Review of The Book of Clarence, directed by Jeymes Samuel

Throughout my time in graduate school, I had a subscription to AMC A List. As I cranked out an interdisciplinary master’s thesis on Korean women’s literature in the early twentieth century, I needed some ways to get out of my stress.

Considering I was also working as a movie critic at the time—yes, I worked full time throughout graduate school, which I really do not recommend if you can afford it—I found the movies to be a place where I could unwind. So my subscription to A List was the perfect way to get me to relax and forget about my life.

That was how I spent a lot of time at my local AMC. The workers figured out who I was pretty quickly and didn’t even bother carding me after a certain point.

I did not see Book of Clarence with my subscription. I kept booking a ticket, and even forgot to attend one of the tickets I booked, then cancelled a lot of them (except for the one I forgot about).

Almost a year after its original release, I finally got around to it. You’ll be seeing this review later due to my posting schedule, but when this was added to Netflix I watched it for the first time.

I’m rambling, so let’s get into the review!

One man sees an opportunity in the rise of Jesus Christ in ancient Rome.

Our main character in this movie is Clarence, who, at the beginning of the movie, just lost a chariot race in Jerusalem. He’s not doing so well in life, and in the middle of the race we come to learn that pretty quickly. Things get worse when we learn that Clarence owns money to a loan shark named Jedediah.

But there’s a plot twist involving this: Clarence is deeply in love with the guy’s sister, which is an awkward situation all around. With Elijah, who Clarence did the chariot race with, they get stopped by patrolling Roman soldiers who picked them out because they’re Black.

It’s when Clarence is smoking later that he gets a great idea. He sees a light over his head while high, and he decides it is time to create a fake identity around pretending to be a messiah. It’s pretty convenient that a guy named Jesus Christ recently rose to popularity around here.

This is what will get him out of poverty for the first time, although John, when Clarence shows up for a baptism, slaps him because there’s no way Clarence of all people is the messiah. Clarence is determined though, and he goes to the apostles to beg to be added on as the thirteenth apostle.

They laugh at him instead, but it turns out Clarence has a twin brother, Thomas, who is an apostle. He doesn’t like Clarence too much it seems, but then Clarence digs back at him after being insulted. He says Thomas is actually someone who abandoned his family for religion.

Clarence is then given a task: if he can free a group of slaves, specifically gladiators, he can become an apostle. The owner of the slaves says he will only do it if they kill Clarence, but then allows Clarence to fight for their potential freedom. He tricks the guy fighting him, leading to the freeing of the slaves, especially Barabbas.

However, his tricks can only get him so far. Jesus’ parents don’t believe in his power, so he wanders throughout the realm trying to prove that he is the next messiah despite Clarence very clearly being an atheist in private. Things change when he saves Mary Magdalene from death by stoning, but his loan shark is still lurking.

Jedediah tries to take down Clarence with the help of the Romans, almost sacrificing Barabbas in the process. Clarence, caught, confesses he is not a messiah, but he manages to walk on water. They still want to crucify him though, and this will be his ultimate fate.

Jesus is then targeted, and he visits where Clarence is buried. He raises Clarence from the dead, who now has become a believer.

Overall Thoughts

I don’t know what to expect from these kinds of stories, especially when I don’t try to consume religious tales to begin with. This is definitely a major spin on the typical story, as there’s a Black led cast. That was deeply refreshing.

However, I found this movie to not be as compelling as I thought it would be. I wanted something more from it, but I found myself bored with the dialogue and what was happening on the screen.

Honestly, it was pretty difficult to get through because of this. I did finish it though, hence how we have this review, but I found the ending to kind of be unsatisfying for me. I could see easily how other people would like this movie; it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

Go watch it if you’re interested in the premise. Don’t let my review stop you from forming your own opinions. Like it was just an okay movie for me, I didn’t love it a lot.

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