The movie I wanted to view first this weekend was Mean Girls (2024).  When I saw the original, my sister was among the first persons I told about how good I thought it was, incredibly.  I did not have high hopes going into it, but it happily proved me wrong.  Her reaction to this revelation of mine was positive, but also shock that I had not seen it sooner.  Thus, with a new version out, I felt she would be the right one with which to see it.  Yet, because I have recently changed the day on which I post my reviews of new releases, she was not available on Thursday.  My original intention was to proceed anyway, but then I saw another film that had caught my attention debuting this weekend: The Book of Clarence (2023).  It is a natural fit for a Catholic movie critic, at least based on the trailers.  Thus, with the potential of seeing Mean Girls later, I chose The Book of Clarence.  I am not sure how I feel about it, so come with me as I wrestle with this one.

The Book of Clarence gives away its ending right away when you see Clarence (LaKeith Stanfield) dead on a cross.  As a practicing Catholic, I immediately have a million questions, not the least of which has to do with there being more than the usual number of victims of crucifixion found in Scripture.  Be prepared for a lot of this sort of thing, especially as we go back thirty days in time to find out how he ends up in this predicament.  For example, we see him and his friend, Elijah (RJ Cyler), racing Mary Magdalene (Teyana Taylor) on chariots through the streets of Jerusalem.  They are not only beaten by Mary Magdalene, but they lose the chariots and horses along with the competition.  This puts Clarence further in debt to Jedidiah the Terrible (Eric Kofi-Abrefa), the local crime boss for whom Clarence sells weed.  Right. . . .  This situation is further complicated because Clarence is in love with Varinia (Anna Diop), Jedidiah’s sister.  Before I go any further, I should mention that Jesus (Nicholas Pinnock) is a person who exist in this world, which is as true a statement as one can make, in general.  You first see him in the town square, walking with His twelve disciples, Clarence’s twin brother Thomas (LaKeith Stanfield) among them.  Clarence looks on as crowds immediately begin to form around the Messiah.  The Apostles, including Thomas, are aware of Clarence and his less-than-savory activities.  In turn, Clarence does not believe in Jesus.  What he does want from Our Savior is to have the kind of life Jesus has, particularly since many people bring Him money.  That is something Clarence needs in order to pay off Jedidiah, who has threatened Clarence with crucifixion if he does not pay.  When he is rebuffed by the Twelve Disciples after his idea of becoming the thirteenth, even after he manages to free the gladiator slave Barabbas (Omar Sy), Clarence comes up with a new plan.  If people do not think his baptism by John the Baptist (David Oyelowo) sincere, which is just a ruse to get into Jedidiah’s good graces anyway, then Clarence will become the new messiah.  Elijah says that this is a terrible idea, but Clarence thinks it is all nonsense and tricks.  In order to better understand how Jesus does His illusions, Clarence visits Mother Mary (Alfre Woodard).  Instead of learning the parlor magician’s secrets, so to speak, she encounters a Mother of God steadfastly dedicated to the fact that she had given birth to the Son of God.  Undeterred, Clarence returns to Jerusalem.  In order to gain followers, and more importantly for him, money, Clarence has Elijah pretend to have an assortment of ailments that Clarence then cures.  It results in him raising plenty of shekels to pay off Jedidiah.  Yet, this is also the moment at which Clarence has a change of heart, wondering who he is to be taking all these coins for his own gain.  Thinking back to the original mission given by the Apostles to free the slaves, he lays the funds before their overseer and thus they are given their freedom.  This dooms him with Jedidiah, but raises his esteem in the eyes of Varinia.  As such, she agrees to go out with Clarence.  Their night is going well until she steps outside.  When she does not come back, he goes looking for her outside, only to find her with Jedidiah.  Before things can get any more violent than that carried out by Barabbas, Clarence is arrested by the Romans, who are cracking down on messiahs.  By this point, Clarence has stopped trying to pass himself off as a miracle worker.  However, when Pontius Pilate (James McAvoy) tests Clarence by making the would-be Savior walk on water, miraculously he does so.  This is what makes Pontius Pilate decide to crucify Clarence.  It also changes Clarence’s outlook on God because he knows that he did not, and could not, have performed such a deed on his own.  All the same, he is forced to carry his cross to the place of his execution.  As this goes on, Jesus is preparing for His own imminent death, and wondering what can be done about Clarence.  Though he dies, not long after he is buried Jesus comes and resurrects Clarence.  The end.

My synopsis of The Book of Clarence is short because I left out some of the subplots.  I am also going to continue to not discuss a few of them because they bump up against what I would like to say in the next paragraph about the religious aspects of the film.  Still, the movie is obviously meant to be Scripturally based, but there were some odd choices made.  For example, I could immediately tell that it was not actually filmed in Jerusalem, which is where the film is set.  Indeed, location shots were done in Italy, which is about what I figured while watching it.  What I will not comment on extensively were the odd casting choices.  The only ones who will make a big deal out of the fact that it is nearly an entire African American cast are those to whom the color of one’s skin matters, for some reason.  At the same time, I am not sure this sort of cross between a blaxploitation flick and classic Biblical Hollywood works.  I use the word “blaxploitation” because, like that subgenre of film, it relies heavily on African American stereotypes.  There is weed smoking, and the place where Clarence and Varinia have their brief date is basically a club.  What I am drawing out here is also a no-win, unfair criticism to make.  I am perhaps accusing the movie of being too black, and yet if it went in the other direction, it could be seen as too white.  Having said all this, there is a solution, and that would be . . .

. . . For The Book of Clarence to rely more heavily on Scripture.  There will be those that watch this movie and get angry.  I cannot say that I entirely blame them.  It walks a delicate line between acceptability and blasphemy, and there are moments that fall clearly on the side of the latter.  This is most clearly seen when Clarence is carrying his cross.  This, and a couple of other instances, are seminal events in the life of Jesus, but the movie has Clarence doing them.  There also seems to be the slightest suggestion that Jesus and Mary Magdalene are romantically involved.  At the same time, we have to also remember that while the Bible is the framework for Faith, it is by no means an exhaustive accounting of every second of the day of the lives of the people living then and there.  Indeed, if you think that only those occurrences you read about in the Bible are the extent of God’s Glory at work in the world, then I would suggest that you are placing limits on His power.  God can do all things, including taking a drug dealing street hustler from ancient Jerusalem and raising him from the dead.  After all, Jesus is not the only one to have that miracle happen to Him.  He also brought his friend Lazarus back to life, which can be found in the Bible.  Ultimately, if you know Scripture, watching this film can be frustrating.  Nonetheless, it is refreshing that, despite not seeing His passion, there is at least the acknowledgement of Jesus’ power and purpose for coming into this world: to die on Calvary for our sins.  That is the true meaning of a Savior, and an understanding to which Clarence arrives by the end of the film.

Despite some positive aspects, I cannot recommend The Book of Clarence unless you are strong in your convictions. Watching this movie otherwise can sow confusion, particularly for those who do not regularly practice the faith.  The main lesson is that, contrary to what Clarence preaches for much of the film, belief is more powerful than knowledge.  It will take you farther than anything else.