Yes, yes, it’s Movie Week, apparently.
I had wanted to see this when it came out in the theaters, but never got around to it. So wait for the library it was. We watched it last night and well, it fulfilled my expectations, which, based on reviews I’d read, not high. But hey, you guys can spill all the ink and the bytes on The Chosen, now it’s my turn.
So? Well, good intentions, decent execution, surprising conclusion but overall disappointing and nowhere near as sharp as it could have been.
I will confess to you at the very beginning though, that one of the main reasons I wanted to see this is that it was filmed in Matera, Italy – as was The Passion of the Christ, Pasolini’s Gospel According to Saint Matthew and yes, the opening scene of No Time to Die.
The concept of the movie is: set in Biblical times, with a predominantly Black cast (the Romans and some of the enslaved people shown are white) – Clarence is the disciple Thomas’ twin (get it?) and a scoundrel. He owes a bad guy a bunch of money and possibly his life as well, so, seeing how his brother’s master, Jesus, is pulling in the crowds, he cooks up a scheme to do some preaching, fake some miracles and proclaim himself a messiah. Being a vociferous non-believer in God in any form, this is, at first, a conscience-free choice.
But events snowball and Clarence is eventually arrested by the Romans because, of course, he’s going around saying he’s a messiah. And a fellow named Barabbas is part of his crew, so that doesn’t help.
Throughout the last part of the film, Clarence’s conscience has started kicking into gear, he’s beginning to sense what the real Jesus is all about, and by the end, through his own sacrifice and suffering, yes, he’s become a believer.
At the time of its release, I read some comments on Reddit from viewers deeply annoyed at this – what is actually a kind of moving and faith-embracing turn.
But still?
I’d give it a 5/10. Maybe even 4.5.
First, the script is disjointed and not exactly subtle. There are weird, unnecessary touches of magical realism – like a hookah bar where people are actually floating around. Dumb. I like the basic story, but it’s just not smoothly told and has stupid moments.
Secondly, the faith stuff is not completely off, but it is also pretty far from “on.” There’s no real sense of why people are believing in Jesus, no indication of what he’s actually teaching, why these disciples have come on board, what anyone means when they talk about a “messiah” or “savior.”
There are allusions to Gospel incidents and appearances by Gospel figures, but it’s all mixed up and not in a way that indicates anyone was trying to create some smart kind of pastiche. Mary Magdalene first appears as a tough gal racing a chariot (against Clarence) – which was fine, but then she’s the woman caught in adultery, so what?
In fact that whole incident from John 8 reflects what’s wrong with the movie. Mary (so that’s strike one) is chained to a wall, in the process of being stoned, when Jesus shows up, holds up his hand – and the stones freeze in mid-air, fall to the ground, Jesus breaks Mary’s chain without touching it and then utters the “first stone” words. Magic, in other words. Miracles are like magic.
It’s just dumb and shows what was missing: Clarence, in his quest to be taken as a messiah, fixates on the miracles and fakes them – his redemption would have been more grounded and effective if we’d seen and heard Jesus doing and saying, well, actual Jesus things that prompt self-reflection and recognition of what Jesus offers that the world – and our flawed, sinful selves – cannot.
I did appreciate the scene with Alfre Woodard as Mary, Jesus’ mother, in which she vigorously and humorously defends the virginal conception of her son to the skeptical Clarence who’s sought her out to learn how Jesus does his “tricks.”
But OH OF COURSE – in an earlier scene, an apostle scorns Clarence (who’s shown up trying for a spot as the 13th apostle) – because you don’t even believe in the Immaculate Conception.
PEOPLE! GET IT RIGHT! JUST LOOK IT UP ON WIKIPEDIA!
I will say, though, that the last fifteen minutes almost redeem the stupidity and flaws in the rest of the movie. Clarence’s way of the cross is harsh and painful and what happens afterwards has been earned. Ironically, the suffering he had sought to avoid has taught him that love, and more importantly, God is absolutely real. He’d begun the film proclaiming that he didn’t need belief because he had knowledge, you can’t “know” that God exists, knowledge is certainly superior to belief, ergo, God doesn’t exist. By the time he’s on the cross he’s challenged about God’s existence. Does he believe? No, he responds now – he knows.
Simplistic, yes. But the post-crucifixion business? It got some skeptics who were just there for laughs big mad, so maybe that simplicity served some purpose.
Final takeaway? Mildly entertaining, weak construction and writing, pointlessly absurd at points, an attempt at satire that would actually have been strengthened by more fidelity to the Gospel narratives, but with a surprisingly moving ending.