Dec 07 2009
The Martyrdom of Saint Me
The main character's eyes burn with intensity yet have a singe of immaturity that drives the theme of the film.
There is a short story in Ray Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man that spoke of astronauts landing on Mars and trying to spread Christianity there. The gentle martians at the end of the story kindly shook their heads and pointed at their 100% energy efficient Hydrogen generators, their streets empty of crime, their civilizations free of war and their schools full of eagerly-learning offspring.
“We do not need your religion here, we are perfect beings. Perhaps you are better off solving problems back on your own planet.”
Both “The Savior” and the story from the Illustrated Man carries the same anti-colonial theme. They both point at the hypocrisy of those trying civilize others by spreading their creeds, even if they are not free from fault, such as the Templars of old and even the old Bush Administration in Iraq.
The story is basically about a young Christian man trying to gain more converters while struggling to reconcile his beliefs with his affair with a young woman.
It’s a powerful story. You could see the tension in his eyes and the guilt that poisons every word he utters. The most powerful scene would have to be when he was trying to talk to his mistress’s amiable husband, why trying to hold back his guilt that was trying to free itself like a waterfall behind a dam.
In the very anti-climactic ending, he succumbs to his sin and gives up trying to tell the truth, which is an outcome as humorous as it is darkly reminiscent of reality.
Was Bradbury an atheist, or of a non-Christian background? I’m just wondering because of his “Illustrated Man” work. That’s a really great comparison.
I like your comparison of “Savior” to The Illustrated Man because it added a new dimension of the film to me. I didn’t see this side of the film until you pointed it out, and it gives me a new appreciation for the whole story.