SON OF MAN

South Africa, 2006, 86 minutes, Colour.
Andile Kosi, Pauline Malefane.
Directed by Mark Dornford- May.

After the worldwide success of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ in 2004, one might well ask what direction the Jesus film could move in. An answer came very quickly. From South Africa. The film is Son of Man, 2006. It is a contemporary rendering of the Gospel story, spoken and sung in Xhosa and English. It opens the way to what many small groups were doing in the 1990s with their video cameras, making the Jesus story relevant to their own cultures.

A popular word used these days, when critical comments are offered about the lack of vision in so many film classics being remade, is ‘re-imagining’. In 2001, publicity told us that we were being treated to Tim Burton’s ‘re-imagining’ of the 1968 The Planet of the Apes. It is a good word. All of us do our re-imagining of so many stories. It is only right because the Gospels have been re-imagined in all art forms over two milennia, and in film during the 20th century.

In February 2006, U- Carmen e- Khayelitsha, a contemporary version of Bizet’s Carmen, set in a South African township near Cape Town, won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. It was a fresh experience of Bizet’s classic story, a dramatisation of the intense characters and interactions with South African images and South African voices. The local language, Xhosa, was used. The same company, with the same director, Mark Dornford- May, is responsible for Son of Man. Pauline Malefane, who played Carmen, is now Mary, mother of Jesus.

Given the role of music and dance in the South African tradition, Son of Man is filled with song, chant, humming, using a wide range of instruments, offering exciting variety as the film moves into its different moods. The cast are always ready to sway, stomp, dance, to fill the scenes with motion and emotion. Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell had already brought contemporary melodies and rhythms to the Gospel in the 1960s and 1970s. Both of them (as with He Who Must Die, Jesus of Montreal and Corpus Christi) are about putting on a play about Jesus, the re-enactment of the story. Son of Man is showing us what the incarnation could be like if it happened now. This is the Jesus story in our times.

With this film, African audiences have the opportunity to appreciate the relevance of the Gospel to their own situations. Those from outside the African tradition are offered a chance to look at familiar stories with new eyes, with different perspectives.

The running time of the film is quite short, only 86 minutes. Clearly, not every Gospel episode can be included. The social and political dynamic behind this re-imagining of the Gospels means that the selection of events and the emphases are to be of a piece with the ‘good news for Africa’. Jesus’ encounters are limited here. There are no parables. While there is an emphasis on healings, the core of the Sermon on the Mount is what Jesus preaches.

On first viewing, Jesus may seem less charismatic than we might hope for, sometimes more unassuming than we might think he ought to be. However, on further viewing, the portrayal of Jesus by Andile Kosi combines a quiet compassion with earnest determination to carry out his mission of peace and justice. The character who makes a profound impact is Pauline Malefane’s Mary. She is a big and strong woman, an earth-mother figure, with a powerful singing voice. The Magnificat after her experience of the annunciation is dramatic and memorable. At the end, she is the strong figure who stands up for the meaning of Jesus’ life and death.

1.The importance of the film? A 21st century Jesus story? The incarnation in Africa in the 21st century? Impact for South Africans, African audiences? Universal audiences?

2.The settings: the townships, the South African way of life, African styles and customs? The background of civil war and oppression? The parallels with the apartheid era? The Gospel interpreted by experience of this era?

3.The photography, the different styles? Contemporary, action? Contemplation and close-ups of the central characters? The blend of fantasy and reality – in the context of African folklore? Song and dance? The religious and political background? The locations, the towns, the countryside, the contemporary freeway, the city?

4.The importance of the music, the rhythms, the song and dance, the arias, especially sung by Mary? Choir music? African religious music? The combination?

5.The language, the Xhosa language, the subtitles?

6.The political background, the parallel with Judea and Judea Africa, the role of Herode and his rule, the revolt of Annas and Caiaphas, the incoming governor, Pilate? A parallel context for a Gospel story?

7.The opening with the temptations in the desert, the figure of the Satan, dressed in black – and his revisiting the sequences throughout the film? Jesus, painted, the initiation ritual? The temptations as part of the initiation? Jesus and his washing his face, being declared one of the men by the elder? His being ready for his ministry?

8.The treatment of the Gospel infancy narratives, the civil war, the rule of Herod, the military, guns and weapons? Mary and her running from the troops, running along the school building, going into the classroom, pretending to be dead, surviving? Seeing the angel, the Annunciation, her singing the aria of the Magnificat? Scenes of her being pregnant, with Joseph, travelling the beach, going to register, the announcements with the loudspeaker for registration? Being given hospitality in the old room, the stable? The children, the goats, the goatherds? The angels? The birth of Jesus, the relationship of the mother and child, Joseph and his looking on? The visitors? The angels on the rafters, the singing of a Gloria? The coming of the wise men, taking a long time, having to move through the roadblocks? Their arrival, their gifts? Mary hanging out the washing, washing Jesus, receiving the kings and the gifts? The announcement by Herod of the military attack on the children, the roundup of the people, the searching of the townships? The exodus of the people? Mary and Joseph at the end, watching the soldiers and the machete massacres? Their return to their home town, Jesus growing up, the initiation?

9.Jesus ready for his ministry, dressing, leaving his mother, leaving home? The selection of the disciples and their names coming on screen? The range of disciples, especially those involved in hooded violent attacks? Judas and his being on the train, the coal, getting the arms for Annas and Caiaphas? Peter and his leadership?

10.Jesus and his preaching, the Sermon on the Mount, the non-violence? The disciples listening, handing in their arms? The importance of the sequence of the woman taken in adultery, petrol being poured over her, asking for Jesus’ decision, his declaring her innocence, telling her to go? Getting her jewels back, going to the pawnbroker, buying the ointment, coming into the banquet, anointing Jesus’ feet, weeping? Jesus and the comments to the host? The hostess and her taking the woman, seating her, the singing?

11.The use of television and announcements, the use of the video camera, Judas and his camera, filming all of Jesus’ behaviour – to show to Annas and Caiaphas? As evidence for Pilate – and his rejection of it?

12.The healings, the young boy let through the roof, Jesus embracing him, his being startled back into health? The dead man, the opening of the coffin, Jesus’ prayer? The young girl and her cries, the fit, Jesus’ embrace and bringing her to health?

13.Mary, her leaving home, coming to join Jesus? The Palm Sunday-like celebration, Jesus coming into the town? His preaching, his standing on the pillar, his words for unification? His comment on the world’s ills, on sweatshops in Asia, on trade sanctions in Europe and America, on restriction of medicines, of torture in the Middle East? The challenge to the authorities?

14.Judas, his criticism of the woman with the ointment, his going to the authorities, Annas and Caiaphas and their wanting independence?

15.Mary in the kitchen, the Last Supper, the drinking of the wine – and the wine-coloured images at the bottom of the jug, of suffering and torture?

16.Judas, his going to Annas and Caiaphas, their going to Pilate, Pilate washing his hands? Judas and giving the video, wanting the money? Coming to the garden, looking straight to camera and kissing Jesus?

17.The arrest, Jesus taken to a secret place of torture, his being bashed? The offer of collaboration, his rejection? His being taken out after the torture, wrapped in the blanket, in the back of the truck, the unknown burial place, tossing him into the grave? The young man concerned and his going to tell Mary?

18.Mary and the disciples, the shock of Jesus’ death, going to the grave, Mary digging? Getting the body of Jesus, the Pieta style on the back of the truck? Her putting Jesus on a cross, tying his arms with the scarf, raising him up?

19.The confrontation, the soldiers, Mary defying them? A symbol of resurrection, hope? The importance of the songs, the darkness and then the spring light coming?

20.Jesus risen, with the angels, going up the hill, his final gesture of triumph? Resurrection imagery?

21.The 21st century devices, especially the technology? The contrast with the folkloric presentation of the angels, the children, their wings?

22.An interpretation of the Gospel story in terms of contemporary life? As a model for other Jesus films?