“Check the surroundings,” Jouster said. “Tools? The group’s practices involve using tools, ritual, rites, chants, and all that crap to try to achieve better control over their abilities.”
“Kind of makes sense,” I said. “Abilities get stronger when you’re in a mental state closer to how you were thinking before your trigger event, so-”
-Worm Chapter 23.1
[CW: Suicide]
The Christian themes of Ganja and Hess are in-your-face to the point where it's kind of hilarious, the film beginning with several shots of horrified cherubic figures and regularly punctuating dramatic or horrifying moments by flashing angelic imagery onscreen. Our original perspective character (Luther) is a Reverend, and we see him on the altar in the opening as well as the climax. The presence of Christianity in the film and its impact on the main character are undeniable, but the film deviates from convention by refusing to show faith as something inherently positive or even as morally neutral. Rather, we watch as the inflexibility and dominance of Christian morality seems to erode the confidence of the character Hess.
The tale of the mythological Myrthinians establishes the relationship between Hess and faith early on. For some unknown transgression, the Myrthinians are said to have been cursed with a need to consume blood, their only potential escape being death beneath the cross contingent upon Christ having already died (although, given the specific wording of the curse, my inner mythology geek and munchkin found at least two other methods that could theoretically have worked). The film seems to present Christianity as the sole form of redemption for the Myrthinian people, but at the same time this redemption seems to be rooted in their destruction. The implication is that the Myrthinians cannot live righteously, their only recourse from sin being death. This parallels the experience of being a black man in the US, as we see with George's final pleas before he tries to kill himself. He and Hess exist at odds with the (white-dominated) world and cannot find peace with it, and this leads to both of them pursuing self-destruction.
Hess' very existence as an immortal, blood-drinking black professional strikes him as inherently wrong, and much of the film revolves around him trying to grapple with this wrongness. He deflects any questions about his personal life as "impolite" and does his best to try and hide his condition and perspective in most situations. When he drinks blood to sate his addiction, he seems to be ashamed of the act, and the African chanting which reminds him of his state seems torturous. There are certainly moments where Hess seems to be at peace with himself and his condition (when he narrates to Ganja about how "I will persist and survive without God's or society's sanction. I will not be tortured. I will not be punished. I will not be guilty), but these sentiments begin to cave when he discovers a method by which he can end his life. In spite of his proclamations, Hess remains in a prison of expectation and of perceived normalcy, unable to sever himself from standards of acceptability which he could never meet.
The film climaxes in an extensive and overwhelming church chorus led by Luther, a spectacle that lulls us in and makes us feel welcome as everyone sings together and supports each other. It's only when Hess enters that the scene takes on a more sinister note, the atmosphere shifting somewhat as the immortal comes forward to be blessed by Luther. The faith that Hess seeks to power his destruction is being brute-forced into him by the spectacle, the shackles of society and expectation coiling tighter around him until eventually they force their way into his heart and enable him to (slowly, painfully) end his own life when he is alone. The overall impact of the scene leads us to perceive faith as a weapon against individuality and a prison which drives one to grief and self-destruction. Even when it is beautiful and energetic, the divine doctrine which has cursed Hess for his addiction and his racism can lead only to his demise.
At the same time, however, it is because Hess internalizes this guilt that he is killed. Theoretically, moving beyond such regret in the same manner as Ganja could have been a possibility for him, a possibility which would have allowed him to continue living without his alleged sinfulness weighing him down. This ending makes a powerful statement about how the battle to survive is won or lost from within, how the conviction to push forward and define one's own existence proudly is crucial to moving forward in a world that resents you.
Something I realize that I didn't explore adequately in the above space is the nature of black Christianity explored in the film. The style of Christian faith explored in the film ultimately stems from slaveowners attempting to pacify their slaves, and it is quite possible that in the eyes of the filmmaker the modern churches still spread a doctrine of assimilation and passivity. Such is why black church leaders are depicted in conjunction with European religious art, and such is why they ultimately drive Hess to destruction while the more agnostic Ganja survives.
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