In the Bible Balthazar is one of the three wise men that bring gifts to the baby Jesus. Along with Caspar and Melchior, Balthazar followed a star to man's savior where he brought the child a gift of frankincense. Knowing this troubled me as I watched Au Hasard Balthazar as I spent much time trying to figure out how this religious allusion fit into the story. But I finally came to realize it had little to do with the story of the nativity at all...
In Robert Bresson's masterpiece Balthazar is a donkey. Befriended as a foal by the naive Marie, Balthazar is reared into a tolerant observer. Ever watchful but never judgmental, Balthazar grows old and experiences the sins of man firsthand. Marie, delicate and beautiful, falls into a life of degradation as she becomes a young woman. The two stories--through very different in content--follow oddly paralleled story arcs about the soul of a person, and how much abuse it can take while remaining unspoiled.
Marie went through her childhood in love with the romantically obedient Jacques who she later deems a fool. As she ages she finds herself attracted more and more to the depraved and sadistic Gerard. Not much of a punk by today's standards, Gerard is a violent and jealous rebel nonetheless heading a scooter gang. Once she falls for his bad-boy ways she suffers under his abusive hands. He says, "Come" and she comes as Marie puts it almost, proud in her defense of his maltreatment.
It is really Balthazar, though, that we care about. Never could I imagine that I would ever care for a donkey in a movie as much as I did this one. His willingness to love, his patience, his hard work--all of this he gave even for the most vile and abusive of masters. Once Balthazar got to a certain age he began his circulation through many different owners. He ended up a circus, he worked for a drunken murderer, a slothful and bitter lover of money, before finally ending back up with Marie who was the only person who ever really cared for him. He became used to the beatings; he brayed, but still he worked.
It was not until near to the end that I realized that Balthazar was not supposed to be the magi, he was Bresson's interpretation of Jesus. The film is a brilliant religious allegory for the life and sacrifice that Christ made in order to absolve the wrongdoings of mankind. Around him he is surrounded by people filled with vices and deadly sins: there is the proud father, the lustful wife of the baker, the wrathful Gerard, the greedy merchant, and many others. Even Marie with all of the kindness that she showed to Balthazar could not cover the fact that she was a lecherous and unfaithful young woman who pretended to be saintly even though it was Balthazar who was the saint.
The wicked in this film get their comeuppance--and some get it that ought not too. I will not give away the ending, but I will say that it is one of the most powerful scenes that I have ever had the privilege to watch in a movie. It is sure to make some cry not simply because it is sad, but because its message holds so much meaning. By the end of the film both Marie and Balthazar reach transcendence through the abuses that they suffer, but I learned from this movie that perhaps enlightenment is not as beautiful and lovely as it has been expounded before, and perhaps we are better off not knowing.
This film is short, but it encompasses so much of the faults and fears of man. Anyone with any sense at all will watch this and be deeply moved. It is a tough film that demands much from its audience, but its rewards are great.
4/4
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