The new film Footnote continues to get attention after its Cannes screening, for which it has won an award:
Israel's Cedar wins award at CannesJason Solomons gives it a brief review in his Guardian Cannes roundup:
By Viva Sarah Press (Israel21c)
May 23, 2011
Israeli film director Joseph Cedar clinched the best screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival for his film, Footnote.
Footnote is a drama-comedy about the rivalry between a father and son who are competing Talmud scholars at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem
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Contrasting with Malick's new agey, Romantic reverie was the old age study of the holy word contained in Joseph Cedar's Talmud tragicomedy Footnote, probably my favourite film of the festival. It's about a father and son who are both respected but very different Talmud scholars and the Shkolnik family "broigus" that ensues when father is finally awarded the prestigious recognition of the Israel prize.More reviews of Footnote here.
The film was partly inspired by Cedar's own experience as an Oscar nominee for his last feature, war film Beaufort, but this is closer to something like the Coen brothers' A Serious Man or a David Lodge campus comedy. The performances from Lior Ashkenazi as the son and Shlomo Bar Aba are outstanding in this very smart, very Jewish film. What's not to like?
[UPDATE (24 May): Praise for the Hebrew University's Talmud Department from Manuscript Boy at Hagahot.]
From Talmud to mysticism: the Archangel Metatron make an appearance as a character (sort of) in a play currently running in Santa Monica. Reviewlet by Steven Leigh Morris in LAWeekly:
NEW REVIEW DEUX EX MACHINA AND THE HANDS OF THE BEHOLDERAll of the other stories today are connected in one way or another with ancient Gnosticism.
Minutes into writer-director R.S. Bailey's "dark Vaudevillian farce," one gets a sinking feeling. The play (which really feels like two discreet works), takes place in a semi-apocalyptic setting in which God's wrath is at hand and religious zealots have taken over the world. In the prologue, we meet a character named The Historian (Jezter Detroit), who rambles on about history, politics, cause and effect, great events, historical relativism, and more. Prompted by the wail of police sirens, he quickly exits, after which the "meat" of the play begins. Bailey assumes the role of Old Testament Patriarch -- with a dash of mad scientist and Sorcerer's Apprentice tossed in -- who is searching for God before the Day of Judgment. Assisting him are his wife Majda (Mary Dryden), and son Jesse (Jonathan Brett), who is working on a contraption called a Metatron where God is located, or as it turns out, the dwelling place of his voice. The inspiration for this is purportedly the story of Abraham and Isaac, but if it is, it doesn't come across as such, notwithstanding the bizarre sacrifice near the play's end. Theatre Z Productions at The Complex, Dorie Theatre, 6476 Santa Monica Blvd., Hlwd.; Thurs-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun. 3 p.m.; thru June 5. (323) 960-7788. plays411.com (Lovell Estell III)
On recent and classic films with a Gnostic connection:
Knowing Is Half The Battle: Dark City, The Matrix, And Inception As Gnostic ManualsExegesis follows. The Truman Show also rightly gets a mention. Earlier thoughts on The Matrix and Gnosticism are here.
Added by Keoni Chavez on May 15, 2011 (Screened)
When hearing the word "religion", it's a safe assumption that most people will think of the more commonly referenced faiths, like Islam, Catholicism, declaring for Ba'al, what have you. However, I'd like to talk about an often-overlooked sect of Christianity (though even that stipulation is arguable) called Gnosticism.
Essentially -- and know that this is a gross oversimplification, but for the purposes of this article, it'll do -- the Gnostics believed that the material world was an imperfect reflection of a higher, truer reality. This imperfection was created, not by God, but by a lesser being known as a 'demiurge'. While the purpose for this creation isn't always clear, it was said that only by adherence to esoteric knowledge -- or "gnosis" -- can one transcend the trap of the material world and ascend to the higher plane.
Now, run that notion through Hollywood's lens, and what do you get? At least the three movies mentioned in the title: Alex Proyas' Dark City, The Wachowski Brothers' The Matrix, and Christopher Nolan's Inception.
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Also at Screened, more Matrix-as-Platonism/Gnosticism exegesis by Andrew Godoski in Under The Influence: The Matrix:
Moving on, the philosophy at play in The Matrix is simply mind-boggling. They actually devoted an entire disc to it in The Ultimate Matrix Collection box set. I’m not even going to try to delve too deep into any of it, because if I did this article would quickly turn into a 300 page thesis. But, I’ll touch on one idea really quickly. The premise of The Matrix can be tied into Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave.” Keeping this extremely basic, Plato likened people who were uneducated in his Theory of Forms (which is in very, very simplistic terms, the idea that the true essence or definition of an object isn’t what we perceive with our eyes, but rather the quality that makes it that object, i.e. what makes a table a table... that is its true form) to being chained in a cave. A fire glows behind them and they see the shadows of objects passing along the wall, but not the actual objects themselves. These people perceive the shadows as reality and thus do not know the true form of the objects. They are prisoners to this false perception of reality. Sound strikingly familiar? Again, this barely scratches the surface, but it goes to show just how complex the storytelling in The Matrix really is.Plus you can watch a video excerpt of the lobby scene.
I’ll finish by making a quick stop on religion to tie it all back to this week's theme. Just naming a few, this film touches on the ideas of Hinduism, Buddhism, Gnosticism, Judaism, and Christianity. And like philosophy, religion is so tightly woven into the script that discussing all of what you see here would take hours and hours. Obviously, I can’t go through all of it, but I will touch on perhaps the most blatantly apparent idea in the series... Neo as a Christ figure. To start, Neo has a “virgin” birth of sorts since he’s created by the machines and brought into the real world after spending his entire life in an incubator pod, which, of course, is symbolic of a womb. You also can’t ignore the prophecies of his coming and the fact that he is the one chosen to free humanity from their bondage. Then, there's his name, Thomas Anderson. Thomas refers to Doubting Thomas, as Neo never believed he was The One at first. Anderson can literally mean “son of man” when broken up into its roots. Anyone familiar with the teachings of Christianity knows Jesus is often referred to by that name. And if you couple that name with Neo meaning new, you get “new son of man.” You also can’t ignore the Judas/Cypher and Morpheus/John the Baptist metaphors and the fact that Neo gets a very Christ-like death at the end of the series.
Regular PaleoJudaica readers will be reminded of earlier discussions of Gnosticism and the Simulation Argument here, here, and here. I'll take the red pill.
Then we have Lady Gaga and the Gospel of Judas, offered by Rev. Patrick S. Cheng at the Huffington Post:
Lady Gaga -- the queer icon and pop sensation -- is setting off the Christian right again. In her new song and video, "Judas," Lady Gaga sings over and over, "I'm in love with Judas," referring to the reviled disciple who betrays Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver. Is there anything redemptive, theologically speaking, about this song and video?Unfortunately, this interpretation of the Gospel of Judas is widely disputed.
For me, the answer is a definite "yes." As a queer theologian and professor of early church history, this song and video brings to mind the little-known second century gnostic Christian text The Gospel of Judas. In that text, Judas is actually the disciple who is the most loyal to Jesus and does the will of Jesus by setting into motion the events that ultimately lead to human salvation.
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[UPDATE: Rock diva Helen Ingram does Judas in her church organ series. Why no video, Helen? We expect the highest production standards.]
Then there's Coptic, Platonism, Gnosticism, Satanism, and black metal: Ipsissimus Discusses "The Way of Descent" (by Disc0rdant at metal underground.com):
Haimatokharmes: With the Coptic bridge in the middle of the song, I simply wanted to express black piety with the brutal and pithy character of Coptic. I arranged the riffs and the lyrics in a chiastic structure (a-b-c-b-a) to lend the section a particularly liturgical cohesion.Finally, the Gnostic gospels Off-Broadway:
Musical Based on Gnostic Gospels, The Magdalene, to Bow Off-Broadway[UPDATE: on a related note, James McGrath has a post up on The LOST Series Finale: One Year Later. I liked the ending and could never quite figure out why some people were so unhappy with it.]
By Adam Hetrick (Playbill.com)
20 May 2011
The new musical The Magdalene, inspired by the Gnostic gospels that portray Mary Magdalene in a new light, will begin previews Off-Broadway June 14 at the Theatre at St. Clement's. The production will officially open June 27 for a run through Sept. 4.
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According to producers, "In this musical, Mary and Yeshua are destined to become husband and wife, and face together the dangerous and corrupt powers of the time—the Roman Empire and the church—not only battling the new religious ideas, but also the resistance to empowering women."
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