Title: Wise blood /
Authors: O'Connor, Flannery.; Huston, John, 1906-1987; Fitzgerald, Benedict, 1949-; Fitzgerald, Michael,; Dourif, Brad, 1950-; Beatty, Ned; Stanton, Harry Dean, 1926-2017,; Ithaca Productions.; Anthea (Firm); New Line Cinema Corporation
Year: 1979
Subjects: Bible Criticism, interpretation, etc.; Extemporaneous preaching.; Poor families Drama.; Doctrinal preaching.; Hymns; Preaching United States
Abstract: Hazel Motes, a young Army veteran returns home from the war in Vietnam, and becomes obsessed with the idea of founding a Church of Christ without Christ. While spreading his religious message, he encounters a variety of unsavory characters and would-be followers. Based on Flannery O'Connor's 1952 novel, the film retains O'Connor's gothic vision of an American south frozen in time and held hostage by messianic Christianity. Director John Huston's affection for American misfits is evident in this darkly comic view of human foibles writ large. Hazel Mote's success as a preacher is minimal, small crowds listen to him as he rants from the hood of his battered car, but a select few are taken in by his creed: "I'm a member and preacher to that church where the blind don't see and the lame don't walk and what's dead stays that way." Flannery O'Connor had this to say about her emphasis on the grotesque in her writing: "Anything that comes out of the south is going to be called grotesque by the northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic".