Son of God

• Directed by Christopher Spencer
• February 28, 2014

The story of Jesus as told from his humble birth to his resurrection.

Son of God is an edited down version of the Jesus portion of the epic miniseries The Bible released theatrically. There is some additional footage here and there to help smooth out the film a little bit but as a whole if you’ve seen The Bible then you’ve pretty much seen this.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t watch Son of God. This is one of the better and more reverential Jesus films that I have seen in quite some time. It doesn’t try to reinvent him or tell things from a new perspective. It adheres pretty well to the Gospel narrative. Not perfectly but closer than many.

Diogo Morgado portrays the best Jesus since Robert Powell from the legendary Jesus of Nazareth. He has an otherworldly yet calming feel to him. He is not frightening or upsetting but comforting. He makes Jesus someone you can trust implicitly. His movements are smooth and gentle. His tone calm and even.

I wish they had kept the portion with the Satan (Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni) that looked suspiciously like Obama. Admittedly to the overall narrative that they have here it would’ve been extraneous, but it was a strong scene in the miniseries. If you don’t understand what I mean, in a portion of the Gospel Jesus is out in the wilderness and he encounters the Devil.

I liked that they featured the scene in the Temple in Jerusalem though the location the incident occurs in is a little fuzzy. What I’m referencing is when Jesus becomes upset that business is being conducted on the Temple grounds and flips over the tables (they left out the part where he chases people with a horse whip). They were defiling God’s house by conducting business. I would’ve liked to of seen him chase people around with the horsewhip. Jesus was most certainly a man of peace, but he was not peace at all costs.

Son of God moves at a brisk speed. I’m not saying breakneck but there are no slow parts. Though you know how the story ends, and if you don’t pick up a Bible, you are kept on the edge of your seat all the way up until the finale. This is a very engaging film.

The stories present much as you would find in the Gospels though there is some artistic license taken. Nothing that comes off as out of place but rather done in a reverential matter. It is done with respect to maintain things as they should be but to also tell the story.

What the Gospels give us and what we have here are believable reactions to fantastical events. You have the doubter. The cynic. The coward. Each of the Apostles has a believable reaction throughout the story much in line with how the Gospels portrays them. The Apostle Thomas (Matthew Gravelle) for example. We know someone or perhaps ven it’s ourselves and we just don’t believe something until we get to see it for ourselves. Some of us need to experience something and cannot simply have faith on our own.

And in a chaotic time, no matter how loyal we are, some of us could be tempted to lie to protect ourselves even though the right thing would be to tell the truth regardless of the consequences. Such is what occurs with Simon Peter (Darwin Shaw).

And then there’s doing something bad and convincing yourself that it’s right. 30 pieces of silver to commit a wrong and tell ourselves that we’re what we’re doing actually is okay. Such is what happens with Judas Iscariot (Joe Wredden). Humans often go through mental gymnastics to feel better about doing something they know is wrong

As much as this is a story about God and about Jesus, this is also a story about the people involved and how the Son of God changed not only their lives but the destiny of the world. This is not just some stuff that happens but rather are groundbreaking events for them all.

My only complaint about Son of God is that in the opening they use clips from the miniseries. Not there’s anything wrong with the miniseries but if this was to be a standalone film then it should have not included them. Minor issue with an otherwise inspirational film.

Son of God is a fantastic adaption of a segment of the epic miniseries The Bible. Not only is this a fine film in its own right but if you’re a little hesitant to check out that miniseries because of its length then this here is a good sample to see if it’s something for you. Whichever it is I recommend you check this movie out.