Posted on 02/22/2016 11:43:54 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Christian audiences have felt a little burned lately by bad movies on biblical subjects. But one really good movie can change all that.
"Ben Hur," "The Robe," "The Ten Commandments," "Quo Vadis?" -- who can forget the golden age of biblical films? But that was the 1950s, and this is 2016.
Biblically based movies these days often comes across as, well, less than inspired. Writers and directors sometimes play fast and loose with the source material, leaving out crucial details and inventing some bizarre stuff. Worse, portrayals of God often come across as flippant or even blasphemous. And that's just not something I enjoy watching.
Well, I want to urge you to give the genre another chance. Because a film hitting theaters this weekend proves that swords-and-sandals productions based on the Bible can still hold their own against "Ben Hur."
"Risen," directed by Kevin Reynolds and starring Joseph Fiennes, is the story of the manhunt for the corpse of Jesus Christ. Spoiler alert: They don't find it.
Fiennes plays a Roman tribune named Clavius. He's tasked by Pontius Pilate with crucifying the latest batch of Jewish rabble and self-proclaimed messiahs. The only catch? One of them really is the Messiah.
Of course Clavius, a good Roman military man, doesn't think anything of Jesus. When the centurion at Golgotha admits, "Surely this Man was the Son of God," Clavius lets him have it. Clavius is tough, and he's immune to Jewish superstition -- that is, until Sunday morning. For Clavius, that's when all Heaven breaks loose.
The tomb is empty, the guards aren't talking, and the Disciples of Jesus are spreading the news that He's come back to life. The high priest warns Pilate that they'll have an uprising on their hands if he doesn't put the resurrection story to rest. So Pilate sends Clavius on a grisly, CSI-style hunt for the body of Christ.
That's when our tribune has an encounter that shakes his pagan worldview to the core.
"I have seen two things which cannot reconcile," he says. "A man dead without question, and that same man alive again."
Everyone on our BreakPoint team who's seen the film loves it, not just because it's a respectful and riveting portrayal of the gospel accounts, but because it shows an unbeliever's crisis of faith when confronted by the Risen Lord.
In anticipation of Easter, I cannot think of a better reminder of how Christianity, as Tim Keller puts it, forces us to "doubt our doubts."
The empty tomb is the most startling fact of history -- something two millennia of skeptics have tried to explain away. But the evidence is just too strong. And "Risen," like a good detective novel, follows that evidence where it leads.
For instance, the Roman officials and Jewish leaders had every motive to produce a body. Yet they couldn't. And Jesus' Disciples had nothing to gain and everything to lose from lying about the Resurrection. But their transformation from cowards to spiritual conquerors testifies that they, like Fiennes' fictional character, saw something -- or Someone -- who rocked their worlds.
Joe Fiennes, whom I had the pleasure of interviewing on the "Eric Metaxas Show," told BreakPoint that he expects this movie to touch audiences in a unique way precisely because it invites them to examine these events through the eyes of a non-believer.
I think "Risen" has the potential to spark a renaissance of solidly biblical movies. But more importantly, I think it will challenge audiences to confront, with Clavius, the question that defies doubters to this day: If Jesus is dead, then where is the body?
Go see "Risen." And take some unbelieving friends with you.
Some say the same of Bin Laden.
I really enjoyed “The Bible” mini series.
‘Exodus’ was bad. I was sitting next to a Jewish man on a flight to Warsaw. He started to watch ‘Moses’ and I told him “You’re better off just reading the book.” He didn’t really understand what I meant until he laughed at me about the comment when he finished the movie.
‘Noah’ was reprehensible. Rock people? Really? Rock people?
The director you never heard of before won the Oscar for best director last year.
THANKS for the heads-up. I won’t miss it.
Oh, I don’t know. Carol is not expected to win any Oscars this year and only did about $12 million at the box office. The critics loved it and when it was released, the movie had no legs and the Oscar buzz completely died.
LOL
Nooooo!!!! My all-time favorite movie! No one could top Charlton Heston as Judah Ben Hur.
Only a bunch of liberals think they can remake a movie and do better the original that won 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. Sort of like a remake of The Godfather, minus Brando.
And I want a REAL Chariot Race, not a CGI Chariot Race! :-) (One of my Favorite movies too!)
>>I refute that “Ben Hur†was a Christian movie; it had mass appeal and was simply a reflection of the Western Civilization from which it sprung.
People think of the chariot races when they think of Ben Hur, but it really is a Christian story. It is the story that many Christians live.
>>A remake is coming out this year. Yes, a remake.
Will the new Judah Ben-Hur be a strong black man, or an androgynous-hinting-at-homosexual vaguely causcasian person? Or will it be a proud Feminist?
Those are your only choices for the lead in most remakes these days.
Please see this movie. I saw it last night and better than expected. Beautiful scenery, shot in Spain, and excellent acting. Kudos to Sony.
It is supposed to be closer to the book than the 1959 version and will show Jesus more. It was supposed to be released in early 2016 and is now moved to late summer, which is not a good sign. Studios often dump movies in late summer they think are no good. I came across this by accident. There seems to be no buzz, nothing. No trailers yet.
We rarely go to the movies but I will definitely make an exception for this great sounding film.
But, the release date has been moved to late summer of this year and no buzz at all. No trailers. I have read that late summer can be a dumping ground for films studios have no faith in (no pun intended).
Who knows? We may be pleasantly surprised. I agree Charlton Heston was an amazing Judah Ben Hur and that lady (I don't know her name), Judah's "love interest" is absolutely mesmerizing to me.
Ben Hur was written in 1880, long before our Masters of Western Civ corrupted things. Author Wallace, in his memoirs, said
The Christian world would not tolerate a novel with Jesus Christ its hero, and I knew it ... He should not be present as an actor in any scene of my creation. The giving a cup of water to Ben-Hur at the well near Nazareth is the only violation of this rule ... I would be religiously careful that every word He uttered should be a literal quotation from one of His sainted biographers
>>> Is it as good as Passion?
Not nearly as riveting and wrenching as Passion. Much more intellectual, as in Clavius trying to make sense of various testimonies and evidentiary discrepancies.
Mrs. XEHRpa and I enjoyed it very much.
I will have to check it out then.
>>> And I want a REAL Chariot Race, not a CGI Chariot Race!
The scene where the rider flips over the front of the chariot before climbing back in (don’t recall if that was the Ben Hur character) was actually a near death scene of the stuntman, but they kept the cameras rolling.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.