Spiritual Elements
That “angel” quip above begins the movie’s Leviticus-long scroll of spiritual content.
The movie’s very name, Wake Up Dead Man, may be a reference to many Scriptures that refer to bodily or spiritual resurrection. “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead,” we read in Ephesians 5:14. And in the context of the film, a resurrection of both body and spirit might be in play.
On the day Wicks dies, he curiously tells his Catholic congregation that he, Monsignor Wicks, will rise from the grave. After his violent passing, one congregant believes that he’ll do just that. And certainly, something strange takes place soon thereafter.
But the film is also referencing a hoped-for revival within the congregation itself.
Wicks’ parish is small and shrinking. And Wicks tends to revel in its contraction, lambasting any visitor who might walk through their doors with condemnation of that person’s real or imagined sins. We’re told that he’s always aiming for at least one walkout, and we see several people storm from the congregation: a mother and her son (after Wicks says some pretty awful things about single mothers and children born out of wedlock), an apparently gay couple and others whose sins may not be so obvious from our vantage point.
Wicks’ outbursts trigger two reactions from his loyal core constituents: one, fear of Wicks’ wrath; and two, a smug sense of superiority. Those outbursts, it’s suggested, keep Wicks’ flock in line; and one churchgoer is sure that he can weaponize Wicks’ sermons and turn him into a powerful YouTube and social media presence.
Father Jud presents a different school of thought. A former boxer who killed a man in the ring, Jud was saved by Christ and found a new way forward. He makes a number of surprisingly poignant statements about the nature of Christ and the power of love. And in one of the film’s most moving sequences, he sets aside a critical moment in Blanc’s investigation—an investigation which could theoretically prove his innocence—in order to spend time with a grieving woman, offering solace and spiritual help.
The film pits Wicks and Jud against each other—with Wicks insisting that Christians need to fight to reclaim the ground they’ve lost, and Jud arguing that the only way forward is through radical, Christlike love. “Christ came to heal the world, not fight it,” he says.
Blanc comes into this world as a spiritual outsider. He tells Jud that he’s a “proud heretic” who worships at “the altar of rational thought.” He claims that God is a “fiction,” and sometimes, a hint of atheistic anger slips into his soliloquies. But late in the film, Blanc claims to have a “road to Damascus” experience that influences how he handles the conclusion of the case.
The congregants have their own viewpoints about what faith means and how it manifests. Lawyer Vera Draven has dutifully funneled tithes and offerings to the church—to the point where she’s basically keeping the thing afloat. (She expresses hope that her deceased father sees her good works and smiles down from heaven.) Cellist Simone Vivane suffers from chronic pain, but Wicks has promised her a miracle. Martha has served the church for literally generations. She grew up under the religious tutelage of Rev. Prentice Wicks (the current Monsignor’s grandfather) and is a strict, sometimes judgmental adherent. Meanwhile, author Lee Ross may be more a follower of Wicks than God.
As you might imagine, Wake Up Dead Man is filled with the language and trappings of Christianity. The physical church is filled with stained glass and statues—though, tellingly, the sanctuary lacks a crucifix. (The wall is stained where one once hung.) In flashback, someone desecrates the interior—breaking statues, ripping apart holy books and ultimately tearing down the cross itself. Priests take confessions and perform last rites. A local bar has taken on a hell-like theme for itself: Painted flames adorn its windows and much of its décor is studded with images of demons and devils (including a horned Elvis). A fancy glass case holds a tiny statue of Jesus. Someone quips that a character is a “few beads short of a rosary.” Martha believes that someone was “struck down by God.”