The new motion picture Risen
was premiered on most movie screens across the country on February 18th,
2016, with generally positive reviews.
As a pastor, and one whose
life has largely been devoted to the personal and academic practice of religion
generally, and the Christian faith in particular, I was eager to see this film.
I have typically not cared to
see films that attempt to convey a “Gospel message” in an “evangelistic” way
because they usually are not, from my perspective, very well done.
The pre-release reviews of Risen praised the film for decidedly not
being in that category, hence my interest in seeing it.
Although I am strongly in
favor of using any valid form of media to share the message of the New
Testament, there are some parts of that message that are profoundly difficult
to portray on film, such as the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, or the
signs and wonders that were done by Jesus during His earthly ministry.
So as not to keep the interested
reader in suspense, I am giving the movie Risen
a B+ (or if you prefer, an “8” on a scale of 1-10).
I will not go into great
detail about the movie’s plot since that information is readily available at
such web sites as IMDB and CBN.
As a motion picture, Risen is well done, with great film
editing and acting. The locations used in the filming were Spain and Malta, and
they create a realistic setting for events that took place in ancient Palestine
and Judea. Affirm Films
are the SONY owned company involved with the production. They were the
producers of the popular The War Room
motion picture of 2015. The film is rated PG-13 for
images of “Biblical violence.” By modern standards those images (a battle
scene, post-crucifixion scenes, corpses, etc.) are not unwarranted or overly
“gross.” As the reviewer from CBN noted in her analysis, however, the movie is
probably not suited for very young children.
Like the classic Biblical
epic Ben Hur this
film is a fictional story built around the historical events recorded in the
four Gospels. It does an excellent job of speculating on what life was like for
the early disciples of Jesus immediately following His death and resurrection.
The personal struggles of faith, and the challenges of day to day existence in
Roman occupied Judea, are perhaps more easily understood by modern audiences through
means of motion pictures and Risen
does a good job of getting those things across.
Too often, it seems to me,
when we read the Gospel stories we read them as if they took place in a
never-never-land removed from the daily lives of real people. A well-done
motion picture helps show that the lives of ancient people, although different
in terms of modern technology and conveniences, were really not so different
from our own.
The story of Jesus’ death,
resurrection, and ascension are portrayed in this film from the eyes of a
non-believing Roman tribune
(military officer) who struggles with events unfolding before him, events that
challenge the whole fabric of his life. Joseph Fiennes, who
portrays Clavius, the Roman tribune, does an outstanding job in that role.
One very strong point of the
film is that the Jesus character looks very much like a Semitic Middle Eastern
Jew of the time, as do several of the actors who play the twelve apostles. On
the other hand, one of those actors, who portrays Bartholomew, and who has a
significant speaking part in the film, looks and acts like one of the
stereotypical hippie’s of the “Jesus people” of 1970’s
America.
As for the film’s
faithfulness to the New Testament, and its overall theological orientation,
there are areas for improvement.
For example, the Mary Magdalene
character perpetuates the discredited myth that she had been a prostitute
before becoming a follower of Jesus. In another scene, the Bartholomew
character summarizes Jesus’ message as being about having “eternal life,”
whereas the Gospels indicate that His message was more about the Kingdom of God (that
includes life eternal, but in a way not well understood by many evangelical
Christians today). In the ascension scene, Jesus speaks to His followers with
words from Matthew 28:16-20, however, the writers omitted Jesus words that
“…all authority in heaven and on earth have been given to Me…” and “…make the
nations My disciples.”
Those things notwithstanding,
the film does an outstanding job of giving moviegoers a realistic idea of how
events in the life of the post-resurrection followers of Jesus were
experienced. I was glad to see that the writers and producers did not cater to
“political correctness” by avoiding or downplaying the role of the leaders of
the Jews in the death of Jesus. The movie, accurately following the historical
record, shows that to have been a joint effort between the Jewish high priest, Caiaphas, and Pontius Pilate (i.e.
the Roman government).
One of the most moving scenes
is that of the resurrected Jesus comforting and healing a leprous man who had
been savagely treated by local villagers. We also get a sense of the joy and
excitement the apostles must have felt in realizing that Jesus was alive,
mostly admirably portrayed by Stewart Scudamore, (the apostle Peter in the
film).
As indicated at the beginning
of this review, I am give it a B+ and am glad to recommend it. If nothing else
it is a welcome change of pace to see a modern, well done motion picture with
no profanity, nudity, or otherwise reflective of the crudeness of modern
American culture.
For anyone interested, it
remains for me to say a word about the movie theater experience as a whole. (I
include this both because it is part of the overall experience and since the
quality and/or content of most films today is so bad, it is worth considering
the quality of the seating and food as a balance.) I saw the movie at a local Regal Cinema house. My reserved seat (one
of the recliner chair types) was comfortable and well placed for viewing. The
least appealing part of the experience was the seemingly endless “previews” of
soon to be released films. Since I saw the earliest matinee showing on a
weekday morning, the crowd was light, probably around 40-50 people.The
popcorn, being freshly popped for the day, was excellent. 