The Visual Bible: Matthew

This movie is amazing. Absolutely amazing. It's easy to tell that the actors and the people that worked on this movie really have a heart for the message. I'll start with the drawbacks.... It's rather obvious that there was not a "Passion of the Christ"-amount of money put into the movie. Maybe more people in some scenes would make them more powerful. But most of these drawbacks are only cosmetic. It's a great idea to only use the Bible-text. They used the NIV (New International Translation) for this movie, and I believe it must have been a true challenge to make the words come alive so much. But they REALLY do it. I love the way Jesus is showed here. The way he laugh with people, and the way he cries when he speaks of the ones who will not hear the call. It is a Jesus that is close to the people. See it!

I didn't like this movie at first. The production quality is that of a "B" movie and I let that get in the way of my objectivity. I was also not used to seeing Jesus portrayed as...well...human! This Jesus laughs and hugs and enjoys his friends. We are usually treated to a Jesus that is somewhat detached or "royal" in his bearing (think Jeffrey Hunter in "King of Kings"). This is not the case in this film. Once I got used to it (and IMHO this is a more accurate representation of Jesus) I really liked it!

I couldn't believe that this movie follows scripture line for line. The scripture verses are actually displayed (in the lower left corner as I recall) as they are being portrayed. I expected that approach would make the film disjointed or uninteresting. But it really works well.

This has become my favorite "religious movie", and I watch it with my family every Easter season.

I don't know how often I have watch this movie over the last few years. Bruce Marchiano's portrait of Jesus was inspired. His Jesus is wonderfully human, you can literally feel his love, anguish, pain, etc. He heals people and then is not above sharing their joy by rolling in the dust with them, hugging and kissing. Non-Christians who watch this movie might not understand, but he certainly helped to strengthen my faith. The crucifixion scene is very powerful and real and left a lasting impression on me as to what crucifixion was like, the pain, humiliation, filth etc. The cast was well chosen and complimented the movie; after all the people it depicts where mostly simple people, fishermen, farmers etc. and I don't believe that more well-known actors could have brought the characters to life the same way, especially Simon Peter.

By far the best biblical movie I have ever seen. The strict adherence of the script word for word with the Bible was unique and wonderful. Bruce Marchiano's portrayal of Jesus was amazing and truly brought out the magnificence of the Lord.

I've seen many of the movies made about the life of Jesus from the "Greatest Story Ever Told" to "Jesus Christ Superstar". I would have to say that Bruce Marchiano's portrayal makes Jesus as being very humane and compassionate about the suffering of the community. The Jesus he plays steers away from the stoic Shakespearean-type portrayals by Max Van Sydow and Robert Powell, making the character very accessible and someone you care about. In addition to Bruce Marchiano's pretty watchable performance, it was good to hear the late Richard Kiley's narrative of the Gospel, his rich unique voice (we'll miss it) enhancing the treatment of the story. Overall, I liked this film which is underrated and less-watched in comparison to the other more famous depictions of Jesus' life.

Having watched this film recently has encouraged me to want to watch Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" when it comes to Singapore next month. It would be interesting to make comparisons between the two films. I speculate that the films probably would complement each other, providing different perspectives to Jesus' character and life.