MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Meher Baba’s’ Makers Use Slo-Mo Religiously

There are New Age gurus who believe themselves gods, and then there are New Age gurus who believe themselves God--as in the Second Coming, or the 134th Coming, or whichever periodic incarnation of that most Ancient One to which we might happen to be witness. The publicity for “Meher Baba: Avatar of the Age” (at the Nuart through Tuesday) maintains that the documentary “leaves one to ponder the question, ‘Did God walk on the Earth again as a man among men, in our time?’ ”

The answer offered in this straight religious propaganda piece is, of course, a resounding yes . Unfortunately for film maker Irwin Luck, who spent seven years on the project, God did not choose in this go-round to be captured on 35-millimeter film stock, or even deem to speak during his last 44 years of life, despite the advent of talking pictures. Instead, the Indian guru who died in 1969 was observed mostly in scratchy home movies, visiting the impoverished and preparing the way for the One Miracle of universal religion, while observing a vow of silence unto death.

Luck was able to find and restore about 20 minutes’ worth of previously unseen footage of Baba greeting his followers. This has been stretched to about 75 minutes thanks to the miracle of slow-motion. Aside from the odd foot-washing ritual here and there, most of what’s on screen is a closed-mouthed man--or The Man, if you will--smirking and gesturing, and smirking and gesturing some more. Wait! Did that curl of the lips, that wave of the hand, have some special, subtle nuance? One-eighth speed ahead, then!

Apparently Luck did shoot modern interviews with some of Baba’s international devotees but decided to discard them in favor of using only vintage slo-mo footage of the Avatar in (sort of) action, with his written claims of divinity and promises of universal brotherhood read aloud in a soothing narrative voice-over.

Needless to say, this is very much for the already-converted, of whom there are apparently enough locals to book a very curious five-day theatrical run.