Pearl Diver -- Archetypes for Mennonite Artists

This week our class watched Pearl Diver, an award-winning film by Goshen College graduate and independent filmmaker Sidney King. The movie is a film about two sisters, one a writer--Hannah Eberly--who has a story to tell, and the other--Marian Miller-- a traditional Mennonite farm wife who doesn't want the story published. The story Hannah is writing is a memoir about a personal tragedy, but it echoes the cultural trauma of the Mennonite Martyr heritage. I asked my students to reflect on stereotype and archetype in this film, and what it tells us about the role of the writer in the Mennonite community.

The sisters meet in their home town when Marian's daughter is injured in a farm accident. This accident triggers traumatic memories of the murder of Hannah and Marian's mother when they were children. The murderer is up for parole and they disagree about whether or not he should be released. I'll have to admit that when Marian holds up a picture of Dirk Willems, a Mennonite martyr, in the courtroom, I inwardly groaned.

The story of Dirk Willems from the 17th century Martyr's Mirror is such an extreme version of turning the other cheek that it is hard to imagine living up to it. Willems, a Mennonite who had been discovered during the Reformation in Holland, was fleeing his pursuer when the pursuer fell through the ice. Dirk stopped, turned around, and rescued his pursuer from sudden death. Although the pursuer wanted to free Dirk, those in higher authority refused. So Dirk was arrested and burned at the stake. The day he was burned the breeze blew the fires away from him, so he was slow-roasted in great agony. Dirk's deed of rescue made a text of his life--an exemplum of loving one's enemy. However, as a role model he sets the standard so high that it's disturbing for some of us to live with it. The way in which this story is woven into the film, though, makes for a thought-provoking ending.

I'm looking forward to hearing my students' responses to Pearl Diver as the first post on the blogs they are keeping for this course. I'll save the rest of my comments until I hear from them.