Recently I got an e-mail from Michelange Quay, a Haitian director who was interested in the upcoming Film + Faith Blog-a-thon. While he does not have a blog or intend on writing on the topic, Quay sent me the link to his religious-allusion-filled short film that was a finalist for the Palm D'Or at Cannes (2004). The film is called Évangile du cochon créole, L' (The Gospel of the Creol Pig).
You can watch the film yourself (here), but I warn you some visuals may cause not only a loss of appetite, but a sudden desire to become a vegetarian.
The short film uses the story of the life of a pig, from an early baptism all the way to the point of which it is eaten, becomes fecal-matter and is flushed away as a metaphor for the Haitian people, they're freedom, and they're poverty. The films and music are very beautifully done. The poetic nature of the film reminds me of Derek Walcott.
Michael Quay says his film "takes us back to the 3rd World, where God is political." The term where God is political probably warrants a handful of blog post...and if that terms inspires a post out of you, let me know, because it's very interesting on many levels.
I asked Quay what he meant by the comment, his response is interesting:
"I don't really know what I meant - it sounded good at the time! I suppose
that in Haiti people don't pray for closure, or for healing, but for daily
survival, life and death issues. And I guess that those knife-to -the-throat
survival needs are very linked into power, money, import, export and elections in
certian countries like Haiti. God and the gun are close friends in places where
continuity between governments is an exception. That's probably why so many
priests in Latin America got tortured as leftist guerillas over the years, and
why the Chinese Government purged the Falun Gongsect. Especially in poor
countries, it could be that the kingdom of heaven is indeed at hand!"
Check out Quay's video if you're interested, I'd love to know your thoughts on the short film and/or his comments.
Also, remember the Film + Faith blog-a-thon is coming up very soon (November 7-9, 2007). So far 40 participants have sent me their e-mail and asked to participate. Those participants include people employed by large churches to atheist, as well as religion bloggers to film bloggers.
If you are interested in participating, post anything you desire on the topic of film and faith between the dates listed, send me an e-mail with a link to your post, and I will collect a running list of the post that cover that topic during the blog-a-thon. I can't wait!
1 comment:
Wow, what a great quote ("where God is political,")in contrast to the first world where the statement would be reversed and God would swing from subject to direct object. I can't wait to watch this earthy film this weekend. I'll probably drop by and leave a follow-up comment.
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