Maria, madre di Gesù

In a movie full of bad directing, costumes, makeup, sound, effects, and acting, I must say that Christian Bale gives one of his best performances of his career as Jesus. He made the successful transformation from child actor to respectable adult actor, making his role as Jesus of Nazareth one of his most touching and emotional roles of his brilliant acting career. It is safe to say that in an otherwise bad movie, Christian Bale is the shining star.

When I watched it, I was filled with expectancy of a well-written and well-acted movie. The movie was well acted. The actors and actresses did a good job, especially Christian Bale. But the movie itself struck an ill-placed chord in me. The producers and directors made this movie the Hollywood way. There were many things that wasn't right, that didn't come from the scriptures. They could've followed the biblical story of Jesus and Mary and Joseph better. That's just my opinion.

Hard to know what to make of this. I'm inclined to say overall I didn't like it, but only because it doesn't sit right with me. Production wise its an earnest enough little affair, obviously trying to give Mary a bit more of the limelight here, in fact Pernilla August is downright excellent, just the right blend of strength and humility - she simply doesn't look like the mother of Jesus!

Christian Bale emotes and gives us a hands-on Jesus, but the "know wot I mean" Brit accents (for me at least) totally sink it, Michael Mears as John the Baptist especially. OK so Robert Ryan's accent in KING OF KINGS was no closer the mark, but he had the presence to carry it off! Another problem, associating Christian Bale forever as Patrick Bateman in AMERICAN PSYCHO, the idea of him, of all people playing Jesus just doesn't cut it with me.

OK KING OF KINGS was syrupy, Hollywoodesque, whatever you want to believe, but in the minds of little children throughout the world (and mine too if the truth be told), Jeffrey Hunter will be there waiting patiently for us in Heaven with outstretched arms, not Christopher Bale or any one of the other two dozen or so actors have taken up the cross in the name of acting.

This TV-movie is well-intentioned but mechanical. I knew from the opening that there was a problem with the production when the opening narrative was printed on the screen and read at the same time with a voice that sounded like the station-break announcer.

The film just goes through the motions and gives us every cliche of second-rate Biblical movies including Jesus as a fair-skinned Anglo-Saxon. Christian Bale does what he can with the material but is terribly mis-cast. His mother is presented as a politically-correct feminist who apparently is responsible for Jesus' teachings and parables which were, according to the plot, the bedtime stories she told Jesus when he was a child.

The sets and costumes are good, but the performances are flat and perfunctory. What we get here is a shallowness reminiscent of school plays. The Gospels are condensed into a 2 hour TV movie that has the profundity of a Readers' Digest version of the Bible.

This movie was brilliantly made and delivered a profound message. I thought Pernilla August did a wonderful job of displaying emotions and being able to get an audience to empathize with her. Christian Bale's representation of Jesus was passionate and compelling. He did an excellent job of portraying Jesus in His later years and helping give viewers insight on what He went through. I enjoyed the idea of this movie putting emphasis on the relationship of Mary and Jesus, showing that even the most powerful person of all time remembers His mother and to love and care for her the way she did from the moment He was born. This movie was definitely unique and I hope to see more that are as great as this.