Lee

The wealth and the manners, the aesthetic and social refinement thatmark
the couple’s outward bearing and self-identification, conceal destructive
desires and deadlycrimes. But theyalso clash and mesh in troubling
symbolic ways with the culturalsubstrate withwhich Lee imbues the
film—the ingrained and inescapableviolence of a sophisticated society,
whether that of the Ashanti or of contemporary Americans.Hesshas a
chameleon-likestreak (acinephilic nod to Wendell B. Harris’sgreat
“Chameleon Street”), a series of disguises onwhich he relies inorder to
get theblood that he needs. Sometimes hepresentshimself as the swell
that he is, sometimes as a downbeateverydayguy;hisdelight inhis
privateplane,his chauffeured Rolls-Royce,hisclassic MG convertible,his
manicured (“forty-acre”!)estate withitsbeach view appears, attimes, as
aconstraint. His appearance at the Fort Greeneprojects and at
an AIDSclinic, thoughmorallyfraught withhis quasi-vampiric intentions,
nonethelessbreathes with arelaxed sincerity and,paradoxically,makes all
of Hess’s identities, includinghis own, seem like masks.In otherwords,
Leelooks athis own multiplelives—includinghissheltered comforts and
his exacting artisticvision,hispopularbackground andhis cultural
heritage—andputs them into hectically overlapping multipleperspectives.
He overlays theeffect of Gunn’s film onhim andthe view of black American
life that it conjures,his owndesires and inhibitions,his ethicalsense
andhisinnerpassions,his rueful meditations onhis contradictory
cultural and religious heritage.“Da Sweet Blood of Jesus” throws together
manymoreideas than it resolves, and it’sroiled by thepower ofits
contradictions. It indulges in thesexual display that it showsto be
predatory. It celebrates the beauty of bodies, of black bodies,even as it
shows them torn and bleeding. It exalts the vitality and wonder of the
traditional African-American Baptist churchwhile hinting atitspowers of
constraint. The movie isdistortedlyexpressive, almost hermetic inits
subjective intensity, asflagrantly symbolic as Gunn’s, with an extra
strain of self-doubt andeven despair. For allitslooseends and
unansweredpracticalities,its wild urgency is thrilling. Itdefies the
expectations fostered by Lee’sprior films; it steps backeven as itmoves
inward. It is, in themodern-classicsense,alate film.