A “FILM FESTIVAL” FOR POLYTHEISTS

By Rev. Todd Arthur Covert, Chief of the Fellowship

Over the course of the past couple years, this newsletter has provided a number of recommendations for print resources for comtemporary polytheists.  But what about other media?  Here are a few diverse motion pictures that offer insight into various aspects of or perspectives on polytheism:

1. SPIRITED AWAY and PRINCESS MONONOKE -- Hayao Miyazaki’s two acknowledged masterpieces are set in distinctly different worlds and operate in different narrative traditions.  The first is set in contemporary Japan and is grounded in a naturalistic framework—in which a modern girl wanders into a spirit realm existing alongside our own.  The latter is a historical fable, in which supernatural entities are a given in daily life.  Both, however, are deeply steeped in Japan’s indigenous polytheist tradition—Shinto—and are remarkably similar to the legends and lore of the Celtic past.
2. THE SECRET OF KELLS  -- Speaking of the Celtic past:  This Oscar-nominated and visually-unique animated tale is grounded in a view of medieval Celtic society as dealing straightforwardly with the existence of not only a Pagan past, but also non-human entities residing in the natural world.  The film is clearly sympathetic to the conversion to Christianity, but prizes above all the connection between man and nature and sounds a distinctly cautionary note regarding the repressive aspects of authority and hierarchy.   On a purely visual level, the film is a feast and is a celebration of Celtic graphic and ornamental forms.
3. WALKABOUT -- Nicolas Roeg's visionary (and recently re-released on DVD) opus about the collision between urban man and aboriginal culture.   Most of Roeg’s films touch on the expansion or alteration of consciousness and the fracturing of linear, intellectual, perceptions of reality.  WALKABOUT represented a first step along his path of exploration, yet remains one of his finest films.  The movie launched the career of aboriginal actor, David Gulpilil, recognizable from Peter Weir’s THE LAST WAVE and—in a more ‘Pop’ vein—‘CROCODILE’ DUNDEE.
4. THE WICKER MAN (the original, not the ghastly remake) -- Pagan practices survive on a small British Isle...Beltaine fun, sexual abandon, human sacrifice. Would probably win in a poll of Neopagans for their favorite depiction of Pagan practice—despite the fact that the Pagans in the film are ultimately cast as the villains of the piece.  Particularly worth viewing for how both screenwriter Anthony Shaffer (SLEUTH) and co-star Christopher Lee are clearly reveling in the opportunity to bring a functioning polytheist community to vibrant life.
5. GLADIATOR – Unlike many “sword and sandals” epics (e.g., BEN HUR, THE ROBE), there are no Christians in evidence in this Oscar winning tale of Imperial Rome.  (Most critics and movie-goers seem to have missed the fact that this is a near remake of the earlier epic, THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.)  Although the film takes a few liberties with history, apart from its general quality of acting and technical filmmaking, for polytheists, it is worthwhile to note the attention paid to Maximus’s personal shrine and the importance attached to his religious devotions.  If Richard Harris’s all-too-brief sketch of the Emporer Marcus Aurelius leads viewers to further exploration of this towering figure from late Paganism, so much the better.
6. THE 13^TH WARRIOR – Another epic from the European past in which no Christian characters appear (although the film is set in precisely the era in which its Viking protagonists would have been seeing their culture shift towards Christianity).  The hero is a Muslim, his brothers-in-arms are Pagan Norsemen, and the “bad guys” are…absurdly, but entertainingly…an isolated tribe of Paleolithic goddess worshippers who are—in defiance of decades of assumptions within the Wiccan community and elsewhere—both violent marauders and not merely carnivores, but cannibals.  Guilty pleasure “popcorn movie” that also provides an opportunity to slip out of the dominant paradigm and see men and women from radically different religions interacting in respectful—and generally believable—ways.  Adapted from Michael Crichton’s novel, EATERS OF THE DEAD, which, in turn, married Ahmad Ibn Fadlan’s historical narrative of a sojourn among the Norsemen with the tale of BEOWULF.
7. THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW -- Excellent opening sequence involving shamanic journey; remainder is generally exciting and well-researched voodoo horror.  Unusual film in that it is a fictionalized adaptation of a nonfiction book on ethnophamacology (specifically the purported method for “zombification” by the employment of the paralytic agent, tetrodotoxin).  As in the case of THE WICKER MAN, however, the close identification of the local religion with villainous behavior is a mark against the film.
8. I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE – Another “Voodoo film,” this one both a classic piece of atmospheric filmmaking (loosely based on JANE EYRE) and a more respectful picture of Afro-Caribbean spirituality than is found in SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW.
9. KISSED – This relatively obscure low budget Canadian film will not be for all tastes (the main female character is a necrophiliac), but the opening sequences exploring the evolving deviant psychology of the surprisingly appealing lead (a truly brilliant performance by Molly Parker) are a haunting evocation of the power of even the most simple ritual.  (There are similar sequences to be found in Peter Jackson’s remarkable HEAVENLY CREATURES.)   Cloaked within the rather shocking subject matter is a depiction of the way in which human beings are driven to craft ritualized actions to forge connections with ineffable powers abroad in the world and in other people.

Dishonorable mention:   THE BELIEVERS (ludicrous and lurid Santaria horror), HALLOWEEN III (“Sam-hane” as focus of child endangerment…and utterly implausible evil plot), THE GUARDIAN (killer Druid).