood as substitute for his own tests. His mother does not know what he does for a living. When circumstances change, the loving mother wants to do the best for her son, taking out a huge life insurance policy and wanting to be infected by the virus so that she can die and help her son. Stockard Channing is the mother, Shawn Ashmore the young man. Mel Gibson’s Jesus-film was about blood and giving one’s life for others, so Fitzgerald has chosen this title for his contemporary Montreal passion.
The third story is more specifically religious, focusing on the situation of the virus in Africa and its effect on old and young, men and women. Three North American nuns arrive to work with the people. The older nun, Sister Hilde (Olympia Dukakis) is in the tradition of the saving of souls and a less ecumenical approach to religion. Sister Mary John (Sandra Oh) is committed and is comfortable with people. The third is a dedicated novice, Sister Clara (Chloe Sevigny), who wants to save the living.
This story is more complex than the other two. It highlights the work of sisters (in a post Dead Man Walking era) and contemporary mission work of working with local people. It takes on what one might call a Graham Greene approach to storytelling, introducing moral dilemmas that haunt Greene characters: doing something immoral for a greater good. This is the issue for the novice and is disturbing according to one’s own moral stances.
The film ends with Sister Hilde’s voiceover. She is talking about holiness, saints, ordinary people doing ordinary things well without hope of canonisation or a feast day – which means many of us may really be saints.
1.The impact of the film? Human drama? Social message? Its aim and intentions? The range of its stories and characters? The narratives? The message?
2.Olympia Dukakis’s voice-over? Of the three stories? Her appearance in the third story as Sister Hilde Francis? Descriptions, comment, moving the narrative on, values, the third story in the Catholic perspective, information about missions, theology, novices? The final comments about saints, holiness, holiness in action, ordinary saints?
3.The three titles, the reference to Buddhism, to Christianity, to pagan religions? The religious perspective? The non-judgmental attitude of the film? The problems, the virus (and AIDS not named), human nature, the role of God?
4.The prologue, South Africa, the natural beauty, the adolescent boys, together, in nature, their age, experience, the initiation ceremony, the cutting, the ritual words, the blankets, their moving over the waterfall, the return to their tribe, their being men – and the comments on what it was to be a man in this context? The insertion of the prologue material into the action of the third story?
5.The location photography, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia for China? The city of Montreal? The South African landscapes, the coast? The beauty, authenticity? The variety? The global perspective?
6.The China Story: The Patience of the Buddha – and the overtones of this title? The focus on Jin Ping? Her business, driving the van, the illegal transportation of blood, the illegal getting of blood, her pregnancy, being stopped, her lies, the soldiers and the opening of the box, the blood samples, the soldiers trampling them? Her relationship to her husband and child? His illness? The infections? Her own pregnancy? Going to the village, setting up her machines, her speech to the people, urging them to give blood, the promise of five dollars, the value of five dollars in this society? The leader, the others deciding to give blood? Sam the farmer, his wanting to give, his cough, his child being too young? The infections that his family experienced? Jin Ping and her deceptions? The blood and its being transported, the payments? Sam and his family, his daughter, the farm, buying the crops, sowing the rice in the wet, the ox and the work in the fields, his daughter owning the ox? The rice crop? The growing illness, the deaths? His going to the officials, their ignoring the situation, his going to the city? The officials coming to the village, closing down the blood clinic? Jin Ping and her escape, taking the machines? Her pregnancy, going into the cornfields, giving birth? The soldiers with Sam, the discussions, the harvesting of the crop? His giving away the rice? The spread of the virus and the comment about this kind of story, remoteness of the people, supervision, the spread of the illness?
7.The Montreal story, The Passion of the Christ? Mel Gibson’s title, martyrs and dying for others? How was this exemplified in this story? Denys, his age, family, appearing in the pornographic films, at the studio, on the set, the issue of condoms, the issue of infection, the reaction of the actress? The scenes, performance? His watching the videos with his father, his father’s approval? His mother not knowing? His own infection, his father and the desperate illness, the equipment? Taking his father’s blood for the test? The test and the official saying that it was the blood of a dead person? His mother trying to phone him? His being on set, dressed as a Puritan? His going to the hospital, his father’s death? His father’s comment about his mother bringing him up as a strict Catholic? His mother’s discovery of the videos, watching, her upset? Her eulogy for her husband, Denys smoking in the church? The bond between the two? Olive, her listening to the discussion group, the group and the comment about sexual experience, infections? Her looking at the magazines? The issue of the insurance? Her doing the tests, the interviews, the plan, her selling the insurance policy, getting the money for her son? Her wanting to be infected – and the possibility of dying, the man from the discussion group, the sexual encounter, her not being infected, taking Denys’s blood while he was sleeping? Their being together, the waitress and her coming up to speak, the former actress, her denouncing him as killing her for a small amount of money?
8.The South African story, the natural beauty, the coast, the towns, the villages, the mountains? The effect of the virus? The workers in the fields, the crops? Men and women and the infections? The issue of sexual encounters, rapes? The myth about the man having sex with a virgin and so cleansing himself and getting rid of the virus? The child victims of this practice?
9.The three nuns, their travelling to the mission, the propagation of the faithful, their work, Sister Hilde and the emphasis on souls, Clara as a novice, Mary John as the member of the community? Work for souls, work for the living, for the dying? Their work with people, the compassion? The encounters with Halliday and his role with the plantation, the infected friend, the role of the priest? The dying woman and the caesarean birth? Clara and her involvement, wanting to help the baby?
10.Clara as a character, as a novice, her commitment? With the other two members of the community? Her work, the explanations, the effect? Her encounters with Halliday? Her asking him about his friend, the baptism in the river? Her prayer, her concern about others? The reality of the needles and their being reused, infection? The marriage of Huka after his return from the initiation, the father-in-law and his speech, the ten cows, the nuns rounding up the cows, as a deposit? The doctors, their backgrounds, the costs of ministry? Clara and her search for the family, finding them on the road, going to the township to look for relatives, their having disappeared, her growing continually desperate? Getting the baskets into the town for sales for the old woman? Halliday’s sexual approach? Her final decision, her prayer, going to Halliday, submitting to him sexually, getting the money and his support for their work, the three sisters going, her getting out of the wagon, her returning? The Graham Greene-like story – the committed person, the woman of faith, the woman of prayer, yet deciding to do something which could be called sinful in order to help others?
11.Halliday, rough, representing the company, his work, beliefs, his friendship with the dying man, the crops, his supervision in the fields? His approach to Clara? Buying all the baskets in the town? His talk, the approach to Clara, the sexual encounter, his agreement, arresting the abusive man, giving the money for medicine and the doctors? The doctors singing and praying with joy at the gift of the money?
12.The other sisters, Hilde and her old style, her comment about Anglicans, people going to purgatory, salvation of souls? Old-style Catholicism, wanting people baptised, the procession, her singing, sharing the joy? Her discussions with Clara? Mary John, the joy and the dancing, her work, her prayer? Their leaving?
13.The people, the age range, the illness, the infection, the poor, needles?
14.A vision of the 21st century, needs, illness, global effect, the virus, exploitation, manipulation? The role of God, religion? The touch of optimism?
