Three Christs

Milton Rokeach was an American social psychologist. In the late 1950s and early 1960s worked in a Michigan mental institution and devised an approach to study three different men, each who claimed to be the real Jesus Christ. His approach was to put the three men together and have sessions, eliminating their contact with other patients.

The movie is less of a biography and more of a dramatization of what all went on. Richard Gere is in the role of the doctor, and they changed his name to Dr. Stone. Truthfully the movie moves pretty slowly most times and I can understand that some viewers might become bored and abandon the viewing. My wife and I watched it at home on DVD from our public library and found it worthwhile. All the actors, most very accomplished, are uniformly good in their roles.

This is just a well-made movie of a curious chapter in human psychology.

"Three Christs" was a last minute choice of mine at the TIFF. As a big Dinklage's fan, and considering that it was a world premiere, it was easy enough to go check it out. I'm glad I did. This movie is one about the brain and its struggles, but it does so with a big heart. It's funny and touching with a good balance, and the acting is top notch (I'm actually a bigger Dinklage's fan after the movie). The underlying themes about psychiatry as science and its potential negative effect on personality, the nature of identity, the complex interaction of desire and fear are inhabiting the film and are as relevant today as they were at the time. In summary, a great entertaining movie with a deeper layer... and a stellar Dinklage!

I started out watching this film with some skepticism as psychiatric patients are so often misrepresented. As someone who worked in a state psychiatric facility for a couple of decades, I'm quite familiar with paranoid schizophrenics, and I have to say they were aptly portrayed in Three Christs. I'm not familiar with the study on which it is based but it did influence a lot of what was to come in treatment for these kinds of patients. The message that came across is one that I incorporated into my practice: treating people with respect, dignity, warmth and caring does wonders. The delusions may not go away, but they recede into the background as the patients start to feel cared for and better about life in general. That "Dr. Stone/Stein" was a warm and caring doctor is unquestionable, at least according to the film, and that in itself is a great model for any psychiatric student to emulate.

Aside from that, the film, I believe, would have a limited audience as most people are not terribly interested in the subject. Even someone like me who is interested in the subject found the film boring in select passages. Overall, the actors did a good job with the material.

(Richard Gere,Kevin Pollak, Peter Dinklage and Jon Avnet... Dream team)

"How can you soar when you have no arms? And to think I was chosen to save you."

Jon Avnet's 'Three Christs' is so powerful, comedic and touching that it's easy to forget how outlandish the situation is on the surface: based on a real life experiment, a psychiatrist in the '50s is tasked with finding a new way to treat three separate paranoid schizophrenics, all of whom are convinced that they're the real Jesus Christ and the other two are imposters. As the trial goes on, the four begin to form a close, connective bond while higher ups at the mental institution threaten to shutter the program for good, eradicating all progress and signs of humanity being displayed.

I thought the film flowed so beautifully, incredibly poignant in its storytelling and it really makes you grieve and smile as the characters build chemistry and relationships. The cast up and down is simply fantastic, with special highlights from the Three Christs (Walton Goggins, Peter Dinklage and Bradley Whitford), Richard Gere as the lead psychiatrist running the experiment, Stephen Root and Kevin Pollak as his superiors, and Charlotte Hope, who plays Gere's budding college intern and has a particularly emotional bond with one of the three eponymous men. Their performances are incredibly strong and really know how to tug at the heartstrings, especially in the final 20 minutes of the film.

Unfortunately, the film is a victim of some crucial scene cutting, particularly when it comes to Julianna Marguiles' scarcely seen wife, who apparently has a bit of a drinking problem out of the blue over halfway into the film. A bit more development might've gone a long way, even if Gere's family takes a backseat in most sections. The film's weightier themes also could've been a lot more interesting to see explored further, considering the tug of war that exists between psychotherapy/new forms of getting to know such a curious mind and restoring to electric shock therapy and killing someone's real self with drugs. Instead, they're much more civilian topics here, never reaching the heights and debates they could, even though it's hinted at.

Still, this film really touched me, I found it as pleasant and smile-inducing as I did thought-provoking and devastatingly sad. It's certainly a niche film, based off a psychiatric study that's even more niche, but the performances and raw humanity of the film really help bring it to life and make it worth your time and emotional dedication.

I rated this so high because I work in mental health and it connects with me but to the everyday person I would say allow this film to unfold, it has very believable character performances which are easy to follow and as the film progresses you become attached to