MovieChat Forums > Hail, Caesar! (2016) Discussion > It really is a tale of the Christ, not a...

It really is a tale of the Christ, not a Hollywood spoof

posted 8 years ago by Komarovski
42 replies | jump to latest

I enjoyed the movie's wacky look at Hollywood of the era, but I don't think it was meant to be the focus. Audiences can't be faulted for looking only at and being disappointed by the comic relief, though, as that is how the movie was promoted in the trailers.

After the opening scene, the words "A Tale of the Christ" wipe onto the screen. We are then immediately shown Mannix to make the connection. Mannix shepherds a vast world populated with sinners, but who ultimately create good. He stands over bickering religious leaders, growing frustrated at their interpretations. Mannix considers his worst sin to be smoking, so it's no wonder the Devil, a head-hunter from Lockheed, tempts him with a cigarette as they meet in a very red restaurant. Mannix is offered an easier path, but one that leads to destruction rather than creation. To me, Mannix's struggle with which path to take is the crux of the movie. It is only after seeking his Father's advice that the decision is made.

Other elements of note are the demons (the blacklisted writers) who have stolen away Baird, one of Mannix's flock. Ultimately, the angel Hobie brings Baird back to the fold, while we see one of Mannix's truly lost ones pulled down into Hell (or the Pacific Ocean, as it were). The wayward son Baird is welcomed back, but when he extols the virtues of his captors, he is sternly punished with a regretful slap. Humbled Baird resumes his role in Mannix's creation, though Baird again shows he is not perfect when he forgets "faith."

[–] DaveBowman2001 8 years ago

I think it is both. I also think the Coens are poking fun and drawing comparisons and showing the hypocrisy and absurdity of all religions, capitalism and communism all at once They are all similar but different...and all require "Faith" and test the faith of their followers. The followers are all serving different masters or causes and people are exploited in each of the 3. They aren't making judgments or giving answers, just showing the way it is.

It came together better the 2nd time around. It was a 7 in the theater...now at least an 8 for me.

Also there is another theme about "Truth" vs. fiction. And how people want to believe the lies and that their hollywood heroes (or communists or religious icons) have perfect images and do no wrong. Mannix helps facilitate the myths or people would lose faith.

[–] oldgoldtop 7 years ago

I also think the Coens are poking fun and drawing comparisons and showing the hypocrisy and absurdity of all religions, capitalism and communism all at once They are all similar but different...and all require "Faith" and test the faith of their followers. The followers are all serving different masters or causes and people are exploited in each of the 3. They aren't making judgments or giving answers, just showing the way it is.

I just viewed this over the weekend on DVD a friend brought over. This was pretty much my take as well. I will add that Mannix is caught up and obsessed with his role shepherding these "children" around within "the system" he is a part of and maintaining the "illusion". He is killing himself and ignoring his own personal responsibilities as a husband and father. We are caught up in whatever dream factory we subscribe to and partake of the associated bread and circus. "Hail...whatever". I am sympathetic to Manix but I also think he is somewhat misguided in his loyalty to "the system". Like Manix. perhaps "we" (the viewer) can be deluded and not understand what we are really doing (or seeing). Maybe it is all for the best? Social order and all that.

I will need to give it another view but that is my initial impression.

[–] Destinata 8 years ago

Mannix is as lost as the rest of the sinners you're saying he "shepherds," so the allegory as being about Christ falls apart.

Many of the Coen brothers' movies have Christian overtones -- some more, some less. "O, Brother, Where Art Thou?" was just smothered in them: "Sweet summer rain! Like God's own mercy!" And in another movie, "There's nothing free but the grace of God." That doesn't mean "O, Brother, Where Art Thou?" or "True Grit" were stories of the Christ, just that the Coens keep coming back to Christian allegory the way a tongue comes back to the empty space left by a missing tooth.

When evil is viewed as good, righteousness is viewed as evil.

[–] Jonham 8 years ago

Fantastic reading of this movie.

[–] bobbo-30 8 years ago

And for total allegorical ambiguity, the "extra" cast as Jesus Christ in the movie-within-the-movie doesn't even know what kind of lunch to order--he's not sure if he's and "extra" or a principle actor. Coens' tongues planted firmly in cheek, no?

"Only a fool would say that." --STEELY DAN

[–] emncaity 8 years ago

You noticed all that too, huh?

I'm not saying what I saw agrees in literally every detail with what you're saying, but that's the basic idea, yeah, and I agree with many of your details too (and saw it that way myself).

I think it's a way better film than the general public thought it was, and again, just as in Fargo, the fact that there was a protagonist concerned with decency, humanity, and rightness -- in other words, that the film was about more than just its own cleverness and skill -- is one reason why it's one of the Coens' better projects (Fargo might've been their best, and A Serious Man was brilliant and underrated also, in part because of the same reason). That's particularly true if you've been around the film industry enough, or are enough of a fan, to get all the really funny undercurrents and bits. How serious the Coens actually are about the decent-and-right-choosing characters is another question, I guess, but the fact that they have continued to recur in much of their second-half-of-career work suggests that they're at least thinking about it in a more than ironic or "just kidding" way. Maybe.

[–] justin-time314 7 years ago

The movie inside the movie is loosely based on the Charlton Heston film "Ben-Hur" which was based on the book "Ben-Hur - A Tale of The Christ"

[–] pretzelal 7 years ago

That's lovely.