Son of Man - Scott Funck

In Son of Man a power struggle becomes evident in the opening sequence as it depicts The Temptations (Matt and Luke 4).  In the movie though the Jesus figure does not speak to Satan until he physically cast Satan behind him, saying “Get behind me Satan” (using the ending of Luke’s Temptations).  In fact Luke is used throughout the movie as one of Jesus’ main teachings is that of the worldly government as opposed to a divinely instituted government, created by the united of the people.  Another interesting thing of the film was the interaction of Satan and the Angels.  Whenever an “evil” deed was being committed, by Satan or the Elders, a Gazelle hoof cane was present with the person committing the deed.  The angels on the other hand appeared only when Jesus himself was in danger.  Interesting enough when Jesus and his family where escaping persecution (mirroring Matt 2) Jesus actually refuses to go with an angel, staying in the world.  This may show that this Jesus knows he is destined for a greater good, as seen with the crucifix that appears when he prays.  In this film the crucifix is also changed from an object of despair to one of unification.  The disciples find the murdered Jesus and hang him as they dance around the body, showing their unification in his teachings but also to expose the government that wanted to cover the murder.  One particular point of interest in this movie to me was the depiction of Judas Iscariot.  In the Gospels, Judas is not given much cause for his betrayal, but in the film Judas is actively seeking a way to condemn Jesus.  Judas seems upset that they, the disciples are not doing anything to topple to government.  To this end he films Jesus’ messages looking for some proof of political want.  This way to interpret Judas as a disgruntled is foreign to me and a new way to look for the possible inactivity of Jesus in relation to his teachings.