By Sophia Monastra
On Good Friday, Monsignor Jefferson Wicks preaches a militant, fiery sermon from the pulpit of Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude. He then walks to a nearby storage closet to fortify himself for the remainder of the service. The door is open and in full view of the stage. The closet is empty. Moments later, Monsignor Wicks is dead, stabbed in the back.
The only other person on stage and the first person to find the body is Reverend Jud Duplenticy, a young boxer-turned-priest who strongly disagrees with Wicks’ fiery method and message. Jud instead believes that Christ came to love, not to spread hate and fear.
Unfortunately, there’s plenty of fear and hate in the congregation already, and it’s put Jud at odds with most of the congregants. Now, he’s under suspicion for the murder of Monsignor Wicks.
The locked room mystery attracts private detective Benoit Blanc, of “Knives Out” and “Glass Onion” fame. If anyone can solve this impossible mystery, it’s him.
From the opening score, the music of “Knives Out” evoked the classical mystery feeling with sharp staccato strings. As great as the score was, I proceeded to ignore the score as the unraveling mystery completely immersed my attention.
More so than the original “Knives Out”, the mystery is the core of “Wake Up Dead Man.” The story continually reveals more evidence and different twists, leaving me guessing until the end of the movie.
The mystery is engaging, but the characters are what really sell it. Rev. Jud (played by Josh O’Connor) is a man who has been changed by Christ after killing a man in the ring. Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) returns as the loquaciously logical and avidly agnostic detective who worships reasoning. Despite their differences, both characters make an exceptionally good buddy cop duo. As they work together to solve the mystery of who killed Monsignor Wicks, they both influence each other and illustrate the theme.
Compared to them, the rest of the ensemble cast could have been better used. Among the other seven characters, only two or three seem capable of murder. I was much less invested in the “whodoneit” part of the mystery as I was the “how-and-why-doneit”.
There is so much to love about this movie; the cinematic choices, the music, the filming and camera angles, the recontextualization of previous scenes – but the movie’s theme stuck with me the most.
“Wake Up Dead Man” is centered around a militant, radicalized rural Catholic parish, which instantly means that each character’s view of Jesus and how that affects how they live is going to be a central element. Wicks’s militaristic version of Jesus’s judgment clashes with Jud’s preaching of hope, forgiveness and love – characteristics that the parishioners of Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude should show.
These views contrast with Blanc’s agnosticism, which he makes very clear from his first few minutes on screen. While it seems like this may cause a clash with the Christ-changed Father Jud, both men end up learning from each other while staying true to their own convictions.
In a podcast interview with Tom Power, Rian Johnson discussed how he pulled from his own Evangelical Christian upbringing for this film. While many viewers may disagree with his conclusions and choices on how to portray faith, I believe that “Wake Up Dead Man”’s theme serves the story well and leaves audiences with something to think about.
“Wake Up Dead Man” is available on Netflix
Senior Professional Writing and Information Design major Sophia Monastra was so engrossed in this movie that she completely forgot about the dentist appointment also scheduled that afternoon.
Images courtesy of Netflix
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