Top ten filmic Christ figures
At F&T, Kim Fabricius has posted a list of his twelve favorite filmic Christ-figures. While the list is solid (I’ve kept two from Kim’s list), I think there are a number of important characters that are often overlooked. I offer here my list of the top ten filmic Christ figures, listed in order of significance rather than in order of film release. Also, the list of rules is extensive and specifically excludes violent, religious, historical, and animated characters. I will do my best to abide by these.
I should note that most of these films are very modern, and that simply reflects my youth. There are certainly a number of much older films that deserve to be on such a list. I welcome suggestions from others.
1. Ofelia – Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
2. Kanji Watanabe – Ikiru (1952)
3. Damiel – Wings of Desire (1987)
4. Babette – Babette’s Feast (1987)
5. Mateo – In America (2002)
6. Theo Faron – Children of Men (2006)
7. Phil Parma – Magnolia (1999)
8. Andy Dufresne – Shawshank Redemption (1994)
9. Lena Leonard – Punch Drunk Love (2002)
10. El Chivo – Amores Perros (2000)
If the rules permitted religious figures, then the following two would be my first choices (they would actually be much higher than 11 or 12, but I’ve listed them this way for continuity):
11. Priest of Ambricourt – The Diary of a Country Priest (1951)
12. Sister Constance Lazure – The Barbarian Invasions (2003)
I should note that most of these films are very modern, and that simply reflects my youth. There are certainly a number of much older films that deserve to be on such a list. I welcome suggestions from others.
1. Ofelia – Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
2. Kanji Watanabe – Ikiru (1952)
3. Damiel – Wings of Desire (1987)
4. Babette – Babette’s Feast (1987)
5. Mateo – In America (2002)
6. Theo Faron – Children of Men (2006)
7. Phil Parma – Magnolia (1999)
8. Andy Dufresne – Shawshank Redemption (1994)
9. Lena Leonard – Punch Drunk Love (2002)
10. El Chivo – Amores Perros (2000)
If the rules permitted religious figures, then the following two would be my first choices (they would actually be much higher than 11 or 12, but I’ve listed them this way for continuity):
11. Priest of Ambricourt – The Diary of a Country Priest (1951)
12. Sister Constance Lazure – The Barbarian Invasions (2003)
Comments
But seriously - has no-one seen Breaking the Waves?! Go out forthwith and procure it!
I would add the role of John Nash's wife (played brilliantly by Jennifer Connally)in A Beautiful Mind, except she violates the rule about not being based on a historical figure.
The point about Mackey is a good one, and you're certainly right that he is a Christ-figure. I thought about him at first, but the character of Phil wins out for me in the end because his salvific influence extends throughout all his relationships and ends up being wider than Mackey's. But of course almost every character in that film is a Christ figure!
In America is one of my and my wife's favorite films. A heartfelt story completely free from the usual sentimental baggage that ruins similar films. Since it is still relatively unknown, I tell everyone I see about it.
Sister Lazure from The Barbarian Invasions is a great suggestion. (What about the son?) As is Phil Parma from Magnolia.
I also think such a female perspective is quite illuminating for the 'macho' pacifism of Stanley Hauerwas, for example, but that's another story...
Certainly the son in Barbarian Invasions is a Christ figure of sorts, but he's a character just as much in need of redemption as the others in many respects -- so I would still go with Sister Lazure. Her short screen time belies her pivotal position in the film's story. She is the one who helps reconcile the father and son in the first place, so the redemptive influence of the son is really dependent upon the redemptive influence of Sister Lazure.
have you seen Bresson's Au Hazard Balthasar? Balthasar the donkey would be on the top of my list of filmic Christ figures.
I love the suggestion of Lena Leonard in Punch Drunk Love...great film! Philip Seymour Hoffman's character, Dean Trumbell, makes for a great Devil figure in that one!
I love Bresson's films, but that's one I am still waiting to see (also on my Netflix queue!). I look forward to watching it soon.
Neo from the Matrix
And...!
Riddick (Yes, it's a stretch, but he displays Christ like qualities in the most interesting of times.)
The only problem is that one of the rules is that the Christ figures must be nonviolent. They must imitate Christ in their refusal to take up arms. Certainly Neo is one of the most carefully constructed Christ figures in all of cinema -- for better or for worse -- but since he exhibits violence throughout, he is disqualified.
The Riddick of Pitch Black is a more interesting example, and apart from his own violent tendencies, I am inclined to see him as the best Christ-figure in sci-fi films.
I also like him in the sequel where he deals with the necromongers - perfect symbols of fascist fundamentalism. Christ did overturn some tables, but yes, killing people is worse.
Christ did say "Woe to you..." to many...isn't that a death sentence?
The connection I would make with Riddick and the Christ figure is that he holds relationship more important than doctrine.....
I'd also suggest you look at Dignan in Wes Anderson's Bottle Rocket (1996). His action at the end seems to meet the Christ-like figure in a powerful, albeit comical sense.
Although, I'd also suggest narrowing down what we mean by Christlike as it could include any number of qualities, from the "fool" or "idiot" (as in Dostoevsky or Cervantes, or it could include the Messianic. Both of which historically have not excluded violence.
By way of clarification, you'll notice that this rule is not my own, but Kim's.
That said, I think this is a good rule to abide by for the simple reason that Christ's nonviolence is a definitive feature of his ethical example and thoroughly shapes the commands he gives his followers. If there is any violence in Christ's example, it is an aberration from the basic pattern of his life, not something that can be normalized and imitated uncritically.
Moreover, the violence that we see in seemingly "Christ-like" figures in film have little if any material connection to the reasons which gave rise to Christ's outbursts against the Pharisees and the abuses in the temple. In other words, there is a reason why Christ was upset, and unless those reasons are present, any attempt to ground violence on the basis of Christ's example are in fact groundless. That is to say, there is a concrete and particular basis for righteous anger, and I do not believe any Christ-figure in film faces these same concerns.
Finally, we live in a violent culture, a society of death, one might say. Christ came to bring life in abundance; he came as the Prince of Peace, as the messiah who restores justice and upholds the oppressed. Any filmic figure who undermines at least a basic concern for peace and justice is not a figure I wish to associate with our Lord and Savior.