Blast and Whisper

REVIEW OF 'BLAST AND WHISPER' by Nigel Pellegrino Birmingham, United Kingdom

I have never been much of a fan of bible movies. With the exception of The Passion of the Christ, most bible movies dispense altogether with the rules of sound cinematography and story-telling in exchange for a half-baked alternation between wooden acting and contrived moments of soaring strings and gaping awe whenever something as stupendously thrilling as, oh yes! ... (drum roll please) ... the announcement of a baby's first name gets decided! (Yes, the latter, that very thing, happens even in one of the best ever of bible movies, Franco Zeferelli's Jesus of Nazareth, when John the Baptist is held up in the Temple.) That was not my experience at all with Blast and Whisper.

Certainly Blast and Whisper is a bible movie. Its characters, its plot, and its story arc all are adapted directly from the pages of the Old Testament. Despite the long list of parallels, the movie feels from the beginning as though it were unfolding before one's eyes today, during which time one's mindset to draw the connections to scripture (or flag its distortions) become increasingly pointless-seeming as the scenes fly past. Paradoxically, it feels very modern yet also very much "at home" in a biblical sense. It is only after the closing credits roll past that the realization sinks in, if you know the books of the Bible at all, that what you have just witnessed was certainly, unquestionably, a Bible story.

How can this be? The Director, Mark Moran, has slipped the bible in clandestinely under the table as it were, through such devices as names that play with the received biblical names. Instead of Jezebel we hear of Jazz. Instead of Elijah we hear something like El-aye-yeah. Instead of God we hear Half-Remembered. What's going on? What's that all about? In each case, during the movie the story looks more and more like an "alternate universe" to the bible story. But when all is said and done, we realize that, well, Elijah in Aramaic or whatever was the ancient form of Hebrew of that era might well have sounded like El-aye- yeah. We also realize that the Half-Remembered represents a veiled commentary, integrated into the texture of the movie, that cries out for today's society to remember God! In both cases, over the journey it has only seemed that we were in a far distant alternate universe to the Bible. If we were in an alternate universe at all, it was quite close to the Bible all along.

I wish I could figure out the significance of the name "Jazz" in place of Jezebel!

I am astounded by the ingenuity that went into the movie Blast and Whisper. None of the weaknesses of other microbudget bible movies plagues this movie, with the exception of limited resources. My only wish, of course, is that the cast and crew of Blast and Whisper had had the luxury of a decent Studio budget. What a movie that would have been!

Wow. I can't believe any of these positive reviews were actually from neutral viewers. This movie was exceedingly bad. I don't shut off many movies in the middle, but this was utterly unbearable. From the awful music (using the term loosely), to the ratty wigs, to the generally bad acting across the board, to the lines that were barely sentences, I just couldn't persevere any more.

I laughed out loud when I saw one comment here comparing it to "The Passion of the Christ".

The camera work was pitiful as well. Obviously it was done with someone's home video camera.

Just don't waste your time as I did mine.

Blast and Whisper would serve as an ideal visual aid for a Christian Sunday school class about the Old Testament prophet, Elijah, and the infamous Biblical character, Queen Jezebel. Although the Producer, Mark Moran, has taken some literary license with the story as recorded in the Old Testament Books of First and Second Kings, a Sunday school teacher could show this movie as an introduction to the topics, to stimulate discussion about what the Bible and other historical sources say about these characters.

The story starts with a tree falling on top of Elijah, and pinning him to the ground, until one of his friends rescues him. Then it chronicles the struggles between Elijah and Queen Jebezel (a.k.a. Jazz, in this movie), and between his people and hers, as well as the marital conflict between Queen Jazz and her husband, the Prince of Omri. It includes massacres of Elijah's tribesmen, the drought he plagues the Queen's people with, and the confrontation between her priests and his god, who causes the wet wood on his altar to burst into flame. Read the Books of Kings to find out how these conflicts are resolved, and/or watch this movie! Although this movie is considered "low budget" by Hollywood standards, it includes a variety of settings, costumes and special effects- all the more to stimulate a Sunday school class' discussion.

I found Blast and Whisper interesting and compelling. The movie shows some serious creative talent. The actors, music tracks, and photography are quite good. In a few places the low-budget props and special effects were showing, but there are quite a few impressive close-up shots. High quality, especially considering the budget was probably under one million dollars. Compelling, thought-provoking dialogue.

I found it an interesting take on some of the themes of Elijah's life, and the society of his day.

The plot conflict between Elijah and the "witch queen" "Jazz" takes off upon the discovery of a strange sacrifice. Elijah's refusal to take up arms makes him seem ineffective, although he begins a quiet but determined destruction of the pagan shrines.

It create a compelling story. Memorable and unique. The posture of people trying to sleep on the ground in the daylight, the investigation of the pagan altars, all were memorable.

Excellent film. Resonant and thought-provoking.

I really can't see anything in this film to cause me to give it more than a rating 2. The acting is like watching a group of school teenagers in a play, nothing sounds believable and one can tell the lines have been rehearsed, robotic in some scenes.

What annoys me about these "biblical" type of films is that they are too American. Here they tried to use old English grammar, which by the way was something we all laughed at for it wasn't the way it was spoken back then along with the solid American accent just didn't work. Even the costumes and the props were not real enough. In some scenes you can tell the props were cheap material made from cardboard.

Shame because the story itself is great.