This afternoon I had the chance to see the film “Son of God,” with my sister. From what I understand, much of the footage came from last year’s “The Bible” mini-series. While I was in Papua New Guinea, Archbishop Stephen Reichert of Madang lent us his copy of the mini-series (probably one of the few in whole country), but I was only able to watch the first two episodes before we had to return it. Therefore, I don’t know first hand if the film is just a re-edit of that footage or not.
Nonetheless, if you have not seen “The Bible”, I would encourage you to see “Son of God” while it’s still in theaters. I think it’s a very fitting way to begin the season of Lent.
It’s not the best film you’ll ever see, but there is some very fine acting among the key figures, particularly that of Jesus, played by Diogo Morgado. The film lacks the same emotional impact of “The Passion of Christ”, but there are some scenes that are particularly memorable. I really liked the scenes with the miracle of the “multiplication of the loaves” and the “raising of Lazarus.”
My suggestion is to begin Lent with “Son of God”, which will be all the better for being seen on the large screen, and save “The Passion of Christ” for Good Friday.
I’d love to know what you think of both these films. “Son of God” takes some liberties with an exact interpretation of Scripture, and it glosses over the biblical events following Christ’s resurrection, but it’s still a worthy telling of the story, in my opinion.
I think I should watch the entire “The Bible” series and see what I think of the whole production. Have you seen it? Is it worth the time and effort to watch it all?
We watched The Bible and enjoyed it for the most part. They skipped large chunks, as you might imagine, including certain things we wanted to see. A bigger budget would have been nice, but it was, overall, a good effort. I have heard that this Jesus is excellent, and I would like to see it for that reason. I’m up for anything that brings Jesus “to life” for me!
My sister had seen “The Bible” on TV, but still enjoyed the big screen environment of “Son of God”, especially the lack of other distractions.
There were things I liked (I thought the Call of Matthew was excellent), but the movie felt like a bunch of vignettes strung together and it lacked a sense of narrative. For this reason I think it is an okay movie for those who are already Christian (or at least know the basic story) but for a non-Christian there may not be enough of story line(who are these characters and why do they do what they do and why should I care?…)
I agree with you on that. The mini-series was much longer and more comprehensive. Cutting it down to 2+ hours must have been difficult.