The Wheel and Axle

Continued From:

Dedz Na Si Jess, Part 1

Despite the unrelenting hilarity throughout Patay Na Si Jesus, it must be noted that this is smart humor. No, this is not a movie that’s all slapstick and puns and repetitive shallowness (I shan’t name names). This is a movie where humor is intelligent and is derived from situation and circumstance, not from tired and forced jokes that just make their way into the dialogue without really being earned. In this movie, we have real people who find laughter in real situations; we end up laughing with them and not at them because we actually see ourselves in all of these characters.

And so we also empathize with them.

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Some time last week, I saw some outraged comments on a post about the dark comedy film Patay Na Si Hesus (Jesus Is Dead), with folks crying sacrilege and blasphemy (or, in one case, “blastfemy,” true story). Never mind that these folks have not watched the movie and have probably not watched the trailer, either. The moral outrage was both funny and sad given that the movie is in no way related to Jesus Christ (except for an allusion here and there) and that the titular “Hesus” is actually the name of the main character’s ex-husband.

Of course, the makers knew what they were doing when they went with the title because not only is it catchy and very reflective of the irreverent humor that the film utilizes, it also triggers something visceral in this Catholic-majority country. And it worked.

But I expected nothing less from the genius people behind such fantastic breakout hits like That Thing Called Tadhana and Zombadings.

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