Black Jesus Movie
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» basdini replied on Fri Jan 20, 2006 @ 11:11pm |
 Coolness: 145325 | JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) -- 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 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 spin doctors 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." By portraying Jesus as a black African, Dornford-May hopes to sharpen the political context of the gospels, when Israel was under Roman occupation, and challenge Western perceptions of Christ as meek, mild and European. "We have to accept that Christ has been hijacked a bit -- he's gone very blond-haired and blue-eyed," he said. "The important thing about the message of Christ was that it is universal. It doesn't matter what he looked like." In fact, there was a film called "Black Jesus" made in 1968 and starring Woody Strode, but it is described as a political commentary rather than an interpretation of the life of Christ. Made by the same theatre company behind last year's award-winning "U-Carmen eKhayelitsha," "Son of Man" is in the tongue-clicking Xhosa African language and English and was filmed in the sprawling black townships near Cape Town. Jesus begins his public ministry after an encounter with Satan -- who appears cloaked in black leather -- during his traditional Xhosa circumcision rite. He gathers followers from the factions of armed rebels across the country and demands they lay down their guns and confront their corrupt rulers with a vision of non-violent protest and solidarity. Dornford-May, who says he subscribes to Christ's teachings without necessarily believing he is the son of God, says the Jesus in the film is a divine being who rises from the dead. His resurrection is meant to signal hope for Africa, the world's poorest continent which is sometimes dismissed by foreigners as a hopeless mess of conflict and corruption. "The ending is optimistic but realistic. There is an incredible struggle to get to the optimism," he said. Dornford-May says focus groups of church leaders and ordinary Christians in South Africa, where Christianity often comes in a conservative form, broadly praised the film, which he hopes will prove a hit on the continent and worldwide. Mary, played by the star of "U-Carmen," Pauline Malefane, gets a beefed-up role as the inspiration for Christ's politics and humanity, compared to her fairly brief biblical appearances. And Malefane, who is married to Dorford-May, makes a smooth transition from playing the seductive heroine Carmen to the world's most famous virgin, he said. "They are both women who are prepared to stand outside of society. They may be different sides of the coin but they are still the same coin -- but I'm not going to be very popular for saying that." |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» neoform replied on Sat Jan 21, 2006 @ 4:00am |
 Coolness: 339790 | Funny, last i checked black people are from africa.
Also, middle easterners.. aren't white or black. |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» mdc replied on Sat Jan 21, 2006 @ 11:52am |
 Coolness: 148940 | ed zachary |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» basdini replied on Sun Jan 22, 2006 @ 7:13pm |
| Coolness: 145325 | Originally posted by DJNEOFORM...
Funny, last i checked black people are from africa. Also, middle easterners.. aren't white or black. for sure, jesus was totally a brother... |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» neoform replied on Sun Jan 22, 2006 @ 7:36pm |
| Coolness: 339790 | How many black jews do you know? |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» mdc replied on Sun Jan 22, 2006 @ 8:31pm |
| Coolness: 148940 | i know one! I know one!!
He's actually a black, RUSSIAN, jew |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» El_Presidente replied on Sun Jan 22, 2006 @ 9:03pm |
 Coolness: 299450 | wouldnt last very long in nazi germany |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» Zz.ee.vV replied on Sun Jan 22, 2006 @ 9:21pm |
 Coolness: 194150 | hehe, i know some black russian jews too.
most black jews are gfrom Ethiopia tho |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» cvxn replied on Mon Jan 23, 2006 @ 12:15pm |
| Coolness: 178770 | Anyways Jésus devait avoir les cheveux noirs, les yeux bruns foncés pis la peau brun pâle. ;) |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» flo replied on Mon Jan 23, 2006 @ 12:30pm |
 Coolness: 146450 | ha ouais moi aussi j'ai vu une photo. |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» basdini replied on Mon Jan 23, 2006 @ 2:49pm |
| Coolness: 145325 | Originally posted by DJNEOFORM...
How many black jews do you know? are you suggesting that jesus actually looked anything like those blond blue eyed hippie catholic depictions of him, common... the eastern orthodox church knows what the score, they always show him as kind of semitic looking with curly black hair... |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» neoform replied on Mon Jan 23, 2006 @ 2:59pm |
| Coolness: 339790 | I never said he was white, man, I even said "middle easterners.. aren't white or black.".. if jesus was a jew from the middle east, he's mos def not "white" or "black". |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» cvxn replied on Mon Jan 23, 2006 @ 3:16pm |
| Coolness: 178770 | brun pâle ;) |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» mdc replied on Mon Jan 23, 2006 @ 9:49pm |
| Coolness: 148940 | i say he was turd brown |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» basdini replied on Fri Jan 27, 2006 @ 2:31pm |
| Coolness: 145325 | 'flowing like christ when i speak the gospel' |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» Holly_Golightly replied on Mon Feb 27, 2006 @ 4:56pm |
 Coolness: 158860 | wow! look very interesting! |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» soyfunk replied on Tue Feb 28, 2006 @ 8:38pm |
 Coolness: 126895 | there's a bunch of black jews from eastern africa
alot of old school rastas went to israel to become jewish |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» basdini replied on Wed Mar 1, 2006 @ 11:55am |
| Coolness: 145325 | yeah, there are tons of links between Rastafarianism and Judhism, some people even suggest that of the three major monotheistic religions rastafarians are closest to the jewish faith. Belief in 'zion', even 'Ja' (Rastafarian name for God) and Jaweh (Jewish name for God) aren't really that far appart. |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» Zz.ee.vV replied on Thu Mar 2, 2006 @ 6:17pm |
| Coolness: 194150 | I ALWAYS knew moses was a pothead.
I mean, cmon - he had munchies in the desert and saw a burning bush. |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» moondancer replied on Fri Mar 3, 2006 @ 3:27am |
 Coolness: 92390 | there was also the egyptians.. |
Black Jesus Movie
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