The Man from Earth (2007)

The film world is abundant with rich commentary on mortality and religion, coming from many different perspectives and traditions. On another subject entirely, there is also The Man from Earth.

As our characters are establishing important parts of the story, music overwhelms the dialogue, which is meant to remain centrally audible. This is a regular occurrence and can create difficulty in discerning what is said. In fact, most of the dialogue is poorly captured and subject to being easily misheard. This detracts from our ability to distinguish as the conversation moves from casual to philosophical.

Thematically, The Man from Earth is stretched so taut it just about splits down the middle; in fact, it does. The first half of the movie is mildly interesting, postulating some basic questions about mortality, unfalsifiability, and belief. Any intrigue this creates is essentially smashed by the heavy-handedness of the second half.

Our main character is unintentionally hilarious. He knew every great artist, studied with the Buddha, and was actually Jesus Christ himself. But have no fear: to accompany this absurd tale, our character brought a Bluetooth speaker.

The reviewer asks, what is the opposite of a Christian church service? Probably the latter half of this film. The film goes full non-Euclidean in contorting itself to tear down religion, specifically Christianity, which is depicted as a distortion of our main character's teachings. The film even tritely states "fairy tales build churches." Still, the movie is content to plagiarize C.S. Lewis in his Liar / Lunatic / Lord formulation of explaining an inexplicable account, plundering what it can from Christian thinkers.

Films with extremely negative attitudes toward Christianity and religion in general occur with a high level of frequency. Where The Man from Earth distinguishes itself is in its crass and careless attitude toward Christianity specifically, while speaking of other religious teachers and teachings with reverence. Any sacrilege seen in the main character's claim of being Christ is immaterial critically. However, the heavy-handedness and the screed directed at Christianity as the “bad religion” approaches a level of religious thinking in and of itself. And that new religion is the anchor around this film's neck.

Sporting an interesting idea and absolutely nothing to show for it, The Man from Earth should consider residence elsewhere.