The Gospel of John

This film has an authentic feel. The casting of Jesus is the best I've ever seen. The script is the text of John plus nothing. The film is visually simple and realistic. The people actually look Middle Eastern, like the real characters in the Gospel. What a novel idea!

The story is carried by the facial expressions of the actors, since there is a narrator speaking over the actual dialogue. This is not a big budget epic, and it is quite different from other Bible films. If you want to grasp the content of the Gospel of John in a visually gripping way, without all of the typical glamor or director's distortions, This is the film.

Visually, you are there. Extremely well done. Jesus looks like a middle eastern Jesus and authentic. Those who portray his mother, brothers, disciples, and so on look authentic. The 'script' is the gospel of John as written in the Bible. No artistic licensr is taken. The actors spark in Aramaic. The narrator reads the entire book through the entire movie. Odd as it may seem this works quite well. This is well worth watching.

I absolutely love this movie. It is narrated verse by verse from the Gospel of John, beginning to end. I wish there was a movie like this for every book of the Bible. I'd watch them all, over and over.

I've watched/listened (sometimes in the background while doing other things on the computer) this movie probably close to 20 times now. I had my wife watch it a few times, told my friends and relatives about it as well. Everyone who has watched it really liked it.

I tried to watch the King James Version, narrated by Brian Cox (on Netflix). I love his voice and narration, but the Old English language just doesn't sound natural like the New International Version narrated by David Harewood does.

I've seen I guess every movie made about the "Bible" and It's many stories. While most are based on getting box-office receipts, this movie does not appear to be looking for material gain. It provides in a most understandable way, The Gospel of John. While it is the New International version, it nonetheless provides the Life of Jesus as observed by John the Baptist...accurately and straight from the source without revision; and without the bias of poet's license of Hollywood writers. It gives anyone, Christian or not, a down to earth perspective and new understanding of the real story of the life of Jesus Christ.

Many times bible oriented films are made to satisfy the writer's, producer's or directors particular criteria of how the script should be changed or otherwise rewritten to suit the eye of the camera; or the director's own interpretation. It is difficult to go wrong when one chooses simply to make the scenes exactly according to the script written about 2000 years ago. While the Bible is still being read today, many, if not all biblical oriented movies don't carry the same longevity.

I found this method of the telling of johns gospel ,incredible. Though the actors spoke a none English language ,I felt their acting to be captivating .The emotions they expressed while john was narrated,were authentic. The melding of the narrating ,with reverse subtitle style,was unique ,and spot on. Great job director Batty. The setting for the the telling of the story was beautiful to say the least, the look of the land ,texture ,and feel ,made me thirst ! Very realistic clothing also ,no 1950s Moses here. The authenticity of the sack cloth ,down to the sandals and well worn canes. Drew you in even more. Characters. Characters that the only thing more realistic than there acting was their look . Really ,they are authentic, I do not want to give away to much but let's just say that they are very good in all aspects of their craft. I can't say enough good about this telling of Johns gospel you gotta see it .Great job to the men and women who made this come to life . With that I would like to say Thank you , May the glory be to God !