(Review originally written at 28 October 2005)
Whenever I watch this movie I have the feeling that it's closer to the truth than for instance a movie like "The Passion of the Christ". This movie feels more realistic, mainly because of the way the Jesus character is portrayed in this movie and overall the movie and its story feels far more believable. In the movie Jesus is portrayed as the son of God but as a human of flesh and blood as well. He has hopes, feelings and dreams like every other man.
The story is absolutely fascinating. It's a whole different take on the life of Jesus and the person as well. Lot's of things of the famous story have been changed to a more believable and likely story, without too many supernatural elements but with lots of personal struggles and doubts from Jesus about his mission.
Jesus is beautifully portrayed by Willem Dafoe. Also good in their roles were Harvey Keitel as Judas-, this movie also provides a totally different view on his character, and David Bowie as Pontius Pilate, in a much smaller role than you would expect from his character.
The movie is filled with some unforgettable, original and though provoking moments, especially towards the ending when Christ gets his 'last temptation'. It clearly is not a movie for just everyone. Obviously there will be still lots of people who will be offended by the portrayal of Christ and many other different characters from this movie. But also because the movie is quite artistic and almost poetic like at times in its thought provoking moments, it might be a movie that will simply seem 'odd' to some. So clearly not a movie for just everyone.
Still I want to recommend it to everyone so everyone can form their own opinion about the movie its story and characters afterward. Whether you like this movie as a movie, or not, isn't the most important thing. It's the way you feel about the story and the character of Jesus that matters the most afterward. I think this is also what the filmmakers tried to achieve with this movie.
8/10
Watch trailer
No comments: