GANJA AND HESS
USA 1972 – 110 minutes
Director: Bill Gunn
Producer: Chris Schultz
Script: Bill Gunn
Photography: James Hinton
Cast: Duane Jones, Marlene Clark, Sam Waymon, Richard Harrow, Bill Gunn
Doctor Hess Green, doctor of Anthropology, doctor of Geology, while studying the ancient Black civilization of Myrthia, was stabbed three times by a stranger; once for God the Father, once for the Son and once for the Holy Ghost. Stabbed with a dagger, diseased from that ancient culture, whereupon he was addicted and could no longer die. Nor could he be killed. Thus begins one of the most bizarre vampire films ever made. The brainchild of New York actor and writer Bill Gunn, it is a remarkable confection of vampire story, anthropological study of African mythology, social document of black Haarlem mores and the culture of resistance to white domination. With a marvelous gospel soundtrack archly commenting on the theme – the first sequence is in a black revivalist church where the congregation are singing I know it was the blood the vampire theme is never mentioned specifically and its relevance relates to the devouring of black culture by white Christian society, with its absorption of black artifacts into white institutions. The film’s white producers, although sympathetic to black literature and arts realized that the market lay in the exploitation cinemas. Gunn’s film was too subtly laden though and after it failed on release they recut it and shortened the film by 33 minutes. Only now after Gunn’s death has the film been restored to its former glory. Called by critics James Monaco The great underground classic of black film and perceptively analysed by critic Tim Lucas as follows If you try to engage with this film with your brain – with anything but the pagan instincts of your blood and your bowels – you are crashing the wrong party, it can be summed up by Bill Gunn’s words: To remember a man’s name is to give him eternal life.
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