A few brief thoughts about His Only Son
The movie, about Abraham and the binding of Isaac, is in theatres this weekend.
His Only Son—a dramatization of the life of Abraham and the binding of Isaac—opens in theatres today. (I think some theatres also had preview screenings last night.) I may write about it in more detail later on. For now, a few quick points:
This is very much an Evangelical Christian film—which is fine. It may seem strange to start on that note, but I think it’s worth noting right from the outset that this film is not simply an adaptation of the relevant chapters in Genesis; it is very much an attempt to look at the story of Abraham and Isaac through the lens of later Christian belief—a point that is made clear right from the opening title cards, which quote a couple of verses from John’s gospel that talk about Abraham. Coming from such a clearly Christian perspective might limit the film’s appeal—one could argue that a better film would stick more closely to the text of Genesis, which would make it more accessible to Jews and Christians alike—but personally, I like films that come from a clearly defined point of view, even if it is not my own. I wouldn’t want every film to take a narrowly Christian approach to this story, but more-ecumenical movie versions of this story do exist, and if a film like Ibraheem, the Friend of God can put a Muslim spin on the story of Abraham, then there is certainly room for films that put a Christian spin on the story.
I really like this film’s attention to detail, and how a lot of that detail is able to come through on such a small budget. For example, the main narrative follows Abraham’s journey from Be’er Sheva to Mount Moriah—the latter of which is traditionally associated with Jerusalem—and along the way, Abraham and his entourage pass the city of Hebron, which they are careful not to enter. Geographically, this makes sense; Hebron is indeed just a little more than half-way between Be’er Sheva and Jerusalem. And the city walls of Hebron are basically a special effect that has been dropped into the background, like the modern version of a matte painting. The only locals that Abraham encounters, or needs to encounter, are the pimps and such who wait by the road outside the city, hoping to catch the attention of passing travelers. And while Abraham and his entourage pass the city, they talk about their past experiences there.
Another example of good, judiciously applied research: the Philistines. His Only Son just might be the only film about Abraham that acknowledges his run-ins with the Philistines, who once tried to take Abraham’s wife (Genesis 20) and then tried to take Abraham’s wells (Genesis 21:22-34). Because the film is focused somewhat narrowly on Abraham’s journey to Mount Moriah (Genesis 22:1-19), it cannot depict those events directly, but it does depict some tense encounters between Abraham’s group and some Philistine soldiers they encounter, which is more than any other film I can think of has ever done. The dialogue even associates these Philistines with the Sea Peoples, a loose collection of ethnic groups that we know about from ancient Egyptian inscriptions, which is kind of awesome if you’re into that sort of thing (and I am).
The title of this film seemed a little off to me when I first encountered it, mainly because Isaac was of course Abraham’s second son after Ishmael—a fact that I have been sensitive to ever since seeing The Promise, an Arabic film that has plenty of love for both of Abraham’s sons but is particularly attuned to the trauma that was inflicted on Ishmael by Isaac’s mother. But then I remembered that, when God tells Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, God himself calls Isaac “your only son” (Genesis 22:2, 12, 15)—so whatever we might make of that phrase, God used it first. I’m sure theologians have explored why God called Isaac that, but I won’t get into that here. Suffice it to say that, because this film follows a Christian interpretation of the Genesis story, the fact that Isaac is described as Abraham’s only son in this story sets up a certain parallel to a certain other “only son”.
Thankfully, the film does acknowledge the existence of Ishmael, who was sent away from Abraham’s camp some time before the story starts. Abraham worries that the order to sacrifice Isaac might, in fact, be a punishment of sorts for Abraham’s relationship with Ishmael’s mother—a relationship that was basically motivated by a lack of patience with God’s promises—and it turns out one of the servants who accompanies Abraham and Isaac was a friend of Ishmael’s and is now rather resentful towards Abraham because Ishmael was sent away. Abraham’s lack of patience, and the dysfunctional family dynamics that sprang from it, have, if you will, compromised Abraham’s witness in the eyes of this servant.
Nicolas Mouawad, the actor who plays Abraham, is quite good in the role, and the scene where he prays and begs God to take his life rather than his son’s is quite powerful. In a way, it’s an interesting inversion of Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane: where Jesus asks God to spare his life, Abraham offers his life to save his son’s. Jesus was facing a horrible death; Abraham is facing the horrible prospect of killing someone who is very dear to him. Jesus knows that resurrection awaits him on the other side of death; Abraham knows nothing beyond the fact that he will have to live with what he has done for the rest of his life. They are both facing terrible fates, and asking to be spared those fates—and on some levels, one could argue that Abraham’s looming fate is worse. Then again, Abraham is ultimately spared, and Jesus is not—though again, Jesus’ death does lead to the Resurrection.
As I noted when this film’s theatrical release was announced several weeks ago, the Abraham of this film seems to espouse a specifically Protestant form of atonement theology known as penal substitution: he talks about a “chasm” between God’s holiness and humanity’s sinfulness that can only be “bridged” by a sacrifice, all of which is very reminiscent of the theology spelled out in Evangelical documents like Bill Bright’s Four Spiritual Laws. I would argue that this is an anachronism—that Abraham did not think of sacrifices this way—but again, the film is coming from a particularly Evangelical perspective that ties the binding of Isaac to the death of Jesus many centuries later.
The God who appears to Abraham is basically the pre-incarnate Jesus, and he is played in this film by an actor, Daniel da Silva, who has already played Jesus in some short films directed by His Only Son director David Helling. This is not the first film to hint very strongly that the divine figure who speaks to Abraham is the pre-incarnate Christ; the History Channel miniseries The Bible also seemed to indicate that the “angel” who spoke to Abraham and watched the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah with him was a pre-incarnate version of Jesus.
Helling originally conceived His Only Son as a short film, and aesthetically, it kind of feels like one at times. I do like how expressively cinematic it can be, from the nature shots that begin some scenes to the mysterious imagery in some of Abraham’s visions. It’s a good first film, and better than some other low-budget Bible movies I’ve seen. I look forward to seeing what Helling does next.
And that, I think, about covers it for now. More later, perhaps.
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Related links:
‘God’s Stories #3: The Promise (Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar)’ (July 22, 2022)
‘Solomon and the Djinn: two movies’ (August 27, 2022)
‘The binding of Isaac, coming to theatres next month!’ (February 11, 2023)
‘Angel Studios launches new trailer, new theatrical division for His Only Son’ (March 16, 2023)
‘Interview: David Helling on directing His Only Son’ (March 27, 2023)
‘Abraham and the binding of Isaac at the movies’ (March 29, 2023)