Auferstanden

I really liked the perspective of this movie. It's told largely through the eyes of a Roman tribune, Clavius - played by Joseph Fiennes. As the movie opens, Clavius is leading Roman soldiers in battle against a group of Jewish zealots led by Barabbas. Immediately after, he's sent by Pilate to oversee Jesus' crucifixion and then, after the body disappears and rumours of Jesus' resurrection begin to spread, Clavius is sent to find out the truth- specifically, to find Jesus' dead body to put an end to this nonsensical story that has the potential to be a real nuisance to the Romans. This was a different kind of take on the Easter story. It's told through skeptical eyes rather than through eyes of faith. It's mostly believable. It makes sense to me that the Romans would want to investigate these claims of resurrection. From a Christian perspective it's a stark reminder of how small and seemingly weak the original Jesus movement was - scattered, frightened disciples under constant threat, but increasingly emboldened by the growing realization of what had happened. Fiennes was very good as Clavius - a Roman who obviously doesn't believe in Jesus as the Messiah or in his resurrection but who finally has a dramatic experience when he discovers the disciples in the upper room. It was interesting to have Clavius form a sort of partnership with the disciples - sharing their journey to Galilee and experiencing the risen Christ along the way, to the point at which you'd have to say that he was converted. Jesus (or Yeshua as he was called in the movie) was played by Cliff Curtis. Yeshua's dialogue was somewhat limited (what was important in this context was not his words, but others' experience of him) but I did like Curtis' take on Yeshua. Yeshua came across as jovial and good natured; humble and compassionate. Strangely in a movie about the Easter event, Yeshua wasn't central enough to the story for Curtis' performance to rank among some of the fine actors who've played Jesus over the years, but given the limitations of the role in this movie I thought he did well.

The basic concept (inserting a Roman tribune among the disciples) means that there were several liberties taken with the biblical story. There was, for example, a healing miracle performed by the risen Jesus - but there's no record of such a healing in the New Testament. The movie also (and unnecessarily) buys into the wholly inaccurate portrayal of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute. I saw no reason for that except perhaps that it gave an opportunity to insert some humour when Clavius burst into an establishment and asks the men inside "who knows Mary Magdalene?" - to which all the men put up their hands. OK. A quick laugh perhaps, but hardly worth perpetuating the false portrayal in my opinion. For the most part, though, the basics of the biblical Easter story were maintained, and the crucifixion story - while not as graphic as in, say, The Passion Of The Christ, was respectfully shown and appropriately difficult to watch.

Two other scenes that stood out to me as especially dramatic were one of the guards at the tomb explaining to Clavius what happened at the moment of resurrection with a mixture of shock, terror and wonder, and also the moment that Clavius burst through the door of the upper room to find the disciples but also coming face to face with the risen Yeshua - whom he knew was dead.

I liked the setting of the movie. It seemed very authentic to the time period and geography. Overall, this was a very well done movie, and for those who have a play list of sorts of movies they like to watch at Easter, this is probably deserving of a place on that list. (8/10)

Risen is a Biblical Drama/Adventure film that follows Roman Tribune 'Clavius' (Joseph Fiennes) who is tasked with investigating the disappearance of the body of 'Jesus of Nazareth', who has been rumoured to have resurrected. This movie was a very pleasant surprise as i went into it expecting just an average film about a story that has been represented on the big screen many many times, but i got a very interesting, and dramatic film that had me hooked right to the very end. Many of these biblical films do touch on many of the same beats, but this film approached the story in some interesting ways and offered enough new to differentiate it from the others. The film featured some excellent/very good and convincing performances, but also had one or two miscasts. The story progressed at a steady pace for most of the film making it very easy to follow, and the film was also accompanied by a pretty good soundtrack that i did not expect at all.

One thing this film did with its story that really worked in its favour was tell the story through the eyes of a non-believer, and that added so much more to the story and more interest in the film. This added element let the story take turns that you wouldn't get from just an average biblical film and was great to see. The film also 'looked' very good in terms of the scenery and cinematography, it was very subdued and didn't really have grand set pieces and scenery that were obviously CGI. This really helped the film seem very grounded and i couldn't be distracted by any obvious CGI.

I have to say that i enjoyed the last 2/3 of the film much more than the first 1/3. I felt that there were some pretty big pacing issues in the beginning where it either felt like it was progressing too slow or it was moving too fast. There was a lot of jumping through time and skipping over quite a few scenes, and it was quite jarring at times. But as the story developed it quickly flowed at a very steady pace for the rest of the film and i quickly forgave it for its earlier blunders. In terms of performance, Joseph Fiennes was fantastic in the film as 'Clavius', he was the standout in the film and put in a very convincing and engaging performance that carried the film, especially early on. There were also good performances from other side-characters who elevated the film especially later on, but they weren't all good. Peter Firth who was cast as 'Pontius Pilate' was really not good at all, the way he delivered his lines felt very forced and not natural at all. Tom Felton was also a complete miscast, he just did not work at all as a Roman Soldier and his dialogue was very wooden and fake and just gave the impression that he was overacting and did take me out of it a little.

So in the end this was a surprisingly very good biblical film that offered enough new elements to this familiar story to differentiate it from the countless other similar films. This film would have been much better had they cast someone other than Tom Felton, as he was bringing down the film when Joseph Fiennes was putting in a fantastic performance. It's no 'Passion of the Christ' but it is better than a lot of other biblical films to come out in recent years.

7.3/10

If you are believer than you have to envy Joseph Fiennes playing a Roman Tribune who was the first outsider to witness the seminal event of human history, the resurrection of Jesus and his ascension into heaven. In fact the story of Risen which is a film about something I always wanted to see made is done from the Roman point of view.

Although when Jesus was crucified the Emperor Tiberius had absolutely no intention to leave the Isle of Capri where he had given himself over into all manner of debauchery (see I Claudius) it's an impending visit that is the reason for Judean Governor Pontius Pilate's concern. It's why for instance he ordered the arrest and trial of a former carpenter turned itinerant preacher named Yeshua in Hebrew. As Pilate Peter Firth puts Fiennes and his new assistant Tom Felton in charge.

It is known that this Yeshua predicted in three days that he would arise from the dead, some precautions are taken and the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea is opened by some magic and there's no body there. That starts what in effect is a police investigation with the Romans reaching out to their usual group of stoolies like any police force does. For Fiennes eventually he finds some real proof positive.

The Gospels aren't very clear as to the events of the next few weeks. I recall that it is said that Jesus just hung out with his disciples, was seen by a few witnesses, what we would call unconfirmed sightings as per the authorities who were the Romans. In this film Cliff Curtis as Jesus even heals a leper on the shores of the sea of Gallilee before his ascension.

For any who are expecting grand pageantry like King Of Kings or The Greatest Story Ever Told this ain't the film to seek it. Curtis is quite the workingman, dressed like a carpenter or any other tradesman would be of the time. This is a man who hung out with fishermen and a lowly bureaucrat in Matthew. No white raiment for this interpretation of Jesus. It's only when he heals the leper and at the end makes the ascension to heaven that you know he's special. In fact compare this film's interpretation of that event with Max Von Sydow in The Greatest Story Ever Told.

Risen is a well crafted piece of cinema with Fiennes as our witness/protagonist giving a great performance. Risen will do well in more than the Christian film circuit.

With the most recent Biblical movies that Hollywood has come out with, Noah and Exodus, the main complaint, at least from the Christian viewer-base, was that they didn't stick to the accuracy of the Bible; in this film they do - so it has that going for it, if you're a Christian.

At the top of the IMDb page it lists this movie as Action, Adventure, and Drama; but in reality it's pretty much just drama. There is a 3 minute action sequence at the beginning and that is about it. It's not bad that it's Drama, but it is a slower paced movie - I only point this out because that is one of things I like to know when going into a movie.

The movie itself wasn't terribly exciting, but for the Christian audience, who like to see portions of the Bible "brought to life", I think it will find a decent viewer ship. That being said, if it's Friday night and you're looking for a fun movie, then this probably isn't it.

Thankfully, this isn't another "God's Not Dead" where they smack you in the face over and over again with how awesome Christians are and how terrible atheists are - it basically just sticks to a fictional storyline of what might have happened to a Roman centurion who is in charge of finding the missing body.

The bottom line is this movie is the very definition of "good" to me, not bad, but not great...just good.

I am a show biz professional and tony voter and this is a lovely movie with a breathtaking performance by Joseph Fiennes. He is absolutely wonderful with an authentic disciplined and beautiful arc to his work.