In "A Prayer for Owen Meany" Irving recounts the story of Owen Meany, a boy whose "father" claims is born of a virgin mother - and basically concludes that we would reject the family as lunatics. Son of Man takes a slightly different line - it tells the story of Jesus, if it were to take place in modern Africa - in the country of Judea, ruled by the dictator Herod, and later conquered by an occupying force (who claim to want to enforce democratic rule), and off course the local anti-herod forces, who later cosy up to the occupying forces. In this world, Jesus is born, grows up, and later leads a non-violent passive resistance movement against the occupying forces.
If it were not for the fact that Jesus performs a fwe miracles (healing a sick child, raising a man from the dead and an excorcism) - the story would have been a political drama - and in my opinion, far better. In fact, on the whole, the story is about African strife and the need to stop it - because it is fueled by selfish greed at the top of the chain who whip up their supporters to do their bidding.
Filmed quite a bit in the Cape Town townships, it is amazingly stylish and brilliantly told and filmed - with song and dance. It is the best South African movie I have seen since Tsotsi, and is definitely worth watching. A great pity, that there were only two people (including myself) watching it ...
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