Lullaby

Platform: Hulu

Director: John R. Leonetti

Release Year: 2022

Watch Date: January 27, 2024

My Rating: 8.4

So, I have to admit I almost didn’t watch this because I was annoyed by the movie poster. It presents Lilith as the stereotypical “old hag” when in reality Lilith is very beautiful.

Creation mythology (or history, whichever floats your boat) has always been interesting to me. Two of my favorite mythological people are Lilith and Persephone. Both have ties to the underworld. Both are badass women. People who only read the bible and not the rest of the mythology surrounding the bible and the creation probably don’t know about Lilith.

Lilith was Adam’s first wife in the Garden of Eden. Both she and Adam were created as equals from the earth and water. Being created as equals, Lilith expected to be treated as an equal. Adam, however, felt that he should have power and authority over Lilith. Lilith rebelled and was cast out of the garden. Some versions say she and Adam’s children were cast out as demons. Either way, she ended up as the Mother of Demons. An original witch (because we know that historically, women who are different or opinionated are thought of as witches).

Adam complained to God about the lack of a submissive partner, and so Eve was created from his rib so she would always be subservient to him……making Adam the first misogynist. No wonder some men can’t seem to get it together, they have very poor first role model. But I digress….

Lilith tells the story of a new mom who sings a lullaby to get her baby (who cries non-stop) to go to sleep and unknowingly sets off a ritual that will allow Lilith to take her baby and replace him with a golem. I will mention that the couple, Rachel and John, are Jewish because it is central to the story line. I was estatic when John met with a Rabbi who told him the lore of Lilith and how to banish her.

The book with the lullaby came from Rachel’s sister Vivian who had also lost her son to Lilith. We find out at the end of the movie that she did that so Rachel would sing the Lullaby and she could try to get her own son back from Lilith. I don’t really know how to explain the details for this movie. It was slow…but also not slow. I knew right away that something wasn’t right about Vivian. And I was delighted when the old hag turned out to be Lilith’s crone and not Lilith. Lilith was indeed beautiful.

I highly recommend watching this movie if for no other reason than to learn a little more about religion and myths than you already do.

PS as an end note, if I have offended you by calling the creation story mythology, I will remind you that every civilization throughout history has had a religion that has been relevant to them. Some examples are Norse (German) mythology, Celtic mythology, Greek mythology, and Roman mythology. Just because the creation story is accepted by three major world religions, only makes it a “historical fact” to those who believe it, and so I call it the creation and religious texts mythology.

Photo Credit: imdb.com