Little known but terrifically effective Italian film originally titled "Seduto all sua destra" ("Seated at His Right"), but retitled in the US "Black Jesus" to take advantage of the blaxploitation film trend of the 1970s, this is not remotely a blaxploitation film. Former athlete-turned-wonderful-actor Woody Strode (best known for "Spartacus," "The Professionals," and "Sergeant Rutledge") has the most prominent role of his career as a thinly disguised Patrice Lumumba, the charismatic revolutionary of the Belgian Congo. Generally described and reviewed as a highly political film about the Belgian (and other European) exploitation of Africa, in reality this film has (maybe unintentionally) a simpler meaning at its heart: the contrast between love and cruelty. Yes, the film pits primarily "evil" Europeans against almost exclusively benign Africans. Yes, the Marxist inclinations of the filmmaker (Valerio Zurlini) are quite evident. But taken at face value, there is much less in this film about politics than there is about how casually some men can be cruel--terribly cruel--and how central to the core of what it means to be human love and mercy are. From that viewpoint, what many have pointed out as heavy-handed Christ symbolism (and it is blatant) is not so much a political point as it is a poem about the kindness that can be found in the human heart even in the most degrading circumstances. Woody Strode (even in the dubbed version) is amazing, not only for his stunning physical presence (anyone who saw his gladiator fight with Kirk Douglas in "Spartacus" knows what I'm talking about), but for the humanity that bursts from the screen whenever he is in view. This is not a film without flaws (especially in the version easily available), but it's a wonderfully effective film despite those flaws, and presents far more in a simple way than at first meets the eye.
5 Reviews
The Crucifixion - Spaghetti Western Style
The-Sarkologist30 November 2013
Warning: Spoilers
I don't know why I recorded this movie. Maybe it had something to do with the title. Actually, the title, Black Jesus, did interest me. At first I thought that it was an Italian Spaghetti Western, but within the first few moments, the ruined slum and the machine gun fire in the background, shows you that it is not. What this movie is is a retelling of the story of Jesus' death.
The movie is based around a man named Maurice Lalubi. Lalubi is a visionary and a prophet, but his words are inciting the natives to revolt against the occupiers of an unnamed African country. In the first few scenes we watch the bounty for Lalubi go up constantly, and he is turned in by a man who has no interest in a reward.
This movie is a reflection of the crucifixion. Lalubi isn't crucified, but you know that once he has been captured he is not going to be released. The commander is a reflection of Pontious Pilate, the Italians are the Romans, and the two thieves that were crucified with Jesus are there as well.
The commander is portrayed as a man who is in a land that he does not want to be, just as was Pilate. He understands and sympathises with Lalubi, but his commanders are forcing him to destroy Lalubi. As such he gives Lalubi the option to leave his country or to suffer unthinkable tortures. The commander is a coward as even though he knows Lalubi is innocent, he is not going to let Lalubi go.
The first thief is the important one as he is the one who repented. The second thief is silent and would rather co-operate and get back to what he was doing before. This doesn't help the second thief as he dies anyway. The first thief claims to be innocent, and probably is, but the important thing is that he looks after Lalubi. At first they speak and Lalubi promises that he will remember him and that they will sit together and have dinner together - a similar thing that Jesus said to the thief on the cross.
When Lalubi is dying, the first thief asks for oil and begins to cover him with it. This represents the fact that Lalubi will die. In the ancient world, the corpses would be anointed with oil, and thus when Jesus was anointed with perfume, it signaled that he was going to die.
This is a very deep movie and it tries to create the story of the crucifixion in another light. In this setting it shows us more clearly how horrifying the time in which Jesus lived was, and also the extent of his betrayal not only by a fellow Jew, but by one of his disciples. Many people who don't know the story do not understand the violence of the times and the suffering and oppression that the Jews were facing. This movie takes the story out of one time and puts it into another time to help us see more clearly how horrifying the crucifixion really was.
The movie is based around a man named Maurice Lalubi. Lalubi is a visionary and a prophet, but his words are inciting the natives to revolt against the occupiers of an unnamed African country. In the first few scenes we watch the bounty for Lalubi go up constantly, and he is turned in by a man who has no interest in a reward.
This movie is a reflection of the crucifixion. Lalubi isn't crucified, but you know that once he has been captured he is not going to be released. The commander is a reflection of Pontious Pilate, the Italians are the Romans, and the two thieves that were crucified with Jesus are there as well.
The commander is portrayed as a man who is in a land that he does not want to be, just as was Pilate. He understands and sympathises with Lalubi, but his commanders are forcing him to destroy Lalubi. As such he gives Lalubi the option to leave his country or to suffer unthinkable tortures. The commander is a coward as even though he knows Lalubi is innocent, he is not going to let Lalubi go.
The first thief is the important one as he is the one who repented. The second thief is silent and would rather co-operate and get back to what he was doing before. This doesn't help the second thief as he dies anyway. The first thief claims to be innocent, and probably is, but the important thing is that he looks after Lalubi. At first they speak and Lalubi promises that he will remember him and that they will sit together and have dinner together - a similar thing that Jesus said to the thief on the cross.
When Lalubi is dying, the first thief asks for oil and begins to cover him with it. This represents the fact that Lalubi will die. In the ancient world, the corpses would be anointed with oil, and thus when Jesus was anointed with perfume, it signaled that he was going to die.
This is a very deep movie and it tries to create the story of the crucifixion in another light. In this setting it shows us more clearly how horrifying the time in which Jesus lived was, and also the extent of his betrayal not only by a fellow Jew, but by one of his disciples. Many people who don't know the story do not understand the violence of the times and the suffering and oppression that the Jews were facing. This movie takes the story out of one time and puts it into another time to help us see more clearly how horrifying the crucifixion really was.
A brilliant, mercilessly hardcore political film; probably Woody Strode's greatest role
Aw-komon19 March 2001
It's funny that one of the alternate titles for this film is "Super Brother"! "Super Brother"?! I guess they must have been referring to the iconic super-athlete-turned-actor Woody Strode and trying to sell this brilliant, Pontecorvo-esque Battle-of-Algiers-Queimada-Burn-like 1968 anti-colonialist political Italian film to a blaxploitation/spaghetti-Western/action-film crowd! Zurlini's film is definitely hardcore, violent, and has some action, but it is anything but blaxploitation; even with all its flaws it's one of the fantastic achievements of the politically committed 'Marxist' cinema of the period, at the very least, on the level of Pontecorvo's much more widely seen "Burn," starring Marlon Brando. Snobs and perfectionists may disagree with that assessment but real film fans know that imperfect, flawed films are often far preferable in every way to films that play by the rules and criterion set-up by bozo mainstream critics. "Black Jesus," and most of Zurlini's other films are underrated masterpieces that have slipped through the crack of history and are ripe for rediscovery. I thoroughly enjoyed all 8 of Zurlini's films screened at UCLA recently and would buy at least 6 of them on DVD tomorrow if they were available. All 8 of them should be put out on good DVDs, not cut-up pan-and-scan videos (and especially, "Black Jesus" because it was shot in 2.35:1 widescreen)!
One of the flaws associated with the film is that it was post-production dubbed in the typically bizarre sounding Italian style of that era but to me that's not a big problem: the film itself being intentionally played slightly 'over-the-top' this 'aural distancing' only adds to its surreal, dreamlike, hypnotic, and totally flabergasting power. "Black Jesus" is a dramatic re-creation of events that actually happened (again like Pontecorvo's "Burn"), though the names and locales have been changed to wisely avoid accusations of historical innaccuracy with regard to details. The entire film has one major purpose: to put you in direct contact with the brute facts of colonialism and make you very mad that injustice goes unpunished, and it uses parable to drive its point home. The long, meditative, almost Antonioni-paced prison conversation between Strode and his unlucky knave of a cell-mate as he awaits the sure to be bleak fate of one who doesn't compromise with tyrants, sets up one of the most harrowing and shattering torture scenes in cinematic history (harder to take than anything in Midnight Express or Reservoir Dogs). Not one inch is granted to audience sensitivities and conditioning and their need to have 'escapist' entertainment; the entire film is completely uncompromised, bleak, hard-to-take, powerful, and in the final analysis, a truly awesome achievement that transcends all its flaws.
One of the flaws associated with the film is that it was post-production dubbed in the typically bizarre sounding Italian style of that era but to me that's not a big problem: the film itself being intentionally played slightly 'over-the-top' this 'aural distancing' only adds to its surreal, dreamlike, hypnotic, and totally flabergasting power. "Black Jesus" is a dramatic re-creation of events that actually happened (again like Pontecorvo's "Burn"), though the names and locales have been changed to wisely avoid accusations of historical innaccuracy with regard to details. The entire film has one major purpose: to put you in direct contact with the brute facts of colonialism and make you very mad that injustice goes unpunished, and it uses parable to drive its point home. The long, meditative, almost Antonioni-paced prison conversation between Strode and his unlucky knave of a cell-mate as he awaits the sure to be bleak fate of one who doesn't compromise with tyrants, sets up one of the most harrowing and shattering torture scenes in cinematic history (harder to take than anything in Midnight Express or Reservoir Dogs). Not one inch is granted to audience sensitivities and conditioning and their need to have 'escapist' entertainment; the entire film is completely uncompromised, bleak, hard-to-take, powerful, and in the final analysis, a truly awesome achievement that transcends all its flaws.
I guess Black Jesus wasn't for me since I'm still trying to stay alert having just watched it
tavm5 February 2012
Just watched this on YouTube. The title was enough to get me to watch but unfortunately, I found myself half-bored because of the slow pace of getting from one scene to another. As a possible result, half of me didn't know what was going on or why. I guess this film wasn't for me since I expected some quick action and an exciting music score and maybe some campy dialogue. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this movie wasn't very exciting to me. Woody Strode does have a presence and I did feel sorry for him when he was tortured but other than that, I just wasn't very excited. I really can't think of anything positive about this film. So on that note, beware of what to expect from Black Jesus.
The film's limitations are interesting enough in their own right
philosopherjack18 December 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The original Italian title of Valerio Zurlini's dramatization of the death of Lalubi, a charismatic anti-colonial rebel leader, translates as "Seated to his right," a title that somewhat subtly evokes the religious charge that runs through the film, while also pointing to the film's major misstep, that for all its strong desire to positively and respectfully portray Lalubi, it tends to diminish him through misdirection and misemphasis. To enumerate, there's the casting of Woody Strode (who embodies the role in an effective, beatific manner, but at no time seems to belong to the culture being portrayed); the significant over-reliance on white perspectives (in particular those of the Dutch commander who agonizes in Pilate-style about his role in delivering Lalubi to his fate, and a fellow cellmate who trades his secret stash of pornographic photos to a guard to obtain some oil to apply to Lalubi's wounds); and the fact that the religious analogy, no matter how occasionally effective on its own terms, blurs local political realities rather than clarifying our understanding of them. Still, Zurlini does invest the film with a potent, spare, power. His most effective device may come at the very end, following the film's enactment of Lalubi's "crucifixion," evoking his resurrection through a little boy, clad all in white, who stands bearing silent witness, and in the end escapes from the soldier's guns into the distance, embodying a distinctness and freedom capable of surviving the machinations of colonial occupiers and their cynical collaborators. The film is best known as Black Jesus, and an American release poster featured the tagline "He who ain't with me - is against me," suggesting a (perhaps not unreasonable) wish for a far more confrontational film than Zurlini actually delivered (the alternative release title "Super Brother" further pushed that angle). Still, the film's limitations are interesting enough in their own right, in embodying the difficulty of exposing colonial injustice from the outside (the film's missteps are far less egregious than those of Attenborough's Cry Freedom, to take a better-known example).
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