THE PHOENIX (1981)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *good*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *metaphysical*

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

I remember liking the PHOENIX pilot-film back in the day, but not until re-watching it did I spot the covert myth-theme suffusing the narrative. Suffice to say that although film and television are full of heavy-handed examples of the Imitatio Christi trope, PHOENIX is one of the few that subtly mixes Christian tropes into a story that's being sold with New Age imagery.

Of course, parts of the narrative are more successful than others. The movie begins with a long panning shot over a frozen landscape-- presumably the area where the titular Phoenix will be found-- while a voiceover states that, "When the gods were very young, seeing that men lived like wild animals, they took pity on them, and sent to Earth a child of theirs so that he might teach men knowledge of the greatest of all gods." Nothing more is said about any "greatest of all gods," but from the lectures that the main character later gives to a disciple, one might say that it's actually "the god within" every human. More on that later. The voiceover's Christ-parallel seems obvious enough, though at least the narrator doesn't say that "the child" is the only begotten son of these deities. We never know anything about "the gods," though they're implicitly "ancient astronauts" whom early mankind mistook for divinities in the well worn tradition of Erich Von Daniken. One assumes that the "child" must have been sent to Earth in antiquity to become some sort of culture-hero, or perhaps even several culture-heroes, since a well-traveled astronaut might explain the parallels between, say, Egypt and Meso-America. But if one doesn't want to dwell on a Big Explanation for these parallels, they're only emphasized at the film's beginning, while the bulk of the film focuses on its combination of Christian and New Age tropes into its main character Bennu (Judson Scott). 

Following the voiceover, we see two of the main supporting-characters, archaeologist Dr. Fraser and Diego DeVarga, meet in some part of "Latin America"-- which we know because DeVarga is said to be with the "Latin American Department of Antiquities." (Call me cynical, but somehow I doubt that one would ever find such a department straddling even two Latin American countries, much less all of them.) Right away, it's made clear that DeVarga is very overprotective of a recent discovery on his turf-- later said to be Peru-- as if he's afraid that the norteamericanos are going to steal it. Together the two experts investigate an unearthed burial chamber that suggests both Aztec and Mayan motifs. A sarcophagus bearing the name "Bennu" recites the Egyptian legend of the Phoenix, the bird that renews itself from its own ashes, with which both experts are familiar. Yet they don't seem to know that "Bennu" is one translation of the Egyptian word for the great bird, which the Greeks rendered as "Phoenix." Despite DeVarga's reluctance to have the sarcophagus shipped out of his country, he concedes that only in the U.S. can one find equipment sophisticated enough to analyze this valuable find.

As a result of that investigation, the sarcophagus opens, revealing the undecayed form of a tall blonde humanoid, wearing an amulet with a Phoenix symbol. In due time the humanoid, Bennu by name, revives on his own, gets up and leaves.

In the New Testament Christ first choice for one of his twelve disciples is the apostle Andrew. Bennu's first ally is an allotype for Mary Magdalene-- or, to be precise, the popular conflation of the original Biblical figure with the unnamed prostitute of Luke Seven. Not that photographer Noel Marshall (Shelley Smith) is a fallen woman as such, but her first statement on seeing Bennu exit the hospital is, "Big, blonde and barefoot, just the way I like 'em." There's not a lot of time devoted to her concupiscence, but her redemption is important to the storyline. She takes Bennu to her house because he tells her he may perish if he has to remain in the city, exposed to its toxins and separated from the healthy oxygen of plant life. 

Noel also learns that Bennu has many psychic talents-- telepathy, telekinesis, and precognition-- which powers are channeled though his phoenix-form amulet. He also exudes some mysterious charisma, for while Noel and Bennu are at the beach, a young boy named Tim is curiously drawn to Bennu's presence. Tim stopped speaking and hearing after his father went MIA overseas, to the great frustration of his natural mother and her new husband. Tim's parents naturally steer the child away from the mysterioso blonde man.

Bennu needs materials to help him cope with the atmosphere of big cities, and so he has Noel contact Fraser, presumably because at some point the spaceman read Fraser's mind and decided he was a good guy. Fraser is guilted into helping ("I did not ask to be awakened... you woke me, you disturbed my rest, now accept some responsibility for my life!")

Fraser agrees to keep Bennu's location secret from the government, but he can't finance everything the alien needs. Thus Bennu, much like a character in a seventies Disney comedy, uses his powers to make some fast cash at a crooked gambling establishment. The crooked gamblers take exception to being rooked as they rook others, so they try to get their money back, forcing Bennu to use his powers in self defense. However, in an unusual twist, Bennu doesn't simply defeat the gangsters. Instead he fakes the destruction of himself, Noel and the money by blowing up Noel's car. 

To be sure, Bennu doesn't come off as very Christ-like in this section, pissing off Noel with his precipitate actions (which also include his having destroyed all the photos she took of him). His responses are enigmatic: "I can't be the thing that makes your dream happen" and "I can help you find your way out of the desert." He also begins talking as if there's some grander plan in his resurrection, even though earlier he thought it mere accident, and he says the same again later to DeVarga. Noel gets tired of the enigmas and complains about how her feet hurt-- so Bennu rubs them, maybe a little more erotically than Biblical women (like Luke's sinful woman) tend to the feet of the Messiah. (This is a good place to remember that Noel is the French word for Christmas, traced down from the Latin word for "birthday," natalis.)

Bennu still needs help, so he has Noel reach out to Doctor Fraser. Fraser makes the mistake of confiding in an assistant named Judas (not really, but he might as well be so named). The assistant informs DeVarga of Fraser's communication with the missing spaceman, and DeVarga insists that when Bennu is captured he must be returned to Peru. Meanwhile, though Tim's parents intend to keep the boy away from the weird guy, Tim feels the call and runs off to find Bennu at his refuge. Later, Bennu will admit that he psychically guided Tim, knowing that only he Bennu could heal the boy's sick heart.

Before Tim arrives, Bennu drops yet more vague hints about his mission on Earth, saying that had he been resurrected a hundred years from this time, he would have fit in "like a key in a door," but that he also thinks his revival has something to do with "the balance of nature." He and Noel almost make a love connection, but Tim shows up. So Bennu heals this troubled second disciple by telling that he can survive the demise of his father if he understands that everyone is connected by the "pure gold light" within their hearts. But Tim's parents and a local cop track Tim to the refuge, and the cop shoots Bennu. Bennu, believing he's about to die, magically transfers his amulet to Tim, which I for one view as a parallel to the healing powers Jesus gives to his disciples in Luke and in Matthew.

Bennu is taken to a hospital, but he's able to completely heal himself even without the amulet. In a key scene, DeVarga visits Bennu, claiming that this treatment stems from "ignorance," as in "they know not what they do." But Bennu is offended that DeVarga thinks that Bennu belongs to his people simply because they've built traditions around him. "A handful of soil from an Iowa cornfield is the same as the dirt found in a South American plain; it's all sacred, and it belongs to itself; not to men!" Noel confesses that Bennu has redeemed her from the coldness in her heart, and Tim, able to speak again thanks to the alien's tutelage, permits the amulet to return to the still convalescent fugitive. Bennu magicks his way out of confinement but depends upon Noel and Tim to get him clear in Noel's vehicle. DeVarga and local cops pursue.

Since this secular Christ doesn't die, a substitute must be found. Noel, desperate to help Bennu escape, ignores his command to avoid a big truck, and runs her car off the road. Noel dies in a river while Tim is able to save himself by believing in the Light Within. As Noel dies, Bennu promises that she will "rise in flame and exist in me forever"-- though, because he's still more human than savior, he weeps when her physical form passes. The film ends with an earnest discussion between Bennu and Doctor Fraser about the isolated alien's "purpose" in the current world.

Though the TV-film pulled in enough viewers to justify a series, only four hour-format episodes were made before the plug was pulled. The series proper attempted to give Bennu a more precise backstory, asserting that a female astronaut might be sleeping on Earth, while another alien from Bennu's world became his Lieutenant Girard. I watched these episodes online and they certainly don't have as much mythopoeic richness, so there's not a great chance that more episodes would have made any difference. Of the two creators, Anthony and Nancy Lawrence, the former had been writing TV episodes since the late fifties, but the only notable works I spotted on his credit-list were two OUTER LIMITS episode. He and his wife Nancy did not collaborate as both writers and producers until the early eighties, and it seems likely that both were trying to gain a rep as full-time producers with THE PHOENIX and a couple of other series-TV creations. They don't seem to have been overly successful, but the pilot film for THE PHOENIX was a good beginning, helped not only by a strong script but also by Judson Scott's intense performance.