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Undescribable Perfection

Sadly Over-hyped

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Apparently this short, three-scene Méliès film is based on a little known myth about a Jewish man forced to wander throughout eternity for refusing Christ water before his crucifixion. It also appears to be the second surviving religious picture by this director (since "Christ Walking on the Water" from 1899 is considered lost). However, I'm not sure why Méliès chose to adapt this particular story, since it doesn't appear to be very well known. With that said, the result is utterly beautiful with some extremely convincing special effects and gorgeous sets. While there's little plot, Méliès as always adds his own little touches, such as the superimposed vision sequence, the angel, etc.If you're familiar with the director's work, anyone with only half a set of smarts would guess that he takes the role of the Jew. This leaves the role of Satan to be played by somebody else, strange considering the devil was a character Méliès played in almost all of his films. It was odd to see Satan in this movie have little bat wings and be dressed differently. Despite Méliès's overplaying in his part as the Wandering Jew, the visual look of this film and the message makes it a must-see for anyone who's a fan of Méliès's work or of these old movies in general.

Here is Georges Melies doing his thing, dredging up the mythical figure of the Wandering Jew, who supposedly refused to give Christ a drink of water as he went to his death. He is forced to wander eternally with the guilt of his actions weighing on him. Of course, his being a Jew throws in the anti-Semitic element. He is damned and, of course, it's the old, "Jews killed Christ" thing that allowed people to treat others with hatred and foist death on their populace.

It's hard to really understand this film unless you turn on the optional commentary track. It begins with an old Jewish man struggling as he walks. You learn, through the use of a double-exposure, that the man witnessed Christ being led to the crucifixion and refused him water. Now, he's cursed to wander through eternity--and there is no let up to his misery. He sees what he's done repeatedly, is attacked by Satan and the elements conspire against him--all in repayment for his sin.While the set appears very crudely done (almost quaint), this is the norm for 1904--and that is why it all appears very stagy. But, it makes nice use of the double-exposure and is decent for its time.I wondered, however, if this was film was perhaps based on some folk tale (I've never heard of it). So I checked and found the story began sometime around the 13th century and the man was cursed to do this until Christ's second coming. Perhaps this story was created to explain the displaced Jewish people (who had no homeland for almost 1900 years) or was in some way antisemitic--I have no idea. But here in the States, it's a story I would assume very, very few would recognize.

It is interesting that the Catholic -- but pro-Dreyfus -- Méliès would make this allegorical film about a symbolic Jew, played by Méliès himself, wandering throughout the ages, plagued for eternity by his complicity in the death of Christ. On the surface, the film isn't anti-Semitic so much as it is illustrative of a tenet in the Catholic faith going back to the Medieval period, still very much in force at the end of the 19th century. This dogma did led to widespread persecution of Jews in Europe. The Roman Church has officially abandoned this policy in the 21st century, but in 1904, Méliès' Jew appears doomed to wander forever through his personal hell, with the spirit world beyond as resigned to keeping him on his feet as society itself, though in this case society is absent. Méliès deals with a social phenomenon as a sacred one, creating a cognitive dissonance in modern viewers. Nevertheless, the lightning storm in the ruin is impressively achieved through matting and some rapid editing on the matte, a rare effect in a Méliès title.