"Son of Man" stuns an underslept, moviewatching professor

Nathan Andersen January 24

I woke up late this morning, around 9am!!. I guess my body just really needed to catch up on sleep. I've been getting up at 7am and watching movies until 2am. So far I?ve seen about 18 different films, some mediocre but a few quite brilliant. Among my favorites have been "Adam's Apples" and "Stay". The first is a darkly comic film that depicts a metaphysical struggle between good and evil, and between faith and science, by way of the story of an angry unreformed neo Nazi who is released from jail on condition that he work within a parish run by an eccentric pastor who sees Satan everywhere but refuses to believe that individuals can be evil, ignoring all evidence to the contrary. Stay is a surprisingly tender and hilarious film about family and relationships, that is built around a single disgusting event.

A number of recent films, like Wedding Crashers and the 40-Year Old Virgin, have been touted as "crass comedy with a heart," but both of those films relied for their comedy on offensive stereotypes and objectification of women. While the event at the core of this film (fortunately never portrayed on film but only described) is indeed disgusting, and a great deal of humor is built around it, I found that there was nothing in the film that offended me in the way that the humor of those others did.

"Son of Man" actress Andile Kosi and Director Mark-Dornford May answer questions about their breath-taking film

I saw an incredible film late last night -- called "Son of Man", created by an African theater troupe, it is a retelling of the Jesus story in a roughly contemporary African kingdom, run by a puppet dictator named Herode, whose regime is supported by the military of a colonizing power that represents Rome. The teachings become political -- Jesus as an advocate of truth and genuine democracy in the political process, achieved by non-violent means, and involving the reclaiming of tradition by Africans who have been suppressed and colonized. For people whose colonization also involved Christianization, the film represents a powerful way to ?reclaim? the Christ story for themselves in an African context and speaking to the condition of the colonized and oppressed. Still, apart from that it is a spiritual and beautiful film -- that doesn't shy away from including some supernatural elements such as angels played by precocious young boys ornamented with feathers. Judas collects evidence for the gang leaders by videotaping what Jesus does; there are even some female disciples: Simon becomes Simona, etc. Probably my favorite film so far.