Historically in vampire movies, when someone who knew the now-un-dead in life is confronted with their loved one now in a vampiric state, there is a sense of confusion and horror, a denial that a person, one so vivid in life, could now be this cold killing machine. I had a similar reaction watching Spike Lee's 2014 film Da' Sweet Blood of Jesus, a remake of a 1970s blaxspoitation film called Ganja and Hess. You see, Spike Lee is the director of one of my favorite films of all time: Do The Right Thing. Lee's 1989 political classic can be described as nothing if not ALIVE; it pops with color, the characters yell and emote and laugh, music pumps from boomboxes, and the very city streets seem to be dynamic characters in the film. The entire movie has brightness and passion and energy.
And Da' Sweet Blood of Jesus begins with a pretense of such life. With promises of Lee's signature love of the city and the pop of vivid colors, the "official Spike Lee Joint" opens with a dancer in New York City scenes, jumping energetically from parks to graffiti covered walls to empty basketball courts. The opening is fun and lively and seems to say, "Yes, this is the Spike Lee you know... the bright, alive, energy filled filmmaking you love."
However, soon the dread sets in and the appearance of life seems to fade. The rest of the film is entirely drained of such life. No more energetic streets or vivid color pallets. No, the rest of the movie is filed with cold dinner parties, empty modern homes, near-sepia tones, and the flat and emotionless delivery of our protagonists.
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| This is essentially what the movie will look like now for the next 2 or so hours... |
Our main character is Hess, a professor who collects and studies tribal art. He lives on a large property ("about 40 acres" Lee's script oh so subtly tells us) in an expensive modern home. There, he throws dinner parties for his colleagues where they discuss how everyone in the upper middle class in America is addicted to consumption and capitalism ("We're all junkies in one form or another"). It is worth noting that Hess' colleagues are nearly all white, and his servants (yes, he has servants) are all a variety of minority races.
This sets up the heavy handed metaphor: when Hess' flesh is stabbed with a dagger from an ancient blood-drinking tribe, he becomes a vampire. Almost immediately, he begins to feed off of those who have been less fortunate than himself. He leaves the comfort of his expensive home and instead drives into the city (the projects specifically) where he seeks out drug users, welfare mothers, and the homeless, both literally draining their lives for his gain and passing the curse on to them.
This message, while heavy handed, in many ways is clear: Hess, as a successful black man who ignores or profits off of the misfortune of others (especially but not exclusively those of his own race), is vampiric and a leech to what should be his community. (The beginning of the film shows him disinterestedly attending a Baptist church; he is present but not engaged). This is an interesting concept and one which was the point of the 1970's film. However, Lee's movie doesn't stop there... instead, our beloved director proceeds to suck the coherence from the movie's message. Lee's script has character after character give long, long monologues on countless other topics to be concerned about, including but not limited to these snippits:
- "In today's world, our black children need to be indestructible."
- "This world is a cruel, harsh place for a black woman."
- "The United States of America is the most violent country in the world."
- "We consume and consume."
- "It's hard taking care of a child alone."
- "Practice safe sex."
All of this would be understandable and forgivable (with all the topics Lee cares about) if the movie seemed either interesting or engaging. However, throughout the whole film, barely any actor seems to have been given instructions to actually act. Instead, they all flatly recite monologues and stare near-blankly slightly off camera. Occasionally, it seems as if the actors don't really understand what they're saying at all. Everything in the film seems intentionally unnatural, but without a clear reasoning and certainly without it being engaging for the audience.
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| "I am going to talk in a monotone for 10 minutes straight. Pay attention." |
Actress Zaraah Abrahams is the occasional exception to the monotoned curse; she plays Ganja, a woman who is drawn to Hess both despite and because of his vampirism. She also is both wealthy and black, and she treats his servants far worse than he does. Thus, when she eventually is turned into a vampire, sure enough she seems more willing to destroy even peers and those they know, not just those who have no power.
But it's still not very interesting. If anything, once Ganja is introduced, there is less action and movement in the movie. The characters sit staring at each other in the house. Ganja complains she's cold. Hess wants to die. I just wanted the movie to end.
The worst part of this is that Spike Lee not only sucked all the excitement and interest in watching the movie out of me, he also sucked out what was so interesting about the source material. The original film, Ganja and Hess, is notable mainly for two reasons: one, it was the only other lead role for Duane Jones besides the 1968 classic horror film Night of the Living Dead, and two, it was one of the most psychedelic and notably visually interesting of the blaxspoitation film era and genre. The psychedelic style worked with the surreal story and message, earning the low-budget film acclaim with art house critics for doing something original and surreal within a genre which commonly inspired low expectations. Spike Lee, however, does not inspire low expectations; the award winning director has set his bar high throughout his career. Therefore, this non-psychedelic and not-very-visually-interesting film, while technically competent and precise, just feels cold and dead, which really is a disservice to the film which inspired it.
I wanted to like Da' Sweet Blood of Jesus, I really did. I wanted to follow my old friend Spike Lee through a dynamic and compelling vampire story like only he could tell. Instead, the movie ended and I felt a bit sad, a little more empty, and somehow a little less alive.
Rating: a disappointed 2/5 bites
Thanks to Kevin Flanagan for helping me finally get through this review. More reviews are finally on the way! Stay tuned!
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