Last Days in the Desert

Despite its very slow pacing, I found this film to be an absorbing tale, with a concise and sharp screenplay from Colombian filmmaker Rodrigo Garcia, who also directed the movie.

Ewan McGregor does well in his portrayal of Yeshua (Jesus). who has entered the desert alone for prayer and reflection, trying to get in touch with his inner self and to also connect spiritually with his Father. McGregor has a dual role here, as he also plays The Demon (Satan), who taunts and tempts Yeshua along the way.

Yeshua, on his way to Jerusalem, encounters a family living in the desert, and the strong acting of each family member from Ciaran Hinds, Tye Sheridan, and Ayelet Zurer adds well to the mix, as well as the movie being enhanced by its spectacular cinematography.

Overall, if one doesn't mind the low-key and very deliberate pacing, there's an engrossing tale to be told here, buoyed by a fine cast and the no-frills writing of Garcia.

I have the feeling, those who did not read The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis or saw the film adaptation directed by Martin Scorsese, could find Last Days in the Desert original, provocative or globally creative.

Otherwise, I think this one is revisiting in a soft and a somehow minimalist style, Kazantzakis great literature and Scorsese's long and "explicit" adaptation.

The script / dialogues / and overall well crafted minimalist structure makes the Last Days in the Desert a very good candidate for a stage play.

Oh, and the cinematography is lovely...

Now, the film does not claim to be historically accurate, not at all...

However, I must admit that I keep experiencing this somehow funny feeling, when I watch "Hollywood" actors playing the role of the biblical or gospel characters on the big or TV screen... There is this perpetual awkward and off vibe floating in the air (of the film)... In the way they look, they move, they talk, they smile, they eat, they gaze (with their attractive blue or green eyes), they get angry, joyful, sad or... when it's time to pray...

A huge part of the whole spiritual and human factors and experiences in the biblical and gospel stories, with or without religion or faith, is deeply rooted in the ancient primitive societies of what we call now the Middle East... Unfortunately not a single "Hollywood" film or actor could render this properly...

Back to reality: This Arthouse (and one more) film about Jesus is fairly good for what it is...

And speaking of Arthouse films about Jesus , Pasolini's work remains, to me, the winner in this category.

This is one film that I have been waiting to see since January 2015. After it premiered at the Sundance film fest and received solid praise out of the gate, I was looking forward to it. But was it picked up for a wide release? No it was not. So, nearly a year and a half later it has finally hit shelves. Recently the box office has had an abnormally high amount of pandering faith driven religious films. Which isn't really a bad thing. They certainly know their audience, and they have cornered the market for their films. That being said, this isn't one of those films. Seeing a movie that is largely religion based you normally see the typical one sided, you're wrong and we are right thing.

I am happy to say that this doesn't do that. This adaptation is about Jesus, playing out in an imagined portion of his forty days of fasting in the desert. As he is trekking through the desert on his way home, he encounters a small family. He quickly realizes that they are in turmoil of emotional proportions.

He decides that their needs out way his own and attempts to aid them. The story mainly takes place during this period of time. Now this movie could have been so incredibly dull. The main story is fairly thin and it doesn't exactly move around that much. But writer/director Rodrigo García has infused this film with palpable emotion. The more we learn about this small family the more we realize that they are pretty dysfunctional.

The father and son don't see eye to eye on anything and the mother is laying on her death bed for the entirety of the films run time. For me the scenes between the son and father really struck true. I often have experienced the same communication issues with various people that these two do. Where you want to say something but don't know how and before you know it, the moment to express that feeling has pasted.

As these issues become more prevalent the more you just want them to work it out. This creates some real drama with in these scenes. But the shining moments of the film come in the short encounters between Ewan McGregor and Ewan McGregor. Who plays both Jesus and the devil. The conversations that they have point out both sides of the religion spectrum.

It presents interesting arguments for both parties. Which honestly helps you feel what Jesus is feeling. The whole point of Jesus's desert journey was to be put on trial to see if he could over come any adversity that the devil could come up with. So when the film puts him through these temptations and presents interesting arguments for either side, it helps you get into the characters shoes.

That being said this film still has a story that is thin as paper. So when you get outside the family drama it can be rather dull. The beautiful cinematography by Lubezski can carry one through a few scenes but not too many. There are some scenes where we watch McGregor just pace around the rocky terrain for long periods of time. And it left me longing for something, anything to happen.

This movie may not be the religious experience some people are looking for but it's really a breath of fresh air in a genre that had little going for it. It seems to have a keen grasp on the story it's adapting and does so with no shortage of grace. It offers excellent performances, beautiful visuals, an insightful story, and characters that you can actually get invested in. If it weren't for the thin plotting and some dull sequences this would truly be an excellent film. But considering all it does right it's definitely worth a watch.

it seems strange. far by the classic story of Jesus in Carantania desert. without the well known temptations and without the expected answers of Son of God. Rodrigo Garcia gives only the portrait of a strange meet of Jesus with a family. few riddles and dialogues and slow action and enigmatic facts. each- far by a religious film. or a coherent story. a riddle. like the riddles of the boy. in fact, only a challenge. puzzle of discreet cultural references from the roof of the Temple to Abraham and Last Temptation, from Pasolini to Paradjanov. a film of gestures and looks. maybe, a poem. ignoring Resurrection. because the Resurrection is the duty of the viewer. perfect subject of debates and controversies, it propose a new, interesting and far to be uninspired portrait of the Savior. Ewan McGregor gives a not comfortable Jesus but one who impress for the honest manner to remind old truths who are , in too many occasions, insignificant. a poem about the small things who defines the life. and nothing more.

-mild spoilers ahead- Last Days In The Desert is a stark, desolate looking film. It has a quiet and beautifully shot atmosphere that I really liked.

In the story, Jesus goes into the desert for self-reflection, to come across a family living there in the middle of nowhere. He's tempted to stick around rather than continue with his seemingly hopeless, one-way conversation with God. All the while, being harassed by Satan, in the form of Jesus himself.

Here is my biggest gripe with the film, and many other movies related to Christians. The writers stack the deck completely against any pious protagonist, Jesus being the case here. Satan constantly lectures Jesus, sowing seeds of doubt, always coming out ahead in their rhetorical matches of one-upmanship. Jesus barely replies to anything, and when he does, it's just to eek out some passive comment. There is essentially nothing written for him. Despite being a self-admitted liar, Satan's stories are given quite a bit of credence by the length of screen time they get and the tepid response from the Son of God. I've seen this in many Hollywood, Christian films, and it seems to be the go-to method of backhanding the religion. I do understand this is (fictionally) supposed to show a green Jesus trying to figure out God's purpose and how to convey His message, but fer cryin' out loud, he can barely hold a conversation. Just lost in thought.

There is an interesting parallel going of between the dysfunctional father-son relationship of the desert family and Jesus' own relationship with his Father. That's fine. I just wish they gave Jesus a voice in his own movie.