The Man Who Came Back
for violence and sexual content.
Reviewed by: Michael Karounos
CONTRIBUTOR
| Moral Rating: | Extremely Offensive |
| Moviemaking Quality: |
|
| Primary Audience: | Adults |
| Genre: | Western, Action |
| Length: | 1 hr. 52 min. |
| Year of Release: | 2008 |
| USA Release: |
Direct to DVD DVD release: December 9, 2008 |
Every time you buy a movie ticket or rent a video you are casting a vote telling Hollywood “That’s what I want.” Why does Hollywood continue to promote immoral programming? Are YOU part of the problem?
How does viewing violence in movies affect the family? Answer
Murder in the Bible
Does the Bible condone slavery? Answer
What are the consequences of racial prejudice and false beliefs about the origin of races? Answer
| Featuring |
Sean Young Billy Zane Carol Alt Armand Assante, George Kennedy, James Patrick Stuart, Eric Braeden, Jennifer O'Dell, Peter Jason, Ken Norton, Edwin Neal, Leonard L. Thomas, Stefanos Miltsakakis, Tajh Bellow, Russell Reynolds, Richard Jackson, Heather Fife, Amy Morris, Jackson Burns, Katina Latrell, Brady Hender, J.D. Hawkins, Patience Watt, Gianna Redeemer, Teddy Valdes, Brandie Briley, Kate Clarke, Werner Richmond, Alvin Bellow, Jon-Michael Foshee, Nicholas Wayne Williams, Al Hayter, Terry Mann, Brenda Mireles, Leigh M. Harris, Fredric L. Norris, Belinda Simmons, Dominique Wilson, Roland Rottweiler, John Rouse, Jimmy Phillips, Buddy Howard, C. Anthony Jackson, Barrett Kyle Blackmon, Elie Taylor, Jerry Orton, Kathleen Rottweiler, Kate Clark, Sheila Eatmon, Cynthia Elaine Shaw, Rickey Atkins Jr., Johnny Beall |
| Director |
Glen Pitre — “The Scoundrel's Wife,” “Belizaire the Cajun” |
| Producer | The Company Pictures, Gudegast Braeden Productions, Scott Hamilton Public Relations, Stephen Bowen Productions, Michelle Benoit, Stephen Bowen, Eric Braeden, Gudegast Braeden, Sam Cable, John Castellanos, Ra-Ana Gilani, Yankie Grant, Duke Meek, Chuck Walker |
| Distributor |
 Lionsgate (Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.) |
“Revenge was his only answer.”
I hasten to write this review to prevent anyone from renting this movie. Under the guise of an “anti-slavery” story, “The Man Who Came Back” portrays Southern whites, with the exception of a “Confederate war hero,” as vile, violent, and, of course, as evil Christians who quote the Bible, glowingly reference the Crusades, and abuse freed blacks with orgiastic delight.
The putative basis for the movie is the Thibodaux Massacre in 1887, but one only learns that in the closing credits. Rather, the idea of that historical event provides the excuse for the mayhem which writer Chuck Walker and director and co-writer Glen Pitre unleash as revenge on a white community. The sheer spitefulness of the movie exceeds reason. It projects on Southerners a virulent hatred that calls into question the motive of the film. Similar to the “Saw” films and “The Hills Have Eyes,” the movie does not attempt to tell a story; it is a visual act of hatred which uses the plot device of revenge in order to justify its disgusting images of rape, murder, and torture.
The movie runs through a catalog of evil archetypes in the first third of the movie. A series of scenes depicts a preacher, a judge, the sheriff, a carpet bagger, prison guards, landowners, and business men as white devils. Indeed, much like the trailer for the disgusting “Left for Dead,” which the DVD featured, the movie is best understood as a horror film. As Billy Zane’s character says, “Reese Paxton has escaped from prison and returned from the dead.” In the final reel, hood-wearing white men, like zombies in a Grade B horror film, slaughter innocent black families.
Contemporary horror movies, like the “Saw” films, are morally and ethically disgusting, but “The Man Who Came Back” uses the pretext of slavery-era injustice to glory in pornographic violence and sexual acts. In the end, Billy Zane’s character clutches a book with the words “Holy Bible” on it as a final stamp of the filmmaker's contempt for Christianity. Watching this movie is like listening to a sermon by a murderer who takes pleasure in the sin he both commits and condemns. Whatever it may say about its subject, the final irony of the movie is that its greatest hypocrisy is the sanctimonious deceitfulness of the director himself.
Don’t rent it.
Violence: Extreme / Profanity: Extreme / Sex/Nudity: Extreme
See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.
none
Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 1½
My Ratings: Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 3