Blick über den Tod hinaus: Bilder vom Leben nach dem Tod / Seeing beyond Death: Images of the Afterlife in Theology and Film

A European film and theology research group has met for many years now, bringing together scholars from Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Wales. The group met in Germany in 2009 to discuss portrayals of the afterlife in film. This volume is the result, appearing as volume eighteen in the mostly German-language “Film und Theologie” book series, drawing together ten essays (five in English, five in German) on a variety of themes relating to eschatology.

Part one finds Paul Badham reviewing recent Christian approaches to the afterlife. Peter Erdmann considers biblical material, offering his survey of Old and New Testament imagery within the challenge presented by the 2003 sculpture Him, portraying a supplicant Adolf Hitler, by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati juxtaposes contemporary filmic images with medieval portrayals of paradise, the last judgment and hell in exploring the complex way in which images interweave in cultural and religious life.

In the four chapters of part two, Christopher Deacy anticipates his lengthier treatment of eschatology and film (Screening the Afterlife: Theology, Eschatology and Film, Routledge, 2012) with a survey of recent filmic handling of the topic in Western cinema, concluding that the focus of attention has quite clearly shifted to this life. Theologically, however, Deacy does not see how a future life can be disregarded altogether. Freek Bakker notes how, under the influence of Eastern religions and Eastern films, reincarnation has started to appear as a topic of interest in the West. There are, however, significant differences in how the West and the East interpret reincarnation. After a recapitulation of Jewish and Christian approaches to resurrection, in which he notes three different understandings of resurrection in the New Testament, Christian Wessely looks at five filmic examples, none of which contains an adequate portrayal of resurrection, even though Christian beliefs form the backdrop to so much enquiry about the afterlife in film. Finally, in this part, Jolyon Mitchell takes a stimulating look at the role played by staircases in film, noting how they function as the locus of reflection on the relationship (and border) between earth and heaven, and of the difference between ways of violence and the path of peace.

Part three offers three detailed and specific case studies: Reinhold Zwick on Pasolini (again anticipating a forthcoming book); Ulrike Vollmer on Antonia’s Line, arguing for attention to gender-specific viewing and religious reflection without succumbing to essentialism; and Tommi Mendel, reminding readers of the importance of informed film-critical analysis for religious interpretation of film in a careful study of Hirokazu Koreeda’s After Life (1998).

What is to be made of the collection? It is diverse enough in its approach to offer the important reminder that theological/religious interaction with film needs many conversation partners. That said, there is an inevitable Christian domination among the contributors—given the make-up of the research group and the financial support of the book’s publication through Roman Catholic channels. But there is less of a theological focus in the end than might be expected. Why draw on biblical and theological traditions so directly without returning to them after the film/religion encounters to see what has happened to theology as a result? Second, there are preoccupations with a few films here: No te mueras sin decirme adónde vas (1995) and What Dreams May Come (1998) in particular. Perhaps they were shown at the conference. Many other films are cited, but (as usually happens in film/religion discussion) one is left with the dilemma that films which seem “needed” for theological discussion are sometimes not that popular. Theologically interesting material need not always be entertaining, but it has to hold viewers’ attention enough to enable a conversation to start. And the theological challenge is to know what to do...