Where is the Angel?

by Rich Moreland, February 2013

This episode, “You Are Not a Man of God,” is about the column, the angel, and mankind’s confrontation with the sacred feminine, a concept that reaches far into the past before the birth of a Christian Church that silenced it.

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A shot of the golden, gleaming angel opens this brief episode. The priest is waiting on the street. Adriana approaches with a meek and passive Amira in tow.

“Here she is. The vampire I was telling you about,” Adriana says.

Amira eyes express her submissiveness. Zoltan takes her behind a wall that separates them from the busy street. They are across from the plaza where the Victory Column stands. It will loom over this scene.

The priest challenges Amira asking her if she thinks she has a choice to become human again. Amira is lost in what she wants and knows little of who she is.

Zoltan tells her it is possible to become human but it is not an easy task. Amira brightens, if only for a moment.

“You have to withstand God and the angels,” he says. “You think you can do that?”

Desperation overcomes Amira’s face. “I can’t live like this forever,” she says.

With anger Zoltan flashes his red crucifix in Amira’s direction. “Do you think you can stand this?” he utters. Like Vlad, Zoltan must discipline and punish Amira.

Amira turns away in agony and collapses on her knees, once more defeat growls at her.

“Open your eyes!” Zoltan orders and he thrusts his erection into her mouth, pressing her head against the wall. Amira will now service the man of the cloth.

“Please help me,” she sobs between his forceful thrusting into her mouth.

The sex in this scene is all oral, as it is in the previous episode. However, this shoot is immersed in images and messages that heighten the drama. The wall is low enough to reveal the street activity during the scene. Cars whiz by; a jogger and cyclist pass a few feet away.

Amira is below the wall’s level, not visible from the street. This is important because when Manuel arrives, he sees Zoltan, but not her.

The shot is framed so that the column is the predominant image on the left, the street with its traffic and numerous streetlights cut a swath across the entire picture. Predictably, Amira is minimized on the screen’s lower right.

She interrupts her oral work and looks at Zoltan.

“You’re not a man of God. You’re nothing but a fucking pervert!” she sobs defiantly.

At that moment the camera tilts so that Zoltan’s standing body becomes horizontal and the position of Amira’s head is equal to his, a verification of her assertion. It’s a revelation that equalizes them.

Zoltan will have none of this. He grasps her mouth and drops the crucifix that hangs around his neck into it. She screams and steam rises from her mouth, just as the medieval Europeans would have expected from a witch, the playmate of Satan.

Voracious makes a strong statement in this episode about the moral corruption within the Church, especially in the Middle Ages. Church leaders, including the Popes, often had concubines and mistresses while minimizing the role of women in society. Using women for pleasure while considering their sexuality the work of the devil is the message Father Zoltan sends the viewer.

Amira’s indictment of Zoltan’s unholiness while withstanding his abuse is a microcosm of a religiously-driven society’s attitude toward women.

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Manuel arrives, fulfilling his appointment to meet with Zoltan. The priest moves his body in front of Amira so she can perform orally on his anus. Tales of witches kissing the devil’s genitals and buttocks go back to twelfth century Europe and are recalled in this scene. In those times, such accusations could mean public execution.

Zoltan challenges Manuel to see what is happening and Adriana pops up suddenly to make sure Manuel faces the truth. Amira is reduced to a whimpering, beaten child as the scene rolls toward its end.

A confused and overcome Manuel promises her he will find a path through this demonic morass.

Everyone is gone, Amira is alone. At this moment the telling image steps onto the stage. The Victory Column’s enormity occupies the screen’s left, Amira is on the right. She is not minimized now, her adversaries are gone; she has survived.

The camera lops off the top of the column, sending a visual message that angel’s presence has shifted in the scene. Amira, which means princess in Arabic and Hebrew, suffers from her ordeal. Tears flow down her cheeks and the ejaculate of perversity smears her face, but she remains whole. Will this princess of the dark ever see daylight?