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| 'Son of God' (PG-13) |
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| 'The Passion of the Christ' (R) |
THE PLOT
- 'Son of God': The life story of Jesus (Diogo Morgado), as told from his humble birth through his teachings, crucifixion and ultimate resurrection. Told from the perspective of the apostle John (Sebastian Knapp), who begins with scenes from the Old Testament before going into the story proper and concluding with John seeing Jesus again and quoting the final sentences of the Book of Revelation.
- 'The Passion of the Christ': A film detailing the final hours and crucifixion of Jesus Christ (Jim Caviezel), interlaced with scenes of Christ's ministry, childhood and days working as a carpenter. In Aramaic, Latin, and Hebrew with English subtitles.
THE ACTING
- 'Son of God': The acting in 'Son of God' ranges wildly from good to flat to distracting. On the good side is Sebastian Knapp as John. As I said in my 'Movie Nitpicks' post, Morgado does get kudos for portraying a kind, gentle, smiling, laughing Jesus, something that isn't depicted often. But at times the gentle demeanor is a bit inappropriate for the scene and it took me out of the movie. And I had issues with Joe Wredden as Judas Iscariot and Greg Hicks as Pontius Pilate. They both just come off as flat and that also took me out of the movie. Pilate's portrayal is also way different than what I'm used to. Having listened to the Passion story in the Gospels every year at Mass on Palm Sunday and having seen other depictions, I'm used to seeing Pilate as being extremely conflicted about Jesus. On the one hand, he really doesn't believe that Jesus did anything wrong and he does not want to condemn him. But he knows that if he doesn't condemn him, there might be riots in the streets. Hick's Pilate is just an authoritative statesmen who quickly puts down riots, hates being assigned to Jerusalem, never really seems conflicted about condemning Jesus and thinks that it'll all be forgotten in a week or two. Distracting is Roma Downey as Mary, who looks like she's had one too may plastic surgeries in 1st century Israel. And I ultimately just couldn't buy Roma Downey as the mother of Diogo Morgado.
- 'The Passion of the Christ': I could praise the acting in this movie all day, but I'll keep it short and not repeat myself over and over. Notable stand-outs are Jim Caviezel as Jesus (seriously, just a great performance showing the suffering and pain that Jesus went through), Maia Morgenstern as Mary (who actually looks like she could be Jim Caviezel's mother), Francesco DeVito as Peter, Hristo Shopov as Pontius Pilate (extremely conflicted), Luca Lionello as Judas Iscariot (conflicted, remorseful, tortured) and Rosalinda Celentano as Satan (downright creepy).
TECHINCAL ASPECTS
- 'Son of God': For the most part the cinematography is very good. The score for the movie (done by Lorne Balfe and Hans Zimmer) is also for the most part good but then it becomes a train wreck as the ending credits abandon this score and instead play a cover of "Mary Did You Know?" by Cee Lo Green. The song itself wasn't bad per say, but it felt completely out of place. At times the visual effects are good (the beginning scenes showing Creation), but other times they are shockingly bad (blatantly CGI exterior shots of the city of Jerusalem) and immediately take you out the movie, making you realize that this was cut down from an 8 hour miniseries. The scourging scene and the crucifixion scene are a little graphic, but nowhere near as graphic as in 'Passion'.
- 'The Passion of the Christ': I can't praise the technical aspects in this movie enough. Breathtaking cinematography, a haunting score, good visual effects, and just overall a great attention to detail. The sets and costumes all truly look like they are from that time period. And while the scourging scene and the crucifixion scenes are quite graphic and indeed earn this movie's R rating, those are probably realistic in how those events actually happened. Let's face it people: Jesus being scourged repeatedly by the Roman soldiers, and then being crucified with a crown of thorns placed on his head was indeed probably a very bloody sight to behold.
OTHER COMMENTS
- 'Son of God': Despite the rather negative reviews that it had been getting, I still went and saw this movie. I was the only one in the theater. Yes I knew that it was a trimmed down version of the miniseries "The Bible", but I still went into it with an open mind and let it speak for itself. And indeed, it did speak for itself.
Before I say a few words on 'The Passion of the Christ', I have a few other nitpicks for 'Son of God'- Very early on in Jesus' earthly ministry, the apostles were talking about how they were going around "changing the world". If you are a theologian please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that the apostles weren't really aware that they were becoming a part of something new, at least at that point.
- Jesus and the apostles just arrived by boat to a mountain where thousands of people are gathered to hear him speak. In the movie, as soon as they get off the boat the apostles are talking about how hungry the crowd is and how all they have is five loaves of bread and two fish. My main nitpick: They JUST got there, how do they know that the crowd is hungry and how did they know about the bread and fish? Last I checked in the Bible, Jesus had been preaching for awhile and the crowd was tired and hungry, and a boy offered his bread and fish.
- Very early on in Jesus' earthly ministry, the apostles were talking about how they were going around "changing the world". If you are a theologian please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that the apostles weren't really aware that they were becoming a part of something new, at least at that point.
- 'The Passion of the Christ': I was 13 when I saw this for the first time. Back then I thought it was a really good movie, but it didn't have much impact on me. As an adult I've started watching it at least once a year on Good Friday, so I will probably watch it later today at some point. But anyway as I got older and watched it more, I started becoming more and more emotionally invested in the story. The scene where Caiaphas (Mattia Sbragia) tosses the bag of silver coins to Judas, Judas' betrayal in the Garden, Jesus' trial where the crowds are shouting crucify him, when Mary sees him along his journey to Calvary, the crucifixion itself...all hard scenes to watch.
And lastly, this movie was very controversial as it was accused of being anti-Semitic. Having seen the movie, do I feel that it's anti-Semitic in any way, shape or form? Honestly...no. Yes, the people who were leading the charge to see Jesus be crucified happened to be Jewish, but I don't feel that the movie discriminates against Jews. Heck, in 'Son of God' a Jewish rabbi is constantly deriding Jesus and wants to see him punished from the very start of Jesus' earthly ministry. Why are there no cries of antisemitism for 'Son of God'?
FINAL VERDICTS
- 'Son of God': Despite an overall good score and good cinematography, it's performances and special effects take you out of the movie and is distracting to the point that it makes you realize that yes, essentially you are watching a made for TV movie on a big screen. Because of the distractions I really couldn't get invested in the movie. But to each their own.
- 'The Passion of the Christ': Sure it is very bloody and violent, but it also is extremely well made with great acting, cinematography and score. Unlike 'Son of God' I was able to be emotionally invested in this movie. And while I do recommend this movie, I will admit that it's probably not for everyone. Some will say that the violence obscures the message, something I disagree with but to each their own.
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