Crisis of Interfaith - ETHAN (1964)

Look at that.  Just look at it.

It won't take long for you to notice how repellent that cover is to anybody looking for a serious dramatic work.  Genesis Home Video was a semi-obscure '80's VHS label that mostly offered cheap genre pictures with even cheaper licenses.  Rather than use the posters for their movies, Genesis opted to make new art in-house, setting up hilarious photo shoots like this one.  Their transfers were some of the worst around, blown out and cropped and often drowning in soundtrack noise.  These qualities have endeared the company to me greatly, and I jump at any chance to get a hold of their stuff - I've got their releases for Haunts and Slipping into Darkness (aka Crazed aka Bloodshed) upstairs as we speak.  All of this is what makes Ethan such an anomalous release, and also helped ensure the film's tenure in purgatory. The Genesis release is the only video release, and the film is so obscure I wasn't able to find the original poster anywhere online.

After playing host to a number of revolutions and counter-revolutions, the Philippines of 1964 was a nation still reeling from overarching American colonial influence and was just breaking into the film industry.  The majority of Filipino movies that made it to the states were B-grade war and horror movies, which makes Ethan, a religious-themed romantic drama, such an interesting piece of its film history.  Ethan's title character, played by Robert Sampson (Bridgite Loves Bernie, Re-Animator), is an American Catholic priest stationed in a primarily Muslim community.  The town seems tolerant enough of his presence; while they take their faith seriously they see him as a good man and not a threat to their way of life.  There is also the artist Carlos (Jennings Sturgeon), the only other white man in the film and possessed by a crippling alcohol dependency, and Ethan's friend Mobien (Eddie Infante).  He strikes up a friendship with Andai (Rosa Rosal, I believe), and their relationship moves gradually from understanding and emotional support to romantic, a clear violation of Ethan's role in the church.  Andai confides her feelings with Yakoub (Joseph de Cordova), who believes that Ethan is a bad influence in the community and convinces Andai to seduce Ethan as a way to tear down his reputation.  She approaches him in his sleep, and though he is flustered and shocked they make love (a scene featuring some surprising nudity for the time).  Questioning his actions and his faith, he is soon tracked down by Andai's father, who has vowed to kill him in revenge.  Just before he is about to die, he is called out to by Carlos, and the assassin gets into a fight with Carlos, killing him instead.  Ethan runs away, shucking off his priestly garments and unsure of where to go or what to be.  Through all of this, an internal scriptural monologue anchors the film with dignified pathos.

Americans have a very skewed view of what it is to be Muslim, specifically the notion that all Muslims live in the Middle East and live Fundamentalist lifestyles.  On the contrary, the majority of Islam's followers live in Southeast Asia, with Indonesia containing the bulk of its population.  The relationship between Catholicism and Islam is very intelligently and carefully handled in Ethan, as the Filipino populace can retain their faith and dignity just fine without having to drive out the tiny sphere of influence the Catholic church has carved out in their land.  The landscape and culture of the nation is a fascinating counterpart to the central drama - the mixture of urban and rural, Western and Eastern, secular and sacred paint a picture of a country coming out of strife and occupation with varying results.  The relationship between Ethan and Andai is delicate and deeply written; any push in either direction would have destroyed the dramatic thrust of the film and made for a hackneyed viewing experience.  The other personal relationships, such as between Ethan and Carlos (especially a powerful early scene when Ethan talks a drunken Carlos out of dancing on a bar) and Andai with her fellow townsfolk are equally well-explored.  The acting is excellent, not only from Sampson but from everybody, turning surprisingly good performances from Filipino actors I've never seen before or since.  Shot in Technicolor-Technoscope, the light and color of the Philippines shine quite beautifully, and the soundtrack has some richly beautiful moments in the spirit of great dramas of the '50's and '60's, despite a few goofy moments.

There aren't enough films (that I know of, anyways) that seriously examine the lives of the clergy, and so Ethan is a welcome addition to the genre, anchored by a powerful performance by Sampson and saturated with culture and conflict.  Its video release is a sham; the print is blown out and cropped, and the soundtrack is ripped across with crackling noise.  The climax takes place in a day-for-night shot, and the poor transfer makes the characters hard to make out.  Regardless, there are copies of the VHS out there (and for very cheap), so if print is no object you can have a field day.  The product review on the Amazon page is the most detailed information I've found on the film, and another version of the review can be read here at Bamboo Gods and Bionic Boys, a blog on Filipino cinema.  A comment on the latter implies that a DVD may be available if you do a bit of searching, and hopefully that release restores the film to its former visual and aural glory.  If you've got a hankering for a serious, mid-century Hollywood-styled drama with a downbeat touch, Ethan's got you covered, no matter how crummy the presentation.

~PNK