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The photographs of Jesus Christ that Catherine Nofles saw as a young girl at her St. Louis Catholic school were traditional images — beard, mustache and shoulder-length hair, flowing from the head of a Caucasian man.
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| Color of the Cross |
On Wednesday night, the Florissant resident saw on the big screen someone who looked more like her — an African-American.
"I was happy to see someone like this," said Nofles, 36, who had just viewed "Color of the Cross" at Jamestown 14 Cine in north St. Louis County.
"I was taught that Jesus was Jewish and had colored skin, but I kept seeing a white European all the time. I think this movie would be good for children to see, especially black youngsters," Nofles said.
Her reaction to the new movie is what filmmaker Jean Claude LaMarre Jr. wants.
"A film like this hopes to communicate a message that it doesn't matter what the color of the messenger is, it is the message that is important," said LaMarre, 38, in a telephone interview from Los Angeles.
The movie, which opened last weekend in St. Louis and five other metropolitan areas, is believed to be the first American full-length movie that depicts Christ as a black man during biblical times.
LaMarre said St. Louis was selected for the movie because it is a "strong urban center."
The film is generating a lot of talk among potential moviegoers and religious leaders in the St. Louis area, but residents have yet to flock to the theaters. The film is showing at Jamestown 14 and two other area theaters. Nofles said she was one of three people at a showing Wednesday evening.
Matha Tarks, 46, a Florissant resident and real estate representative, said she is sending e-mails to inform friends about the movie because she "just wants a movie with a different perspective and different view."
LaMarre wrote, directed and starred as Jesus in the film, which stars actress Debbie Morgan as Mary. LaMarre says that bringing positive images into the mainstream is "important to the psychological development of young minds."
Brooklyn-born and reared in Haiti, LaMarre said he remembered being constantly exposed to images of Jesus appearing as a European.
"In Haiti, all the doctors were black, the president was black, but in my home, we had a picture of a white Jesus," LaMarre said. "I think it is important to question some of the traditional images we have in the Christian faith."
Local religious leaders agree that what Jesus looked like has always been a topic of discussion.
Gerald Early, professor of African-American Studies at Washington University, said that young blacks are exposed to many images, including religious ones, that have excluded them.
Brian Robinette, professor of theology at St. Louis University, said: "Christians over the centuries have reflected who Jesus is in light of their historical context.''
Some churches have adapted images of Christ that represent their congregations. "In fact, there are churches with mostly black congregations today with images of Christ as a black man,'' said Tony Huenneke, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis.
Central Baptist Church pastor the Rev. Robert C. Scott plans to view the movie, which depicts Christ on the eve of the Crucifixion. "It is my belief that Christ transcends the labels of race, class and culture to make God real to a broken world," Scott said on Wednesday.
LaMarre, who has acted in many films, including "Malcolm X," said his latest film is just one of three he wants to make about Christ. He plans to make one on Christ's Resurrection and one of his trial after he is captured. And he will use different black actors to portray Jesus.
"At the end of the day, whether you accept him as a black man, or an Asian man …," LaMarre said, "Whatever form you accept him in, should be in the form of your own image."
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