I went to the movies the last couple of nights and heres what I saw.... Son of God.... Originally I was going to wait for it to come out on Blu-ray but I thought nah...what the heck ....big screen is always better. As a vehicle for people to be connected to the story of Jesus, I have no argument with that. As to its cinematic presentation, frankly I was underwhelmed. Many of the early teaching scenes were too straightforward, and I felt like I was sitting in Sunday school, flannel graph and all. However, the settings and links in which some of the teachings segments were presented in were creatively staged. The film did a very nice job of portraying the underlying tensions between the Roman Empire and subjected Judean territories of the day, and you will walk away feeling hatred for a very dominant and cruel Roman Empire, and understand why the crowds wanted to make Jesus Messiah, deliver which, of course, is what he resisted and why he did not come. The climatic scenes of Last Supper arrest betrayal torture crucifixion ended up being the passion of the Christ-lite wanna-be. For my money and understanding, Mel Gibson captured all that much better in his magnificent work. However there were many nice cinematic, cast and character touches throughout Son of God that I liked. Son of God really tried to capture the mood, the culture, the sociology etc of the day but, unfortunately, the actor they chose to play Jesus still look like just another California golden surfer boy, and not the 1st century Middle East Jew that he was. Beyond my criticisms the movie was a noble effort to present a timeless and much loved story that needs to be told and heard again and again. Many voices criticize cinematic attempts at biblical movies because of fears of straying from the text. The reality is biblical texts are not, of course, movie scripts or even complete biographies as we are used to. Ancient biographies and texts, for many reasons (among them limited space because of the expense of papyrus or leather to write on) focus on what was most important and essential for readers and audiences to know about the subjects life. Thus, cinematic presentations, theatrical plays, and even preaching, as well as daily discussion on biblical texts are highly interpretive, and creative license, for better or worse, is inevitably brought in to play. Its always a challenge for filmmakers and theater producers to bring these timeless stories to life in a meaningful way to each generation, and every good effort deserves my hats off, as Son of God is and does. By the way, I cannot wait to see Noah, starring Russell Crowe. Last nite I saw 3 Days to Kill! Kevin Costner was delightful as a near-retirement CIA operative, who deliciously tapped into his inner Liam Neeson when carrying out his licensed to kill duties ... Lots of fun and the requisite serving up of good, testosterone-filled action!;) Costner poignantly portrayed a father trying to reconnect with his teenage daughter after many years of absence of her life. Scenes of him remembering play with his little girl on the merry-go-round, throwing rocks in the water at the shoreline, sharing hot cocoa, ....and trying to reconnect with a very reluctant teenage daughter now through things like teaching her how to ride a bike, to dance, and going to the prom with her made me (a father who lives long distance from my own daughters myself), bawl! I loved this movie because its celebrated a father trying to reconnect with his daughter and does a very good job at it)) So did you see either of these films? What did you think? What movie have you seen lately that you enjoyed or got something out of? Lets hear all about it!
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 15:30:09 +0000
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