Cross words
THE BOOK OF CLARENCE
15 ★★★
Famously, in the riotous religious satire Monty Python’s Life Of Brian, Terry Jones’ character rebukes her son’s deluded followers by screeching, “He’s not the messiah, he’s a very naughty boy!”
The same could be said of the lovable scoundrel at the centre of The Book Of Clarence, who intends to pull himself out of debt in AD 33 Jerusalem by claiming to be another heaven-sent prophet.
Non-believer Clarence (Lakeith Stanfield) spouts impassioned sermons about knowledge being stronger than faith and performs bogus miracles with the help of three accomplices, confident that the trickery will line their pockets. “Have you ever seen Jesus buy a pair of sandals?” he asks.
News spreads of Clarence’s powers of healing, which might spare him the blade of loan shark Jedediah the Terrible (Eric Kofi Abrefa) but could still condemn him to crucifixion at the hands of preening and pompous Pontius Pilate ( James Mcavoy).
Meanwhile, those who know the real Clarence, like doubting twin brother Thomas, berate his blasphemy and dismiss him as “he who the cat refused to drag in but entered nonetheless”.
Opening with a thunderous chariot race, The Book Of Clarence is a revisionist biblical epic bookmarked into three broadly humorous chapters (The 13th Apostle, The New Messiah, The Crucifixion) replete with an impromptu dance sequence to the funky strains of The Jones Girls’ disco anthem Nights Over Egypt.
Stanfield is endearing as a misguided but well-intentioned opportunist who ultimately learns to believe in himself as well as something higher.
However, writer-director Jeymes Samuel’s picture lacks the “massive testicular fortitude” that Clarence supposedly possesses and Monty Python had in abundance.
Naughty but far too nice.
‘‘ A revisionist biblical epic bookmarked into three humorous chapters