This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Brake for the devil. Scrape your sole.
Plot Overview
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After some archival footage of the
Greater Paths Baptist Church in its heyday w/26,000 members, the movie gives us a mock
documentary of Pastor Lee-Curtis Childs (Sterling K. Brown) and his
first lady wife Trinitie (Regina Hall) preparing for a grand reopening.
Mentioned is the scandal that forced the earlier closure and seen are some
chance encounters with teenaged boys the pastor got in trouble with. He was
Baptist when he met his wife and she Apostolic. The former denomination is
into baptism, and the latter into women's head covering. He thinks getting
publicly re-baptized and she thinks wearing an “old lady hat”
in the first service will reignite their congregation. Of a church dead set
against homosexuality. Yeah, right.
Ideology
The pastor rehearses his sermon on restraint, and in a back-and-forth
exchange with the (little) congregation comes up with an illustration
of lack thereof in Eve. The biblical story is widely known of Adam
& Eve's temptation and fall in the Garden of Eden, how the woman
ate the forbidden fruit and gave it to her husband to eat (Gen. 3:6), God responding by increasing
the severity of the woman's childbirth pains (Gen. 3:16) and making man's toil onerous
(Gen. 3:17-19.) What is less well
known—except in places like the Bible Belt here—is a redo
of sorts to ameliorate man's difficult labor. Noah's father Lamech
had (Gen. 5:29) “called his
name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work
and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath
cursed.” They still had to follow the earlier template to get
a reprieve. Instead of the forbidden tree to be respected by the first
couple, there was old man Noah whose work break was to be respected
by his three sons. (Gen. 6:10)
“And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” They
formed themselves into two pairs: the eldest Shem & Japheth,
and the youngest Ham paired with his own son Canaan making the numbers
even. In the Genesis account of the Flood, is a mystery woman, the
mother of Ham. (Gen. 9:18-19)
“And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem,
and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. These are the
three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.”
Let's look again at Noah's story (Jasher 5:14-17):
And the Lord said unto Noah, Take unto thee a wife, and beget children, for I have seen thee righteous before me in this generation. And thou shalt raise up seed, and thy children with thee, in the midst of the earth; and Noah went and took a wife, and he chose Naamah the daughter of Enoch, and she was five hundred and eighty years old. And Noah was four hundred and ninety-eight years old, when he took Naamah for a wife. And Naamah conceived and bare a son, and he called his name Japheth, saying, God has enlarged me in the earth; and she conceived again and bare a son, and he called his name Shem, saying, God has made me a remnant, to raise up seed in the midst of the earth.
Shem and Japheth were full brothers, Ham was born at a later date (the youngest, see Gen. 9:24) perhaps from a different mother. Noah's wife was older than he was. Perhaps at 580+ years she was no longer able to bear children after the first two. She didn't have any more after the flood, even though it was a time to repopulate the earth. Maybe she stopped bearing before the flood. Ham could then have been stepbrother of the other two.
Researcher Mark DeWayne Combs posits that, “Although Jasher specifically references the births of Japheth and Shem, there is no such reference to the birth of Ham. … that Ham may have been much younger than his brothers and that he may have had a different mother” (389). Combs also observes, “Fathering a child, particularly a son, through a handmaiden or servant girl would not have been an uncommon or forbidden practice in that time period” (165). Historian Kenneth M. Stampp remarks that “Apologists for slavery traced the history of servitude back to the dawn of civilization and showed that it had always existed in some form until their own day” (14).
Come the deluge and the ark's passengers could well be a model for, (James 5:13) “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.” There was undoubtedly a lot of distress on their voyage occasioning a lot of prayer, and their eventual landfall would have been accompanied by much celebration.
When (Jasher 6:40-41) “they all went out from the ark, they went and returned every one to his way and to his place, and Noah and his sons dwelt in the land.” They'd been cooped up together long enough, so now they spread out somewhat according to some preestablished pecking order. God (Jasher 6:42) “said unto them, Be fruitful and fill all the earth; become strong.” To become strong meant, among other things, taking their needed meds when sick, along the lines of, (James 5:14-15) “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick.” Children are always getting sick. Here it seemed to be Canaan's turn whose elders would have been his father Ham and grandfather Noah. Oil in Bible times was a medication, (Luke 10:34) “bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine,” as was, (1Tim. 5:23) “Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.” Grapes grow in the summer, but once they're fermented, the wine can be stored throughout the year. Noah got into the store while setting an example for a work break, establishing period(s) of escape from hard work per Lamech's saying. By chance or design it interfered—it had to inconvenience someone—with Ham's youngest son Canaan's need, and Ham could well have been the low-status brother from another mother.
Instead of the wily serpent we had Noah's wife as an on-the-spot influencer, who since she isn't mentioned, did well incurring no rebuke. She would have made herself scarce giving Noah some space to relax when he started drinking. (1Tim. 2:9-10) “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.” Being a virtuous woman (Prov. 31:27) “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.” She would not have let grass grow under her feet but would have gone straight to visit Ham to make adjustments regarding their diminished store of medicinal alcohol, to advise him to water down the old supply, or whatever. Ham showed up shortly thereafter to check it out. He fell to temptation by mocking his dad to his two brothers, but they would have none of it. This is parallel to Eve earlier failing first then offering the fruit to Adam who accepted it, but here the older brothers did not go along with Ham, so we'd expect them to receive a blessing rather than a curse such as it was. The distribution of labor had to be readjusted to account for the new workers' holiday(s), and Ham for his insolence left himself and his family line open to taking up the slack. Depicted below is that scene rendered in a Civil War vintage woodcut, made after a drawing by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (German painter, 1794–1872) from his archive, published in 1877.
The alternate image text by licensor iStock.com/Getty Images explains what happened here to Noah and his fermented grapes: “When he drank some of the wine, he got drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers who were outside. Shem and Japheth took a garment and placed it on their shoulders. Then they walked in backwards and covered up their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so they did not see their father's nakedness (Genesis 9:21-23).” They covered the old man to prevent him from catching a chill as it was no longer summer.
Ham had put himself in jeopardy according to, (Prov. 30:17) “The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.” Especially pertinent in this case is Noah's control over the animals including the raven (Gen. 8:7) and he is not unique, at least not in literature. Novelist Ted Bell writes of a chief inspector who “had been beaten to within an inch of his life and nearly pecked to death by countless killer ravens. All the while locked inside the cage of a Victorian aviary” (357.) There is even biblical precedent for it when some kids mocked a man of God for not having a covering of hair on his head and they got mauled by beasts. (2Kings 2:23-24) “And … as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.”
There's a parity of eye loss and servitude
given in (Exodus 21:26) “And
if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that
it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye's sake.” Ham and his
line—represented by Canaan in his lineage—could be given
servitude rather than mutilation. This would be in keeping with the
sentiment of Job in, (Job 31:7-8)
“If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after
mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands; Then let me sow, and
let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.” In that
woodcut-derived picture above we see Ham after disregarding his mom's
caution, checking up on his dad, getting carried away by an eyeful of the
dishabille inebriate, and gesturing with his hands to his brothers. If he
were to “sow, and another eat” and his “offspring be
rooted out,” that would mean he becoming a slave and his
offspring being carried away in slavery. Okay.
The Bible's account leans towards the latter. (Gen. 9:24-27) “And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son [Ham] had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.” When Noah woke up, he blessed as a pair the lines of his two respectful sons and cursed Ham's line—pairing Ham with his youngest son Canaan as was Noah's wont to go by twos—giving them servitude to his other two sons'. (Jasher 73:35) “For the Lord our God gave Ham the son of Noah, and his children and all his seed, as slaves to the children of Shem and to the children of Japheth, and unto their seed after them for slaves, forever.”
Ham's youngest son Canaan is the particularly noted recipient of the punishment. Later when the Israelis invaded the promised land, the Canaanites were due for destruction, but the Gibeonite branch (the Hivites of Joshua 11:19 & Gen. 10:15-17) did a deal with Joshua who was the Jewish leader. They'd heard what happened to other Canaanite tribes, so they sent ambassadors dressed as if they'd come from a long journey (Joshua 9:3-6) and persuaded Joshua to make a league with this “distant” tribe. When it was discovered they'd tricked Joshua into sparing them, (Joshua 9:24-27) he made them bondmen, which was more to their liking. If this trick is indicative of the character of the original Canaan, he might well have been malingering to get out of his chores, which would also help explain Noah's hesitation to coddle him with wine. And when it came time to deal with the sin, it affected the whole line of Ham.
More germane to modern times is perhaps the lineage of Cush, Ham's oldest son (Gen. 10:6,) Cush meaning black in Hebrew, having settled in Africa, some of his to become in later years African-American slaves. Researcher Bodie Hodge confirms that, “As a general trend, Ham is the father of many peoples in Africa” (122). Dr. Ide adds, “Ham sired four sons: Cush (translates as ‘black’) … and Canaan the youngest” (62).
The movie starts with a prelude to African
slavery and skips ahead to post abolition in America. Every face on
the screen is African-American; there's nary a paleface to be
seen. And they are a prosperous community. The kernel of the plot
is a morality play involving this pastor and pastors Shakura (Nicole
Beharie) & Keon Sumpter (Conphidance) of the competing Heaven's
House Baptist church to which most of the former's congregants had fled. At
issue is who better represents God's leadership à la:
(Mark 10:42-45) But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
At issue is reopening day of the former and expansion day of the latter, they are both looking to have it occur on or about Easter to capitalize on the holiday's feelings of regeneration. If they do it the same day, they will conflict with each other.
It's a blatant parody of the jumping
around of some modern holidays. Instead of the two pastors, we have
the birthdays of two presidents Lincoln and Washington combined
into one Presidents Day to make room for MLK Day as a new federal holiday hard up against the
tail end of the Christmas season to siphon off some Xmas spirit for
him, although in my opinion the people are better served by having
the whole month of January to decompress from the holidays before
the light celebration of Groundhog Day.
The sexual exploits of Pastor Childs parallel what was known about another man of our times. Kinky Friedman writes,
Martin Luther King was given to fooling around a bit, apparently, in his extramarital area. So the [FBI] pursued him relentlessly and got his whole life on tape. They'd bug his hotel rooms when he was on the road and come up with some gem like: “Oh, Martin, your dick is so big!” Then they'd call his wife and play the tape into the phone. (205)
Martin Luther King (MLK) in his Letter From Birmingham Jail to his fellow Southern Baptists, penned a litany of complaints, rejected their counsel of “gradualism,” and touted “the fierce urgency of NOW.” He ends his letter with an apology: “If I have said anything in this letter that is an overstatement of the truth and is indicative of an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me.” Pastor Childs expected his reopened church to boom all at once rather than grow gradually as his erstwhile congregants worked out their acceptance.
Robert H. Bork in Slouching Towards Gomorrah writes:
[Researchers] Peter Brimelow and Leslie Spencer … quote Charles Murray: “There's hardly a single outcome—black voting rights, access to public accommodation, employment, particularly in white collar jobs—that couldn't have been predicted on the basis of pre-1964 trend lines.” “That's pretty devastating,” the authors say. “It suggests that we have spent trillions of dollars to create an outcome that would have happened even if the government had done nothing.” (238)
The big day arrives. Pastor Childs awaits
the arrival of the expected crowd. The faithful few have trickled
in. Then a sports car pulls onto the access road … and just
sits there. Finally he guns the engine and lays rubber. Is he coming
in or just spinning his wheels?
Production Values
“” (2022) was written and directed by Adamma Ebo. It stars Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown who did an excellent job of conveying a range of emotions. The rest of the cast held up as well.
MPAA rated it R for language and some sexual content. The costumes were dashing (“God don't like ugly.”) It was filmed on location in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Its runtime is 1¾ hours.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
“Honk” is heavy on pathos. If that suits your mood, this may work for you.
Movie Ratings
Action Factor: Weak action scenes. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Average special effects. Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769, 1873. Print. Software.
The Book of Jasher. Translated from the Hebrew into English (1840). Photo lithographic reprint of exact edition published by J.H. Parry & Co., Salt Lake City: 1887. Muskogee, OK: Artisan Pub., 1988. Print, Web.
Bell, Ted. Patriot. Copyright © 2015 by Theodore A. Bell. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. Print.
Bork, Robert H. Slouching Towards Gomorrah. New York: HarperCollins, 1996. Print.
Combs, Mark DeWayne. End the Beginning. USA: Splinter in the Mind's Eye Pub., 2014. Print.
Friedman, Kinky. The Love Song of J. Edgar Hoover. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. Print.
Hodge, Bodie. Tower of Babel: The Cultural History of Our Ancestors. Green Forest, AR: New Leaf Pub., 2013. Print.
Ide, Arthur Frederick. Noah & the Ark: The Influence of Sex, Homophobia and Heterosexism in the Flood Story and its Writing. Las Colinas: Monument Press, 1992. Print.
King Jr., Martin Luther. Letter From Birmingham Jail. 1963. Print.
Stampp, Kenneth M., Professor of American History at the University
of California (Berkeley).
The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the
Ante-Bellum South. Vintage Books, 1955. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org