Editor’s Note: There are minimal spoilers included in this review. 

Paul Mooney, a great comedian of the past, declared in a stand-up routine that Jesus was black.  Writer/director Jeymes Samuel expands on that idea in “The Book of Clarence.”  

The film tells the story of Clarence (LaKeith Stanfield), a hustler in Jerusalem in 33 A.D.  The city is abuzz with the presence of Jesus (Nicholas Pinnock).  

Clarence is the twin of Thomas, one of the twelve apostles. Thomas has left Clarence and their mother to follow Jesus. This leaves Clarence to support his mom and find a way to pay back the money owed to Jedediah the Terrible (Eric Kofi Abrefa).  

Clarence begins the story wanting to be the thirteenth apostle. He goes to John the Baptist (David Oyelowo) to be baptized, and John agrees. 

However, because John knows of Clarence and his ways, he holds him under the water for a long time in an apparent attempt to wash away all his sins.  

The apostles will not receive him, but they give him a test: he is to go and free the enslaved people who are made to fight as gladiators. Clarence ends up fighting Barabbas (Omar Sy), the fiercest of them all.  Defeating Barabbas nets Clarence only one enslaved person: Barabbas.

Clarence’s next money-making scheme is to declare himself the Messiah. He goes to see Mary (Alfre Woodard) and Joseph (Brian Bovell) to ask how Jesus does his tricks, which is what Clarence considers miracles. Mary and Joseph tell Clarence of the divine intervention that brought Jesus into the world.  

That is an essential note in Samuel’s script: Jesus is straight down the line as he appears in scripture.  There is nothing fast and loose in those scenes where Jesus appears. This is the Jesus of the gospels, with one exception to our dominant way of thinking: Jesus is Black. All the characters are Black, except the Romans. 

 The Romans are all White.  

With the help of Barabas and his friend Elijah (R. J. Cyler), Clarence declares himself to be the Messiah and performs miracles like raising the play-acting Elijah from the dead.  A message follows: Clarence says that knowledge is better than belief.  

One of Clarence’s issues is that he does not believe in God. The good news of Clarence’s declaration of Messiahship is that he starts to make money. Lots of money.

This declaration of Messiahship sends Clarence headlong into the hands of the Romans. In this story, many claim to be the Messiah.  

The Romans have orders from Pontius Pilate (James McAvoy) to round up all of them and crucify them. You can see where this will lead Clarence.  

If character growth is a sign of a good story, this is a great story. Clarence moves and grows as a person.  He abandons his selfishness and becomes selfless.  

In “The Book of Clarence,” Jeymes Samuel de-White’s the story of Jesus. There is a subplot that makes that point very well that I will not spoil, but he clearly wants the viewer to see this as a Black story, one we don’t often get.

As I watched this movie, I enjoyed the humor. It was clear that Samuel wanted to challenge my preconceived notions of the story of Jesus (being a White Baptist pastor, there are some still rumbling around in me).  But what I thought about was a previous movie.

In 1988, Martin Scorsese directed “The Last Temptation of Christ.”  Scorsese has put faith in the stories he brings to the screen. One of his best is “Silence,” the story of two missionaries in Japan.

When “The Last Temptation of Christ” was released, churches picketed the theaters where it played. It was a major scandal. Pastors stood in pulpits and told their people not to go and write letters to companies that operate movie theaters.  

Now we have a story with a Black Jesus and the twin of Thomas, who claims to be the Messiah. And there is not one peep out of those that I know would not like this movie. Maybe they are busy with other stuff, like keeping women in their place.  

This wonderful movie tells us it may be good if we re-examine our assumptions. Alan Alda once said that assumptions are our windows on the world, and we need to scrub them off occasionally.  

“The Book of Clarence” is a good dose of Windex.
Written/Directed by Jeymes Samuel
LaKeith Stanfield: Clarence
R.J. Cyler: Elijah
Omar Sy: Barabbas
Alfre Woodard: Mary
Rated PG-13 for strong violence, drug use, strong language, some suggestive material and smoking.  

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