The Green Pastures

I took out a live performance DVD of Jesus Christ Superstar (I watched a bit of the film before) and did not like it.  

The stage version (including the Jewish priests in totally modern attire) is a collection of staged songs with no real narrative to connect them.  Maybe, I would have liked the film version better though I have doubts.  I did watch the "Why do I love Him" Mary Magdalene number on YouTube.  She is the usual former prostitute, unlike her likely real-life role.

(I reference her portrayal in the gospels.  The details are bare so even using that would entail a lot of supposition.  And, the gospels are not history in various ways, so the creation of a new life for Mary is not really totally a bad thing.  The question is ultimately what you want from the story, including how the prostitute bit has various stereotypes.)  

I did like The Green Pastures, which made for sensible Easter watching (it was on TCM at 7 A.M., but I did not watch it straight thru all at once).  As the opening note says, the film is a view of how "negroes" (this is the 1930s) often view biblical events, different people seeing them thru their own eyes.  One familiar face (or voice!) to Jack Benny fans is "Rochester," here before they met -- the actor plays Noah.  

So, we see bible stories from creation to the crucifixion (the whole thing is about 90 minutes so only certain highlights) as average poor blacks might imagine them, complete with "ten cent cigars" at the heavenly picnic.  As Robert Osborne notes in the TCM intro (not shown today), the result might come off as somewhat offensive.  I'm not the best to say.  I will say the whole thing is done respectfully and is a quality piece of work. 

Before the flood, to take an example, we see various stereotypically black sinners that you might find in the South, including gamblers and good-for-nothing guys and women playing around. Cain VI or something kills a rival, not having his gun with him at the time.  

This is black stereotyping, but you can have a similar poor white scenario.  It also is a fine translation of the basic story using modern-day motifs.  Also, most people have a rather limited concept of the basics.  There is a relatively rare bit of humor where Noah tries to convince God that he should take two jugs of liquor (no, Noah, one is enough) with him on the Ark. 

The God (Da Lawd, also playing a couple other characters) here is remarkably human in various ways.  He is a kindly creature but also one with a "wraith" for his often disappointing creation.  We also see his anguish at what is happening.  He reminds us (recall this is an all-black cast) at one point that all is his own creation, including the enslavement of the Israelites.  The finale involves a man telling him about how we learned about mercy and developed a new view of a God of mercy.  Mercy came from suffering.  Cue the angels seeing Jesus being crucified.  

Zora Neale Hurston, the black woman author and anthropologist, a few years after the film wrote her own version of the Moses story.  I read it some years ago and liked it.  The story basically is the Moses story from an African-American perspective.  Whites have told bible stories through their own perspectives over the years.  So, this is proper.  The usual bible film of the era is full of schlock aspects.  This film is quite respectful all totaled. 

The Wikipedia summary might be a reference to the original play because the film has different framing pieces (a black preacher teaching Sunday school and it ends with him leaving, an old man holding a sleeping black baby in the last shot).  

Happy Easter.