La résurrection du Christ

Risen gave a fresh but solemn view of the biblical story of the aftermath of Jesus's crucifixion as it tells the story through the eyes of a conflicted and emotionally drained Roman soldier named Clavius. Clavius seems more of a tired observer with his deep stare and mellow manner, and he seems appalled by the violence that the Roman soldiers perform, violence that he himself is called on to perform as well. He is tired of it all and wants to retire to a quiet life with a family, without witnessing any more deaths. None-the-less, duty demands that he kill from time to time, which he dutifully does, and he seems half mortified over this, and half compliant. During the battle in the beginning of the movie, Clavius apathetically kills a Jewish rebel, and later, during the tri-crucifixion scene, he orders a Roman soldier to break a prisoner's leg as he's dying on the cross, then runs his spear through Jesus's ribs, and he's no more bothered by this than if someone fender-bendered him at the supermarket.

The way Fiennes played his role as a troubled Roman official was intriguing, capturing civilians to question them about the whereabouts of Jesus's body, then dismissing them at will. The viewer expected Clavius to perhaps resort to violence or torture to get his captures to speak and reveal where Jesus's body is, knowledge that he desperately needed to satisfy his commander, Pontius Pilate. However, Clavius never quite went that far, either out of compassion or exhaustion. While Fiennes was cast well, Curtis, who plays Jesus, is a cross between a California hippie and a happy skateboard dude in a Coke commercial. In his final good-bye scene, Jesus glibly calls across the sand yelling his farewell as if mom was telling her kids to be good while dad's in charge.

Clavius's young side kick Lucius is played by Tom Felton, and unlike Draco, Lucius follows Clavius around looking confused. Bartholomew was my favorite character. Clavius demands that Bartholomew tell him where Jesus's body is, and Bartholomew grins flippantly and conveys that he ain't telling nothing'! Clavius interrogates him more harshly, kicks him to the ground, and Bartholomew gets up and slowly approaches Clavius, solemnly bends down to his ear, and says, "he's everywhere!" Then Bartholomew beams and prances away; the joke's on Clavius! The only more comical scene was when Clavius asked a group of men, "Does any of you know Mary Magdalene?" and all of them raised their hands. One more -- I was amused when Mary Magdalene looked like Miss Karate Woman beats Godzilla when she kicked an advancing soldier out of her way and escaped through a stone window. Mary is cast well, but her role is too brief, as is all the twelve disciples who are never given any individual definition (except for Simon, who sometimes pouts, and who sometimes is as happy as Santa Claus). Pontius Pilate is old and whiny and is fixated on not upsetting public opinion. Maybe he was really like that, but they don't show the inner turmoil he must have felt being forced to kill an innocent man to placate the masses.

We all know the ending, but Risen takes an unorthodox (if you will) direction. We see facial expressions of shock and realization that tell the story better than computer-generated special effects, and we are constantly grounded into this time period with the frequent buzzing of flies over rotting bodies, hair filled with dust and sand, broken statues of the gods, and earthquakes that crack massive stone gates. Thus, Risen shows instead of tells, and doesn't preach, thank God.

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.

"I have seen two things which I cannot reconcile: A man dead without question, and that same man alive again." Clavius (Fiennes) is a Roman Tribune who has just been told to go complete a crucifixion where a Sentinel has refused. The next day he is tasked with making sure the body stays in the tomb. When he arrives in the morning and finds the tomb empty the course of human history is changed forever. Many of these religious themed movies fall in a trap of becoming too cheesy and too in your face for a main stream audience. This one is an exception. As expected there are some very religious aspects to this, but its never in your face or distracting enough to make you feel like you are being preached to. In fact even though everyone knows the story of this movie they never use the name Jesus. The movie is movie of a detective/missing body movie that a religious epic. For that reason the movie is main stream, watchable and something I did like a lot more than I expected to. Overall, a religious movie for the masses that feels like an actual movie and not a Sunday school lesson. I give this a B.

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 nothing else to see, I went, somewhat reluctantly, to see the new Biblically inspired, movie, 'Risen' (which, as you can see, got good reviews on IMDb). Ostensibly about the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, it's more a logical investigation imaginatively laid atop a history lesson, a key miracle of the New Testament, and a logical examination of rational thought challenged by inexplicable events. Told from the perspective of a Roman Tribune sent to investigate how Jesus' physical body disappeared from it's tomb, it's a story well told, seems historically authentic, and I (a lapsed Catholic/agnostic/skeptic) recommend it highly. It was also an interesting exercise in memory, as I strained to remember what I remember from hours of Catechism, and yearly celebrations of Good Friday, Easter, and the Feast of the Assumption...which turned out to be...not much.

There are parts which recall 'Life of Brian', it's a little bit long, the disciples resemble the inhabitants of the hippie commune in 'Easy Rider', Bartholomew is completely over the top, and the actor who plays Christ is iffy. But, then again, he is tasked with the impossible role of being man and God (just what expression would you choose if you played Christ?) without descending into camp farce. All in all, he does OK.

Joseph Fiennes plays the Tribune with authenticity, honesty, and an openness which allowed me to put myself in his place...how does a rational man deal with fundamental challenges to his heretofore solid as a rock, world? When do you surrender to faith when all the 'reason' in the world suggests that reason has little to do with it all?

It's a good movie, well worth seeing.