Son of God

It’s been 10 years since the story of Jesus was retold on the big screen. It has probably also taken 10 years for most people to recover from the gruesome, Mel Gibson directed The Passion of The Christ.

Son of God is and adaptation of the miniseries The Bible which aired on the History Channel in March 2013. Unlike The Passion of the Christ, which largely focused on the arrest, torture and crucifixion of Jesus, Son of God takes us through the life of Jesus and everything he did that lead up to his death.

John (Sebastian Knapp), the last disciple of Jesus, is the narrator and through him we learn about his birth in a barn, his disciples and followers, his ministry, his crucifixion and death. All the Sunday school stories are retold: Jesus walking on water, Jesus feeding  5000 people with five fishes and two loaves, he raises Lazarus from the death, his entry into Jerusalem and his last sermon on the Mount of Olives.

In between the retelling of Jesus’ life we meet Pontious Pilate (Greg Hicks), the new Roman Governer who fights with gladiators for exercise. We also see Jews protesting Roman rule. Through this the film delves into the political landscape during Roman occupation.

We also meet Jesus’ harshest critics, the Jewish high priests, who come across strongly as hypocrites.

This movie has been beautifully shot and it tries to give off an ‘epic feel’ with the musical score adding to this. It is long and it feels like the producers tried too hard to pack in every episode of the 10 hour miniseries, and because we know how this story ends it is laborious to watch.

There isn’t much of a script and the dialogue is quite staggered. At parts it felt like characters were just reading passages from the bible. There are two roles worth mentioning. Thomas played by Matthew Gravelle epitomised doubting Thomas. It was also brave that they included Mary Magdalene (Amber Rose Revah), a woman, as a disciple accepted by the group.

Diogo Margoda created quite a buzz on Twitter, inspiring the hashtag hot Jesus, but while he might be good to look at his acting leaves much to be desired. His acting didn’t ‘move me’. The tone of voice used and the faraway not from this world facial expression made him come across as a standard cardboard character, lacking heart.

While The Passion of the Christ will always be remembered for its gruesomeness, Son of God is quite forgettable. It feels like the filmmakers wanted to counter Passion’s depiction with this almost fairytale like retelling of the life of Jesus.