Black Jesus

Location:

Redstone Theater: February 27
Bartos Screening Room: March 4

Dir. Valerio Zurlini. 1968, 89 mins. DCP. With Woody Strode, Franco Citti, Jean Servais. At the age of 54, Strode got his first starring role in this Italian production in which he plays Maurice Lalubi, an African rebel based on Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba. Colonialist occupiers arrest and viciously torture the popular leader, who remains steadfast in captivity and eventual martyrdom, along the way earning the adoration of a seemingly irredeemable cellmate. Originally titled Seated at His Right, the film was selected for the 1968 Cannes Film Festival, which was canceled due to the events of that May. “Zurlini was trying to show the total devotion to violence of the men who were torturing me, and the horrors of a dictator-style government,” Strode wrote in his memoir, Goal Dust. “For a good third of the film I anguish in pain, and that was probably my most difficult performance ever. Zurlini was a good director; he got everything out of me.”

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.