Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! $5 pledge gets you bonus episodes and $20 enters you in our monthly handmade DVD mailing program "Bootleg Bible Study"! http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy This historically important film with an all black cast takes a unique narrative approach in its depiction of the Christian afterlife. THE BLOOD OF JESUS was directed by Spencer Williams, an accomplished black actor and filmmaker with a prolific media career in the 1920s-40s before starring in the television adaptation of AMOS...
Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! $5 pledge gets you bonus episodes and $20 enters you in our monthly handmade DVD mailing program "Bootleg Bible Study"! http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy
This historically important film with an all black cast takes a unique narrative approach in its depiction of the Christian afterlife. THE BLOOD OF JESUS was directed by Spencer Williams, an accomplished black actor and filmmaker with a prolific media career in the 1920s-40s before starring in the television adaptation of AMOS 'N' ANDY. The highly-rated show featured black actors in starring roles, but was eventually cancelled in part due to pressure from the NAACP objecting to its stereotypical depictions of African-Americans. Nonetheless, Spencer Williams should be considered a trailblazer in black American media. In fact, THE BLOOD OF JESUS could be considered the most commercially successful "race film" (low budget independent films meant for black audiences at segregated movie theaters). Watching today, it's easy to understand why it was a success, because even 85 years later, the film's confident narrative and resourceful low budget effects make it engaging. Williams also stars in the film in addition to writing and directing; his character Ras Jackson is a spiritually apathetic man who undergoes a transformation when, returning from a hunting trip, he accidentally shoots his wife Martha, a recent and enthusiastic convert to Christianity. Most of the action depicts Martha's soul retrieved by angels and forging a path to the afterlife. THE BLOOD OF JESUS is refreshingly different from almost every other Christian film we've watched because it portrays the path from death to heaven as a purgatory-like obstacle course where dream logic reigns and the deceased Christian has one more chance to succeed or fail at getting to the gates of Zion. Most Christian films portray deliverance or damnation as instant — say the wrong words before death, and you're plummeted to hell. THE BLOOD OF JESUS is a way more forgiving and imaginative take on the trope. Scored by recordings of a black choir singing hymns and spirituals, the film is evocative and atmospheric, capturing a period of black American history with the confidence of a media craftsman. It's a rewarding and essential watch for anyone interested in film history, black history, or religious studies.
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