Poetic landscapes and three unlikely kings in Biblical retelling
Three kings set out in a gloomy Flanders landscape of snow-covered flat land, some trees, and a big sky, as little baby Jesus is about to be born. However, the three kings are not really kings, but beggars who think they may earn some money or food from carol-singing at Christmas-time. The film is Little Baby Jesus of Flandr, the first feature by Gust van der Berghe from Belgium.
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As luck would have it, the beggars happen to be around when a baby Jesus is born in the forest. Begrudingly, they give the happy but poor family all that they have accumulated in riches, including a piece of bread, some coins and a handful of squashed and torn cigarettes – “for when the child is older,” one says.
Gust Van der Berghe & Baby Jesus of Flandr
Van der Berghe says the film sets out to be beautiful and poetical. His search for purity led him to work with non-actors, Jelle Palaerts, Paul Mertens and Peter Janssens, who have some handicaps due to Downs’ Syndrome. They turn out to make three very good kings.
Van der Berghe draws on his theatrical background to play up religious undertones and the sparse dialogue of lines such as “it’s not easy to be human, especially in winter.”
Pretty silhouettes also show how the director of photography made the most of Flanders landscapes.
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