“Risen!” (Currently playing) – a review of sorts
I like period pieces and historical movies anyway … and enjoy being intellectually challenged (i.e. - particularly as opposed to being
categorized as such
).
And so the tale of a Roman Tribune …
… who commands a garrison of men during a time of insurrection in the Judean capital of Jerusalem
… being charged with stopping the “problem” of spreading rumors that the recently crucified Jesus Christ
(until recently a popular phenomenon cheered by throngs as a “King” and a “Messiah” in the very city that suddenly condemned him as a traitor) had risen from the dead.
… A problem made more difficult due to the fact that Jesus’ body was somehow absent from the heavily guarded and sealed tomb (guarded by said Tribune’s own men).
… was an intrigue I could not resist.
I won’t ruin it for you, but when it ended, I wanted it to continue on …
… and I will say a sequel could be possible … if not probable. If you’ve seen it you’d understand this statement better.
***A view of Christianity (and Judaism) from the perspective of outsiders is instructive. ***Joseph Fiennes does a fine job as the Tribune.
Apart from the main theme, there is a quite intriguing battle scene between the Roman cohort and a Judean zealot group that ambushes them. Ingeneously done and involving.
There are moments of humor amidst the drama. The grittiness of life at the time is pervasive.
And the collision of cultures between the cynical battle weary Roman and an etherially happy apostle (Bartholomew) he interviews to find out what has been done with Jesus’ body – would be hilarious but for the drama of the mortal threats the Tribune must make to get his information.
Bartholomew’s over the top performance is nonetheless consistent with the scriptural account of apostolic behaviour in the second chapter of Acts … where the citizens of Jerusalem encounter the “way too happy” apostles speaking in tongues and proclaiming the resurrection in such an enraptured way as to appear “drunk”.
“Risen” has some neat special effects … yet for the most part treats the miracles in a rather subtle, underplayed way.
< That disappointed me a bit at first … until the film’s consistency in the matter won me over.
Subtlety is a key. One watching the same film on TV might miss the subtle biblical nods to …
… the new dynamic of welcoming gentiles into brotherhood (and loving one’s (former) enemies.
… The simple apostles, like Abraham before them, obeying God’s orders to journey … without being told why.
… A reprise of some other Gospel episodes in the film story (Jesus seems to know the secret thoughts and past life of the Tribune … as Jesus of the Gospels saw Nathaneal under the fig tree in John 1:48}.
I liked the idea that the Tribune, and Pontius Pilate were not
atheists … but looked to
Minerva and* Mars
*…
something … someone … to make sense of their curiously challenging … and admittedly brief lives.
As he leaves a coin offering for a statue of Mars, a point of view shot of the statuette from the perspective of the Tribune betrays doubt in what he is doing … I thought … yet he leaves it there ‘in hope’.
As counterpoint to apostle Bartholomew’s rapture … is Mary Magdalen. Well known to the garrison as a woman of the streets … she is changed by the time the Tribune questions her. Serious, sober, resolute but unafraid, her testimony of a resurrection becomes more believable than the Tribune’s own soldiers’ account of being overwhelmed by grave thieves. < Evidence for ***why ***this was so … I won’t ruin for you.
“Risen” is not a sensational film. Despite some good special effects here and there. It is more of the
thought provoking variety of film that I’ve always enjoyed.
I give it an A- well worth seeing. On a down day when I’m grumpy, maybe a strong ‘B’.
It’s not an Oscar contender. But many of you here I think will like it. :tiphat:
youtube.com/watch?v=R-R9JY4le7k < a preview
youtube.com/watch?v=rVkXeGP03oo < and a better preview
Yet that combo has worked before. Watch Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar or a like film … and well spoken English is a staple of the production.