Spoiler Alert*
We have all been there. We invest in an entire film or story only to realize it had all been the main character's dream. It is a cliche, we all see it coming, we all hope it does not happen to us again. But to see it coming in a film from 1925? The twist just might shock you one last time. Or was the reveal ending only a dream to the audience? What? Okay, Body and Soul was written, produced, and directed by Oscar Micheaux. He was an African American director who, instead of being controlled by the major studio producers of Hollywood in the 20's, became somewhat of an auteur and proved once again that directors with independent film making flair do it better than big budgeted Hollywood. I'll be saying the phrase, "for a Hollywood film in the 20s" many times in this post to show my oh so high opinion of them. The film stars Paul Robeson, who was the first black student to attend Rutgers University, played football, passed the bar exam, and decided to go into acting with this film. It is about a convict who escapes prison and pretends to be a priest within a small town. He falls in love with a member of the church, Isabelle. Only, because Isabelle happens to love his twin brother Sylvester, he basically rapes her, he steals money from her mother, makes her take the blame for it, and forces her to leave town. Interesting way of showing love.
The beginning of the film seems hard to follow. The audience is not quite sure why Jenkins (the escaped convict) is doing what he is doing, or why Isabelle is leaving town. But the film through flashback, returns to previous scenes and lets them play out longer. It is great to see this type of structure exist in a 20's Hollywood film, which are usually plot driven and continuous. This film is more interesting due to it's non linear style and use of reveals. Once Isabelle flees, her mother finds her again, is informed on the true situation in which Reverend Jenkins had been taking advantage of her. Everything gets worse, things are not turning out well, then Isabelle wakes up. It had all been a dream. Her mother gives the money to her and Sylvester, and they are happily married. The end. Wait a minute. A twist ending? What is the purpose? The fact that this film caters to an African American audience in order to show them that the injustice, corruption, and exclusion that haunted their race at the time was a nightmare soon to be woken up from? It could be argued that way. Only the real reason is much worse: Jenkins is a corrupt character who exploits weak characters, and uses the power of the Church to gain money. When he takes money from Isabelle, the stash is hidden in a bible, which is appropriate. The film depicts the "man of the cloth" in a harsh way. And in anticipation of the film upsetting audiences, the writer, director, producer was forced to re-edit the film in a way that would reconcile his harsh depiction. If it wasn't for that damned Motion Picture Commission and it's censorship! The original cut of the film is lost, and I'm sure it would have been more meaningful and important than the dream ending which seems to uphold religious morals and ideals. While this ending has been repeated in story telling, so does wrongful censorship. Still, censors only look at content and not context, and we see it happen again here. The MPAA does not account for meaning of film's; they would cut out a controversial, important scene or theme of a film with disregard to how it would change the meaning of the film, which if read in a different way could end up being more offensive than what they cut out. In the same way that blacks, and women, became more and more excluded from the film industry as it progressed from frequent participation of minorities and having half of the industry's screen writers as women, women and minorities are still being depicted in unfavorable, racist, and sexist ways in film because the MPAA does not consider how cutting out a sex scene in which a female is dominant might take away to what that film may be saying about women's sexuality. It has happened before. Censoring is seen as a form of protection, but it can hinder films in reaching profound meanings. Maybe Body and Soul, which despite it's poor production quality and jump cuts, would have been even more outstanding because of the original ending. It could have said something about religion that would make audiences think as opposed to a twist that would make the audience discount it all. It is hard to say. But for what this cut of the film does still warrants a view for a Hollywood film in the 20s. It further proves that all kinds of people should make films, poor, rich, black, white, male, or female. This film did some innovative things. And it remains as a historical example that puts how film's today are struggling into perspective. And for that, I believe this is an excellent, and more importantly, important silent film.
No comments:
Post a Comment