The Second Coming (1995 short)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Film: B
When
Volker Schlondorff’s feature film version (from Harold Pinter’s screenplay
adaptation) of Margaret Atwood’s The
Handmaid’s Tale came out in 1990, many felt it missed the mark in capturing
a future world where the Religious Right takes over the United States and
creates a slave-class of baby-bearing women for the new “army of God” did not
go far enough on many levels. Despite a
few good moments, it became bogged-down in distraction. Jack Walsh’s short film The Second Coming (1995) is more successful at only 54 minutes,
though the focus this time is on Religious Right terrorists taking over a
nuclear power plant and “forcing” the President to declare martial law, then
dissolve Congress, et al.
Despite a
much lower budget and an unknown cast, it is one of the smartest and most
effective films of its kind in a long time.
Though the Science Fiction elements are maybe too limited for their own
good beyond budgetary consideration, the dark vision of the future here is articulate,
intelligent, believable, and ahead of its time.
It is more relevant nearly a decade later than when it first
appeared. Its idea about the 2000 U.S.
President is particularly haunting.
Two of the
targets of the hate crowd are a young Gay and young Jewish man, both of whom
eventually get together as part of a resistance and even get involved. There is no sex in the film to speak of. The narrative of the takeover and resistance
are intercut with stock and abstract footage telling the story of the way the
country becomes disemboweled by the scourge of the extremists. It is so smart and well laid-out that Right
Wing voices in the media have ignored it, because their typical formula
responses cannot simply shoot it down.
This is a remarkable piece of
filmmaking
whose DVD release could not be better timed.
The full
frame black and white images are from the current kind of monochrome stocks
that lack silver, so to some extent, it is not true black and white. Though the use of stills is limited, it does
remind one at times of Chris Marker’s La
Jette (1965), the all-stills short that inspired Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys the same year as The Second Coming. The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is monophonic,
but the soundtrack is not as simple. The
use of sound tricks and manipulation ads dimension to the sound design and the
narrative, which gets into the territory of George Lucas’ original 1971 gem THX 1138, currently being “updated” for
a new DVD release.
The only
extra is the 15-minutes-long video piece Dear
Rock, Walsh’s look at homophobia, AIDS and hate with the death and
exploitation of the late actor Rock Hudson as the focal point. It makes for a great companion to the much
longer Rock Hudson’s Home Movies
(reviewed elsewhere on this site) and it well thought out. The editing and choices of stock footage are
interesting and synthesize well. The
sound is just a narrative voice-over, while we see footage composed mostly of
stills and videotaped materials.
The bonus
short has no relation to the main short, but Walsh is a wise, honest filmmaker
who is a rare voice from the period of the Gay New Wave with anything to
say. The Second Coming is a must-see for serious filmmakers who agree
that we are not seeing enough films that takes chances, have something to say,
and where the filmmaker actually accomplishes what is intended.
- Nicholas Sheffo
