Posted on Tue, Jan 15 2008 @ 03:41
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The One With "Fallen"

My mom and I were talking the other day and she told me about this movie she caught on TV one time and it left an impression. My parents and I often share music or film experiences and sort of pass on strong impressions, so it wouldn't be the first time that what she told me left me with a strong urge to find this movie and see it for myself. What I discovered after an extensive online search (my mom is not good with titles, which makes it all slightly more difficult) was that it was not a movie at all, rather a 3-part miniseries by ABC. The miniseries in question is called "Fallen" and it's approximately a year or two old by now. Also, bearing in mind it never made it to DVD (well, they have never been particularly bright over at ABC anyway), it was nearly impossible to find. But I did, and I downloaded all 3 episodes.



The basic storyline draws on religious mythology, mostly Jewish, as it explores the angels lore and Biblical events and prophecies, but there are no traces of religion in this series (trust me, I doubt I would have watched it had there been any). The story is that of Aaron, an orphan who, after a series of failed foster homes finally ended up with a wonderful family, but on his 18th birthday discovers that he is a Nephilim, a son of a Fallen angel and a human woman who, as it always happens with the Fallen, died giving birth to him. The Nephilim live a normal life, but very seldom survive past the age of 18 as it is then that their special abilities manifest themselves and the Powers, warriors sent by the Creator ages ago to avenge the Great War and destroy the Nephilim and the Fallen, catch up with them and kill them. The Great War, by the way, is the one waged by Lucifer against the Creator back at the dawn of man, after which he and his followers were banished from Heaven. He fell all the way to Hell and became a prisoner there, and his followers became the Fallen. It is they who throughout the centuries since have been fathering Nephilim with mortal women.



Aaron, however, is different. He does not go down as easily. Apparently, he is the prophesized Redeemer, the Nephilim that other Nephilim and Fallen have been waiting for ever since their initial exile. He is the one with the power to redeem them and return them to Heaven; the one who has the power to stop the genocide waged upon them by the Powers. But in order to do that, he has to survive…



The idea is insanely interesting, and having researched a lot of it in the past week or so, it amazed me to find out how much of it is rooted in real Biblical mythology. I was familiar with Jewish Biblical lore before, so many names and events mentioned rang a bell, but after I read more about it, I realized I didn't know the half of it. Angels are all around us, the show claims. They can be anyone, the beggar on the street, the clerk in the store, the driver on the bus. I believe in that. Maybe not strictly that but that powerful beings live among us and we don't know simply because it is not ours to know. Man is not ready for that knowledge, not to mention man is stupid enough to capture those who are maybe here to help him and cut them open on a table in some top-secret lab. But regardless, the mythology explored and constructed in "Fallen" is extremely interesting, especially nowadays, long past the time of Buffy, when TV has so little if anything left to offer.



The characters and actors are also brilliant. The show is perfectly cast, there isn't a single miss, starting with Aaron and ending with all supporting roles. You look at Aaron, or the other angels and you believe they really are supernatural, more than human, divine. Even the actor who played Michael and appeared on screen only for a couple of minutes left a lasting powerful impression. Also notable were Ariel, Camael, Lucifer and Azazel. In fact, Azazel was superb. He was a pleasure to have on screen; he really mastered the spirit of the angel who is the mythological embodiment of the Seven Deadly Sins. Another brilliant appearance was Gabriel, Aaron's faithful dog. Never mind that he is insanely adorable, but he provides the perfect comic relief and his lines, particularly in the first part of the trilogy as his character significantly fades into the background in the remaining two, are masterfully done. Absolutely brilliant. Of course there are the occasional silly mistakes, such as when Aaron spoke Italian (Nephilim can understand and speak all languages including those of plants and animals) and they subtitled it wrong; that was funny. Also, and I don't quite understand why they did that, but I noticed that the websites I explored repeat the same mistake. They refer to individual Nephilim as "Nephilim" instead of "Nephil". Nephilim is actually a plural form of Nephil (Hebrew grammar), so I'm a little confused as to why they do that. And it's not the only word that suffers from this lack of Hebrew knowledge as they seem to completely ignore plural vs. singular grammatical laws. Weird. Anyway, I'm seriously considering uploading at least the first part of the miniseries on YouTube. It is that good.



If you're looking for messages, I'd say that in a way it is the show for you as well. Unlike my mom, I don't quite agree that serious issues are brought up and discussed as early as in the first installment, but when you get to the second and especially the third, there is some serious listening and thinking to be done, without a doubt. Mostly, I agree with their approach to powerful topics like good and evil, free will, sin and redemption. I particularly liked the way they constructed the characters of the Devil and Azazel. Evil is a point of view, after all. They made them human. What they rebelled against and what they practiced was in fact free will. In that regard the series will be offensive to religious sectors of, I think, both Christianity and Judaism as it makes evil human. The Redeemer, the supposed epitome of good, was the son of Lucifer, the supposed epitome of evil. Lucifer was the one who wrote the prophecy and who brought the Redeemer to life, and he initially did it so he himself could be redeemed. Ironically, his plan backfired when the Redeemer himself exercised free will. At any rate, without giving everything away, let's just say there are some very difficult subjects to bring up and, in my opinion, the miniseries handles them with adequate grace. Really, very well done.



There are no fansites for it online that I could find, but the official site is still there on ABC and can be found here. It has some interesting stuff. As I said, there is no DVD, or at lest not yet, but you can download it here, if you have an account (which I got just for it and damn, it was worth it). Give it a chance if you get a few free hours. In the unlikely chance you want to read more about Nephilim or the mythology, just Google it.

Mood: Contemplative still
Listening to: Tom McRae - Sao Paulo Rain