Wise Blood
Screening on Film
Directed by John Huston.
With Brad Dourif, Ned Beatty, Harry Dean Stanton.
West Germany/US, 1979, 35mm, color, 106 min.
Print source: HFA
With Brad Dourif, Ned Beatty, Harry Dean Stanton.
West Germany/US, 1979, 35mm, color, 106 min.
Print source: HFA
Wise Blood presents a singular tale of hell and salvation in its portrayal of a young man who returns from the army, stages a doomed private rebellion, and establishes the "Church of Truth Without Jesus Christ." Adapting a story which takes place primarily within its characters’ minds, Huston manages to imbue this version of Flannery O’Connor’s remarkable first novel with the same zest with which it was written. Part comedy, part tragedy, part philosophical farce, Wise Blood revels in its bizarre characters and the maddeningly irrational psychology of fanaticism without sacrificing a palpably familiar realism and truth.