Portrayals of Biblical figures is nothing new, but this seemingly new trend of cinematically filling in Biblical gaps of history - as it were - most certainly is. In particular, Noah, Exodus: Gods and Kings, and Risen have each taken it upon itself to add flair to well documented scripture - as a means to reenact some of the most famous moments in the Bible.
Specifically - and possibly even the most famous Biblical film of the modern era, The Passion of the Christ, realistically depicts the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. No, it’s not the only film to bring the event to life on either the big or small screen, yet it arguably did it the best. And, just a few short weeks ago - Risen picked up where The Passion left off, showing the days in the aftermath of Christ’s death.
Now, we have a film that attempts to depict - albeit in semi-fictitious fashion, the childhood of a young Jesus Christ…
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It’s visually powerful, and depicts the single greatest sacrifice in human history. Still, and to a degree, it only makes sense for filmmakers to attempt to add the same illumination on the other defining moments in the life of Jesus Christ.
The problem is - not every moment is as specifically defined as the crucifixion - leaving the window wide open for plenty of exaggeration.
Thus, novelist Anne Rice attempted to stylistically fill the gaps of Jesus’ younger years, more specifically - his adolescence, using potential conflicts that he may well have actually faced (in her 2005 book, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt). But, how accurate or inaccurate is The Young Messiah? Well, that’s a question for Bible experts to decide, and - like most things - Google will be happy to lead you to where you need to be if your major hang-up with a film like this is the potential for historical inaccuracies.
Back to the story,
achieving his goal of placing doubt into the minds of the religious. Making this a poorly-argued film due
The film 12 Years a Slave takes us into a twelve-year window of Solomon Northup’s life. Its origin comes from Solomon Northup’s book, with the same title, that recounts one fragment of America’s most embarrassing exploits. The film was directed by Steve McQueen and was released in the year 2013. The director chose 12 Years a Slave to work with after much searching for non-fictional story that featured a man who was ripped from his family and forced into slavery. Solomon’s story was just that. Many critics have been praised the film and particularly single out Chiwetel Ekiofor’s performance as the best acting of the year (Solomon Northup).
French painter, James Tissot, takes on this challenge of flipped perspective in his depiction of Mount Calvary from the vantage point of crucified Christ. In his painting we see all those gathered at the foot of the cross and those looking from a distance. At the sight of Jesus, who claimed to be the Messiah and the Son of Man, a man who was now hanging dead in front of them in the middle of two criminals, the onlookers are perplexed. Some have their heads tilted, others have their jaws dropped, and one soldier is simply sitting there. Tissot also includes the scribes and priests, who, too, seem not to grasp the theological significance of the event. In general, most of those depicted fail to understand and accept the identity of the man before them. Only one, the centurion, stands at full attention. Mark, in his Gospel, writes, “When the centurion who stood facing him saw how he breathed his
The Bad and The Beautiful (1952) and State and Main (2000) are films within films that unmask Hollywood Cinema as a dream factory and expose the grotesque, veneer hidden by the luxury of stars. The Bad and the Beautiful, directed by Vincent Minnelli, is a black and white film narrated in flashback form. The films theatrical nature requires more close-ups than wide-screen shots to capture the character’s psychological turmoil. For example, Fred and Jonathan’s car ride is captured in a close-up to signify their friendship; however their relationship deteriorates after Jonathan’s deceit. While the camera zooms out, Fred stands alone motionless. Here, Fred is captured from a distance at eye-level and he becomes ostracized by the film industry and
The Hollywood Industry has already begun promoting Christian ideals. We see this through the recent epic of Christian Movies that have materialized in the theaters. Movies such as: Fireproof, Courageous, Fifth Quarter, The Grace Card, and Facing the Giants are a few examples of such films.
The plot is extremely straightforward and powerful almost reading like a climax of an action novel. Jesus, the hero of the writings has been betrayed and is about to be wrongly executed by his enemies. It is an ironic plot as you can read it a thousand times and each time Luke makes you think that Jesus just might show the bad guys who’s boss and save himself from the cross.
"The Passion of the Christ" by Mel Gibson, recounts the last twelve hours of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, portraying his arrest, trial, crucifixion and death. One of the most popular religious movies in modern times, it therefore becomes susceptible to criticism. Although the film is based upon the stories within the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, there are many exaggerations and non-biblical elements present in the movie. This is not unexpected, since it is a movie, but the vivid detail of the brutality in the movie as well as the Anti-Semitic theme are the most publicly criticized elements of the movie. The Passion emphasizes the brutality Jesus endured to give himself for his people, but at the same time in the movie the Jews are the ones that cry for his death. During several scenes of The Passion of the Christ, there are elements such as characters, themes, and motifs that are not found within the gospels, but are in the movie to add more dramatic elements.
After the birth of Jesus the movie changes to two Roman soldiers who are in a meeting. One of the soldiers, Tribune Musala, is an old friend of Judah. Judah comes in and meets with Musala and invites him to his home for dinner and to see his family. Musala tells Judah how the Romans will conquer his people and if he wants to save his family he can turn in the Rebels who plan to revolt. Judah is enraged that his friend would ask him to turn in his own people, and storms out of the meeting.
Throughout the novel “a prayer for Owen Meany,” by John Irving, the main character is portrayed as a very religious martyr. In the Christian faith Jesus Christ is a martyr as well. Although there are many differences between the life of Jesus, as depicted in the bible and Owen Meany, there are many similarities as well, so many in fact, that the reader is forced to ponder if these similarities are intentional.
The Monuments Men was released in 2014, is rated PG-13, and was directed by George Clooney. The movie begins with Frank Stokes convincing President Roosevelt that even when they win the war, if the artwork from throughout history is lost, the victory would not mean much. Roosevelt gives his approval, and Stokes begins to gather a team. He puts together a ragtag team of middle-aged art enthusiasts and curators to help save artwork from the Nazis. The film focuses on 7 Monuments Men and their journey throughout Europe to recover the essence of Western civilization.
The Last Temptation of Christ by Martin Scorsese shows the life of Jesus Christ and his struggle such as fear, reluctance, depression, doubt, and fear. However, the movie departs from the accepted Biblical depiction of the life of Jesus Christ. In other words, the movie is remotely derived from the Gospel of John, Luke, Mark, and Mathew. The movie starts with the renunciation that it is not based on the above gospels. Instead the movie is derived from the book, The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis. The book focuses on the dual nature of Christ or his humanity (Greydanus).
Many subjects have been spoken of over the history human beings. For some time it may have a world war, at other times a great recession, in another day it would have been a very fast athlete, at others the final match of Champions League and many more. Yet in all these occurrences that grip the human mind for some time there is no occurrence more spoken than the crucifixion of a man called Jesus Christ (Zugibe 33). His crucifixion has even been a study for the entire lifetime of many people. Institutions have been built primarily for the purpose of studying this crucifixion. Some have said this crucifixion has changed their lives. Others have retorted that it has lifted off their worries. It is widely known and embraced. However, aside from all this, with all the goodness this man Jesus Christ is preached to have, many wonder why he would be killed on a cross.
The movie “The Greatest Story Ever Told” speaks of Jesus Christ's life from birth to the death and resurrection. The movie covers many different topics and teachings in the Gospels. Though the movie is filled with a great cast and is written very well, there are many inaccuracies through much of the movie. These inaccuracies of the movie range from small movie mistakes to different people and readings of scripture in completely wrong parts of the story.
Daryon Fields The film Amazing Grace, is a true story about Mr. William Wilberforce the greatest crusader for the British abolition of slavery. The story begins in 1979 during slavery Mr.Wilberforce takes a break from his health, even with William being very sick he still pushes on to get action in his frustrated cause. He meets Barbara Spoon a very strong and powerful woman, they become soulmates and Wilberforce finds someone to share his struggle story with which is to abolish slave trade.Wilberforce with his few allies such as his mentor, John Newton a slave captain turned and repent to a priest who penned the great song,"Amazing Grace," Prime William Pitt, and Olaudah Equiano, the former slave who is now a author. The film shows how Wilberforce
‘Our interest in the parallels between the adaptation inter-texts is further enhanced by consideration of their marked differences in textual form,’