Film Comment: Sinners (2025)

 

Sinners is a movie which is intended to be about racism, cultural oppression, colonialism, black culture, anti-religion, and anti-Christianity. As usual, I can make Christian observations about the film which are probably unintended by the director.

“Son, you keep dancin’ with the Devil, one day, he’s gonna follow you home,” from a pastor father to Sammie, nicknamed Preacherboy, who is aching to become famous for his outstanding blues guitar and singing talent. Sammie hooks up with two morally fluid brothers who are opening a juke joint. This sets up a conflict when two white men and a woman show up that night wanting to join in the fun. The problem is that they are vampires.

One man about to be killed/turned into a vampire begins to loudly quote the Lord’s Prayer. All the vampires join in and help complete the quotation. This seems to be intended to show that Christianity has no power against evil.

A Christian response: the frightened man’s words were just that, words, and they did have no power. There is a difference between knowing and believing. The power is not in the words. They are not a Magick spell. God is not our genie in a bottle. The words have power only as they are used by the Holy Spirit.

The theologian, Martin Luther, noted that "The Devil can quote scripture to his own ends." Satan quoted Psalms 91:11-12 while tempting Jesus to misuse his authority (Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 4:1-13). Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44). Jesus responded to Satan's attack by quoting scripture back to him, Matthew 4:7, which quotes Deuteronomy 6:16..

Film Comment: The Judas Project

The Judas Project (1990) is a "modern version" of the Jesus story about "Jesse" and his followers.  Much of the dialogue, escpecially Jesse's is paraphrased directly from the Bible.  The director seems to have intended the film to be a presentation of the life of Christ in a modern setting.   What if Jesus came for the first time ... today?

"Treypole," an IMDB (*) commenter from Texas is a Christian and a filmmaker who said, "Both parts of me were offended by this well-intended turkey."  He describes Jesse as sensitive and weepy-eyed.

Several commenters noticed what they perceived to be a subtle anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish bias in the film.

One commenter describes the film as  a Christian Ed Wood production.  Ed Wood was the nearly legendary exuberant but utterly incompetent director of such hilariously inept films as Plan 9 from Outer Space, Glen or Glenda?, and Bride of the Monster.

* IMDB = The Internet Movie Data base.

The Earliest Biblical Film

Albert Kirchner patented a motion picture camera, but he is historically significant because of his very odd body of film work as a director.  He directed the first known films in two widely disparate genres.  His personal views are unknown.

In 1896, using the pseudonym of Lear, he directed a film, La coucher de la Marie, which was a recording of Louise Willy's striptease stage show in Cairo, Egypt.  This is believed to be the first pornographic film and was prosecuted as such in 1901 in Europe.

After making a series of comedy short films, Kirchner then (1897) shot La passion du Christ, considered to be the first biblical film.  It is a recording of a stage play performed in Paris.

Kirchner died in 1898 or soon after.

Film Comment: The Magic Christian

The Magic Christian (1969) is Terry Southern's sarcastic and nihilist bite at hypocrisy, self-righteousness, and pretensions of altruism. This satire of the modern consumer culture skewers the rich, lawyers, social snobs, the church and just about everyone else. An underlying theme during the film is that the hypocrites are running about doing their lives while social unrest burns around them, totally unnoticed by them. The novel (also titled The Magic Christian) on which the film is based was considered by many to be obscene and was banned in several countries. Think of Monty Python with a knife.

Sir Guy Grand (Peter Sellers) is a multi-bazillionare ("I have enough for everyone.") One day, on a whim, Sir Guy adopts a smelly and unkempt vagrant (Ringo Starr, of the Beatles) whom he meets in the park, and names him Youngman, Youngman Grand. "It's grand to be Grand."

Sir Guy takes Youngman out into the world to teach him the ultimate truth; Everyone has a price, everyone can be bought.  Spreading around his fortune with wild abandon, Sir Guy stages absurd situations to expose snobbery and greed and everyone responds exactly as he predicted they would.  Youngman gets into the spirit of his lessons, becoming ever more cynical by the second.

The Magic Christian of the title is a luxury ocean liner which caters only to the ultra-ultra-rich. Sir Guy arranges for the only available food on the ship to be potatoes.

Unless you are a Peter Sellers completist, this is not a film you probably wish to see. It is more sarcastic and angry than funny. When I say angry, I mean bitter. The bitterness comes to full fruition in the ending of the film.

THIS IS A SPOILER!  DO NOT READ THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU PLAN TO SEE THIS FILM! SKIP TO THE ENDING OF THIS POST! The film ends with an iconic but disgusting scene in which Sir Guy drives home his point. He hires a waste disposal company to fill a large swimming pool with animal blood, urine, and feces and then, while wearing a gas mask, scatters millions of pounds (this is a British film) into the pool. He and Youngman then stand back as all the men in expensive suits dive in to grab up as much money as they can. Everyone can be bought, everyone has a price. Not money itself, but the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10) because it is actually the love of self, the glorification of self above everything else, the root sin.

Christians may not realize it but they also have a price. Instead of allowing themselves to be bought by the world, they belong to Christ. Their love is of Christ who is of inestimable value.

"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:" Galatians 3:13

"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 1 Corinthians 6:20.  

 The price was the life of Jesus, who is fully human and fully God.  How much is God worth?