Abstract:
Son of Man (2006) is the first Jesus film to be produced in South Africa and the first Jesus film
with an all-black cast amongst all films about the life of Jesus. Son of Man retells the story of
Jesus from the pre-1994 South African context and the transition to democracy. The film
portrays a Jesus who is concerned about social justice and seeks to dismantle systems that
perpetuate and maintain subjugation, oppression, discrimination and marginalisation. The
film reinforces the ideology of black consciousness and the praxis of black theology creatively
and artistically through film. Jesus in Son of Man embodies the life of Stephen Bantu Biko,
and Steve Biko is thus given a Christ-figure around four things: non-violence, ideology,
disappearance and death. A black Christological perspective is used to analyse the nature of
Jesus Christ in Son of Man.
Description:
Mr Mokoena is participating
in the research project,
‘Social Cohesion’, directed by
Prof. Dr Vuyani Vellem,
Department of Dogmatics
and Christian Ethics, Faculty
of Theology, University of
Pretoria.
