THE film Morningstar (no BBFC certification) derives its title from a sobriquet accorded to John Wyclif (c.1320-84). He was dubbed the evening star of medieval Scholasticism, based on Aristotelian philosophy, and the morning star of England’s Reformation. Trinity Digital’s Morningstar is a cinematic expedition into the Christian faith written and directed by Murdo Macleod, whose previous work has won prestigious awards.
Wyclif is probably best remembered for overseeing translation of the Vulgate Bible into Middle English. This was a dangerous venture. He was already treated with much hostility by ecclesiastical authorities for views on several issues, including corrupt clergy, an oppressive Church, and doctrines such as transubstantiation.
It may well have suited secular powers to protect this Oxford don in its contest with church power, but, when Wyclif’s beliefs became associated with the Peasants’ Revolt, royal favour was withdrawn. Wyclif retreated to the parish of Lutterworth, where he continued to rail against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places.
The information above is readily available in books by or about Wyclif, but a film such as this offers an accessible means of digesting it. Morningstar is a well-acted drama, while a narrator, Philip Todd, holds the documentary dimensions together. Jared Morgan gives John Wyclif (here spelt Wycliffe) a doughty spirit. “God appointed us to teach his word. You contend with truth itself,” he yells at his episcopal nemesis, William Courteney (Marcus Houden). Scholars provide sympathetic readings of Wyclif as a pioneer of the forthcoming rupture over where Christian authority ultimately lies.
According to Wyclif, the truth of sacred scripture stands above everything else. It is to the Christ of the Bible which Christians must defer. The film tends to be uncritical of Wycliffe’s uncompromising outlook. One academic, Dr Susan Royal, of Durham University, comes nearest to questioning it. She reminds us that a morning star isn’t completely light. Jared Morgan’s performance endorses this. Wycliffe isn’t the easiest or most congenial of characters to get along with. And, as in so many schisms, there is an element of power politics at play.
I particularly liked Macleod’s use of tableau backgrounds to set pieces. Fiery reds rage in a graveyard as actors recite extracts from Wyclif’s translation of perfect love casting out fear (1 John 4.18). Soldiers on John of Gaunt’s orders violate those seeking sanctuary in a digitalised impression of Westminster Abbey. Their very artificiality produces a heightened sense of the real battle for the soul at stake in this piece.
Even the dizzying plethora of locations — Darlington, Lambeth, Wensleydale, etc. — in which the narrator places himself link ancient concerns with contemporary matters. The Venerable Bede’s words feel relevant to this film and its subject: “Christ is the morning star who when the night of this world is past brings to his saints the promise of the light of life and opens everlasting day.”
Morningstar is on a screening tour across the UK. Details at www.morningstarfilm.co.uk