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!

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.

Blast and Whisper adapts a story that anyone familiar with the bible could tell you. It is about a man of God named Elijah. Elijah believes in God and in his heart knows that vengeance against those who can't abide by God cannot be handled properly by men or women. When people deserve revenge the most, in that case it becomes God's turn to deal with the problem. That is exactly how Elijah handles the situation with a very serious threat. In reward to Elijah's letting it be His problem, God handles the problem: he punishes for Elijah. Later, he helps end the punishment. The threat has a name: Jezebel. We don't exactly hear that name in Blast and Whisper. Instead we hear the name "Jazz." Also, instead of God's name we hear, "the Half- Remembered One." These substitutions of other names make it next to impossible for someone expecting to watch another Bible movie with low production values called 'Blast and Whisper' to track what happens and match it against the Bible. What happens instead, is that it does track with the Bible. Only, instead of having a critical mindset watching the film (I refer to a reviewer who has read the Bible) and lining it up with scripture, that audience instead is distracted from their purpose and watch it only for sheer enjoyment. But when the credits roll at the end, you realize that you've been watching a Bible movie all along! This is amazingly refreshing to have happen. I was expecting to find out lots of flawed interpretations of the Bible, lots of low production values with the drought and the blast that God sends crashing down from the sky, and poor acting. Instead, in a matter of minutes I lost all track of where we were in the Bible, and simply enjoyed the film for what it is – a low budget period adventure set in the Middle East. And to my astonishment when I reached the end of the entire story, which did not call for me to line it up with scripture because of these clever substitutions of lots of names throughout the entire course of the movie, I realized happily in retrospect that everything did track quite well with the Bible! My hat's off to Breadwin Productions for an amazing and unusual experience for a low- budget production!

E. Sugalski Glenn Lyon, Pennsylvania

CISCO CASTILLE - Blast and Whisper, AKA Elijah's story (2011) Newcomer Mehran Haq's (Disney's Step Up) acting in first-time director Mark Moran's "Blast and Whisper," where he plays the famous prophet Elijah, is truly one of the best lead performances I've seen in recent movie history!  During the few scenes without him, the movie moved at a slower pace.  While he is in the frame, you can't take your eyes away.  Very comparable to the brilliant performance of Jim Caviezel in "Passion of the Christ"! 

Haq makes the role seem effortless, as if he were born to it, and his supporting cast, especially his devout companion, Cylton Collymore Jr (Obadiah), delivers an outstanding performance as well, and would receive my vote for best supporting actor this year. Both, when together on screen, are magnetism in the flesh.  It's hard to see them apart from their roles. They just seem to merely be, utterly, the characters directed by Mark Moran.  Also to be noted, and not missed, is the return, and extraordinary performance of accomplished actress Libertad Green (Queen Jezebel/Jazz), who's role as the arch villain of this biblical epic sets the stage for the ultimate journey and test of faith and salvation for Elijah, and the children of Israel, from the one true God!  My one quibble about the movie is the slow pace during some of the scenes with less accomplished talent than Haq, Green, and Collymore. Although these scenes made the movie slightly uneven, it is abundantly worth the watch! Bravo! Post script to this review: Sources say that Mehran Haq the actor apparently hasn't been spotted for 40 days and 40 nights!  Could it be that he, too, like his namesake, has been taken up to heaven in a flaming chariot?

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.