Sebastiane was a useful film to view only in as much as it traces where Derek Jarman started as a film maker, marking his film making adolescence. Like many a first film or book it is painfully self-conscious in design (Latin dialogue for no apparent reason, grainy colour distorted visuals, hand-held camera work, little attention to continuity), it is contrived and obsessive; the title itself gives this away. Jarman’s later works Carravaggio, Wittgenstein, Edward II are polished diamonds, Sebastiane the raw product. It struck me as the film he had to make in order to get it out of his system and move onto more thoughtful things, rather like most adolescent poetry.

With this DVD, KINO presents Derek Jarman’s debut feature loosely based on the story of Sebastiane, son of a wealthy Roman family during the days of emperor Diocletian. However, those expecting a historical story of Christian faith should better look elsewhere. Recommented for Jarman completists (an early indication of the filmmaker’s later work) but virtually no one else with serious interest in film.

Sebastiane converted to Christianity early on and even as commander of the Praetorian Guard and a personal favorite of the emperor, he did not hide his beliefs, actively renouncing persecutions of Christians, helping prisoners and proselytizing Romans to Christianity. This led Diocletian to order his execution. Roman soldiers shot him with arrows but he survived. A second execution was arranged and he was clubbed to death(288 AD).

However, viewing this film with the expectation of seeing a historical epic or a story of martyrdom, will inevitably lead to desappointment. Historical facts are only a backdrop, serving the filmmakers’ intention of presenting the other well known aspect of Sebastiane’s claim to fame: his link to homoeroticism and sadomasochism. How this relation came about historically is unclear. Some stories have it that Sebastiane was homosexual himself. Others that he had to refuse the emperor’s advances on the grounds of his Christian faith. Whatever the case, it is most likely his repeated depiction in painting ( Procaccini, Pollaiulo, Botticelli, Reni, Bazzi etc) scantily clad and pierced with arows reinforced the associations. In Jarman’s film, the Christinity angle seems more of an afterthought, an excuse to add some pretentious sounding monologues that set Sebastiane apart from those around him. The film’s opening scene introduces the depravity and decadence of Roman life. In a scene that clearly points the artistic tendencies Jarman’s carreer would later follow in an over the top fashion that is not at all concerned with subtlety. The major themes of the film are introduced: Roman life, the persecution of Christians, algolagnic extremities and Sebastiane’s homosexuality and opposition to torture and violence. The film has him stripped of rank and exiled to a remote outpost. From then on, Sebastiane does everything in his power to accentuate his differences from his fellow soldiers (basically they are portrayed as a bunch of sadistic, degraded halfwits so to differ must have been easy for an educated, wealthy Roman with spiritual longing). The film consists of a series of algolagnic torture scenes mixed with a good measure of frustrated “boredom” scenes, which unfortunately mirrors the most likely state of its viewers. There is nothing of narrative cinsequence to speak of (save the first scene, the long middle and the ending). Plot is certainly secondary to the films thematic explorations. The performances are uniformly poor and the Latin “dialogue” sounds way too ridiculous in the actors’ accents for a film that takes itself seriously, adding to the impression the film leaves as a low budget feature. Moreover, the characters are utterly unconvincing as Roman soldiers. They instead seem as convenient marrionettes in the films attempt to introduce its and convey its preoccupations.

The scenery is certainly one of the strong points of the film. But whereas the barren landscapes emphasize the complete isolation and give context to the soldiers’ ennui, the film seems at times more like an excuse for copious amounts of male nudity. There are plenty of ways to enrich a story of utter boredom and debasement but the film sticks to one and drives in the point over and over again, in a sadly repetitive, narcissistic way that reminds more of cheap excuses for sexuality in softcore S&M porn than a story of profound spirituality and psychological torment (I am guessing the spirituality and sexuality/lust are supposed to be conflicted or even paralleled but repetitiveness spoils this).

Overall, the film fails to convey any sort of spiritual longing, significance and verismilitude. Best approaced as an experimental, low budget study of homoerotic sexuality than as a film with narrative and characters.

The DVD has no extras, the image is grainy(perhaps shooting on 16mm and later expanding to 35mm doesnt help) but passable. Rent if you have to see…