Where The Cross Was
The new Knives Out film shows us that sometimes what's missing is more important than what's present
An absence haunts Wake Up Dead Man, the delightfully fun, gothic-flavoured, twisty murder mystery that is the new entry in the Knives Out series. It’s the space on a church wall where a cross has previously hung; the outline of the cross is still visible, but it has long since been taken down. All that’s left is the shadow of what was; with the film being set in and around the grounds of this church, it’s an image the film-makers return to throughout the run time, and the film’s final image is a striking evolution of the idea.
As a film, Wake Up Dead Man is a withering critique of relgion that has sold out to political power and charismatic individuals; but it never patronises or dismisses genuine faith. There is a priest - Father Jud, played by the brilliant Josh O’Conner - at the centre of the film, and his journey into understanding his faith and calling afresh is a key to the film’s themes, as is much else that to reveal here would constitute unfortunate spoilers (but I think I can safely say this - pay attention to one or two of the names in the film).
The political gamesmanship of Christian faith is one of the defining themes of the times. The far right would not have anything like the influence it currently wields without the co-option of Christian ideas and symbols; within the church, the left is equally energised by aspects of Christian teaching and practice. Both wings (as well as the centre) run the same risk of stripping faith of its central tenet - the cross, and the narrative around the cross - at the expense of aspects of the faith that lose power if denuded of this binding substance. It’s no coincidence that the events of the film take place in Holy Week, with the murder on Good Friday (if this sounds heavy-handed, it isn’t; one of the marks of this series of films is to take on big ideas with clarity and grace).
It makes for an interesting counterpoint, then, that the film is released in the run-up to Christmas. A season where, for all the busyness and different levels of types of religious engagement, it’s easy to lose sight of the ‘why’ of Jesus’ birth amid the wonder at the fact of it at all. It’s a stirring challenge of faith to hold all this together - the awe-inspiring truth that God should take on flesh and move into the neighbourhood, and also that he should do so in full knowledge of the costly cross and earth-shattering resurrection that He is born to fulfil. God save us from faith, religious rituals, and celebrations stripped of the full extent of their reason to exist. This doesn’t mean we act like a religious Grinch around the festivities of the season, forever bemoaning what should be happening; rather, it means we celebrate with more wonder and more passion. Celebrations taking place in this context will really mean something.
Notice the carols that across their length take you on a journey from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, to a lonely death and an empty tomb. Notice the church architecture that never lets you forget the ‘why’. Notice your own tensions of grief, longing, sadness, and wishing amongst all the good things. Notice these things, and draw deep from them.
Wake Up Dead Man is available on Netflix