WHAT WE’RE WATCHING: JM Coetzee’s biblical trilogy comes to screen in daring cinematic saga
Tiago Guedes’s Aquí ambitiously adapts Coetzee’s Jesus trilogy into an on-screen saga that’s rich in biblical allusion and philosophical enquiry but occasionally losing narrative momentum.
A daring cinematic adaptation of JM Coetzee's biblical trilogy, Aquí, has recently been released. The film, directed by Portuguese filmmaker Tiago Guedes, is a three-hour and twenty-minute saga rich in biblical allusion and philosophical inquiry. The trilogy, consisting of The Childhood of Jesus, The Schooldays of Jesus, and The Death of Jesus, follows the story of Simón, a man, and David, a young child, who become father and son after leaving their past lives behind.
Coetzee expressed his vision for The Childhood of Jesus, stating he hoped the book would only reveal its title at the very end. The film, based on Coetzee's work, stars Manolo Solo as Simón and Alex Peláez as David, with the latter played by an older actor in the final act.
The film's dystopian-like premise revolves around Simón's determination to find David's mother or any mother, as he perceives the boy needs a maternal figure. The story confronts themes of fatherhood, language, and social control through the lens of a non-place socio-political setting. Despite its ambitious scope, the film occasionally struggles with narrative momentum and becomes bogged down by excessive philosophical discussions.
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