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‘Let there be light’ Biblical Cinema in Secular Times

We are truly at the end of time. Or so we are told by the editors of Daily Star and their fellow tabloid prophets. Every now and then, when Earth seems to teeter on the edge of calamity, the trumpets of doomsday are sounded once again, and Nostradamus would make another appearance on BBC Four. In the blink of an eye, foreboding words like ‘Armageddon’ and ‘apocalypse’ have jumped straight out of the Apostles’ mouths and found expression in our daily lexicons: financial, political, environmental, or nuclear, these biblical terms for catastrophe can be served with any topic of your choice. For in these uncertain times, talks of disaster seem to be omnipresent.

It is thus a strange phenomenon that as a society, we are more atheistic than ever before. In 2017, the National Centre for Social Research revealed that a majority of Britons are now ‘non-religious’. In our own age group of 18-24, only 3% are still self-identifying Anglicans. I remember how a decade ago during my British citizenship ceremony, when I gave a grouchy rendition of ‘God Save the Queen’, my loving mother shot me that look only mothers know how to: get a grip, or even God can’t save you. I suddenly realised, there and then, that fear leads an express route to piety. Yet despite all the doom and gloom we face today, all gods, especially the Christian God, seem to be increasingly abandoned.

being the perverse creatures that we are, even faith can be made into entertainment, especially in cinema

There are many reasons behind this boost in secularity, but one is not knowledgeable enough to comment on such a weighty issue. Indeed, faith is a serious matter. But being the perverse creatures that we are, even faith can be made into entertainment, especially in cinema. The recent release of Mary Magdalene (2018), starring Rooney Mara as the titular whore-turned-disciple, is the latest addition to a long cinematic tradition, dating all the way back to 1897, when Hollywood first laid its eyes on the Holy Book. However, one believes that Magdalene’s lineage can be traced further back. From illuminated manuscripts to stained glass windows, the Church has always dominated popular visual art forms throughout history. They realised from the get-go that for the masses, pictures are better storytellers than words; they engage directly with our senses and infuse moral teachings with shots of adrenaline. The experience of viewing a Caravaggio painting, for example, is really a cinematic one: the dramatic use of chiaroscuro, the dramatic tension from capturing characters mid-motion, and the jets of blood that almost squirt towards the viewer in Judith Beheading Holofernes (1598-99), create a climatic moment of Tarantino-esque proportions. It is no less haunting than those close-ups during the Crucifixion in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of Christ (2004). After all, movies are nothing but ‘moving pictures’. The only difference between the two is that the former is the masterpiece of a Baroque genius, the latter is the highest grossing R-rated film in America.

Clearly, the driving force behind biblical cinema (i.e. capitalist greed) is not evangelical fervour, nor is its style of delivery (i.e. violence, nudity, plus more violence) what one typically associates with the Church. In fact, the Vatican seems to be condemning more of these films than condoning them. Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Jesus Christ (1988) stoked the fire of Christian fundamentalists for depicting Jesus being tempted by the prospect of leading a happy, fully mortal life with Mary Magdalene, which led to a terrorist attack in Paris. However, if we cut through the din of doctrinal controversies, the Bible offers some of the greatest stories ever told in Western civilisation, whether one believes in its content or not. These stories of good triumphing over evil are bejewelled with acts of miracles and crowd-pleasing spectacles, like bloodshed and natural disasters, making them perfect for everyone to enjoy. I mean, who remembers that the original feature-length version of Ben-Hur (1925) has the subtitle A Tale of the Christ? It is the famous chariot race that everyone remembers, not Jesus’ magic cure for leprosy.

biblical cinema is constantly renewing itself into modern-day relevance, even if it means having less and less to do with the religion itself

Fast forward to Mary Magdalene, biblical cinema has come a long way. As society becomes more aware of the spaces that women and PoC occupied in Western history, the film’s director Garth Davis, along with many others, are revising these grand narratives to fill in the blanks. The decision to cast Chiwetel Ejiofor as ‘Peter’ is one example; the attempt to clear Magdalene’s notoriety by creating in Mara a devout student, who is forever attentive, forever mesmerised, and forever gazing, quite literally, at the camera, is another move. But either way, though Christianity itself may be on a downward slope, biblical cinema is constantly renewing itself into modern-day relevance, even if it means having less and less to do with the religion itself.

the electric chapels of the modern age

As Avengers: Infinity War explodes all over my newsfeed, I sense that perhaps a new Gospel has arrived. Superhero movies seem to have filled the shoes religion used to wear. Transcendent beings inspired by pantheons from Scandinavia to Wakanda are being idolized by millions across the world; cults are congregating around them at ComicCons, and each new release from Marvel is sewn together to create a definitive canon. Like the Christian God, these heroes are empowered with miraculous powers to make us believe in something better than us; unlike the Christian God, they are imperfect with human frailties we all can identify. As churches become empty, the crowds are flocking to the cinema on Sundays, devouring overpriced tubs of popcorns and soda like the Eucharist, an inalienable part of the movie-going ritual. Are our local Odeons then becoming the electric chapels of the modern age? God knows.

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