Friday, January 20, 2006

'Son of Man' at Sundance

From CNN:

Black Jesus Film Aims to Start Talk

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 [who in the film belongs to the Xhosa ethnicity] 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.


Click here to read the whole article.

I really hope this film gets picked up for distribution, because I would love to see it. What a potentially powerful tool to expose people to Christianity as well as to make the teachings of Christ relevant to a current world situation (not to imply that they are not, otherwise). The filmmaker says he hopes that this movie can inspire hope for Africa in spite of the tragic state of much of the continent today.

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