L'enquête sacrée

I want to comment on what someone already said.

The comment was upset at treatment of Jewish practice portrayed in the film. However, the rules on adultery and trials, well ... if you want to be upset, be upset at the gospels.

The gospels portrayed the trial as a crooked rush job. Likewise, the stoning for adultery (and in the past, rural areas did not always strictly follow the dictates of the law) was referenced in a favorite scene in the Bible as well. The Bible had no "backstory" underlining that really the stoning in practice was a last result and rarely done practice. We were meant to see it as barbaric, the crowd driven more by passion than reason (before Jesus came around to guilt them).

In fact, some gospels had various scenes that put Jewish practice in bad light. At times unfairly. For instance, the money-changing in the temple -- you needed that to allow people from all over to have the right sort of coin to give their offering. It surely had some bad flavor, but it was not just about a "band of thieves." Lashing out like Jesus did kinda suggests why some thought the guy a tad bit dangerous especially in an age of rebels and revolts.

If one wants a "historical" reflection of what "actually" happened, which honestly would be not a bad way to go, they wouldn't be as reliant on scripture and all. The conceit of this movie also would not really be possible, to be totally honest about it.

In 35 A.D. , an overconfident Roman tribune named Tito Valerio (Daniel Liotti) is sent to a remote part of the empire called Palestine to on a bizarre investigation to discover the death and possible resurrection of a certain Jesus from Nazareth , only to attract the suspicion of the local governor Pontius Pilate (Shopov) . This is the thrilling tale of one man's quest accompanied by a hunk barbarian slave (Dolph Lundgren) to uncover the mystery of all mysteries and while an official cover-up is presumed . A Roman agent is sent by emperor Tiberio (Max Von Sydow) to Palestine to investigate rumors of the resurrection of an executed criminal . Sent to disprove the resurrection and on a spiritual quest , he discovers faith , love (to Monica Cruz who looks exactly like Penelope as physical as acting) and a revelation that could shatter the empire . The tribune is taken prisoner and submitted a set-up .

Interesting story treating the resurrection of Jesus Christ with intrigue , suspense , a love story and adding historical events . As appears several historic characters as Tiberius , Caligula , Pontius Pilate , Apostle Peter finely performed by Enrico Lo Verso , Saulus of Tarsus well played by Fernando Guillen Cuervo , Maria mother of Jesus and Maria Magdalena in a brief acting by Ornella Muti . I found the film's motif a timeless subject , engaging and handled very skillfully too . Being conceived as both a theatrical film and a TV movie and treatment by the famous author of best-sellers about ancient world named Valerio Manfredini . The story from Suso Cecchi D'Amico and Ennio Flaiano even had an exclusive one-week theatrical engagement in Dallas , Texas . It's an acceptable treatment of the political and religious thought-world of the time , convincingly developed and the intent of the filmmakers is ultimately both ambitious and entertaining . The biggest weakness of the movie is the acting . Daniel Liotti as hard-nosed investigator and Dolph Lundgren as bouncing illiterate both deliver some stiff line-readings . But Liotti ultimately rises to the occasion , especially in the crucial last half-hour . Max Von Sidow is a credible emperor Tiberio who sends Daniel Liotti off on a dangerous mission . The picture has a Christian point of view that holds interest , while the former adaptation had offbeat and ambiguous resolution . The production was supported of a 500,000 Euros grant from the European Council fund Eurimages . It's an European co-production among various countries but specially Italy and Spain by producer Enrique Cerezo . Atmospheric musical score by Andrea Morricone in similar style to her father Ennio . Colorful and evocative cinematography by Giovanni Galasso , the filming took place for eight weeks in Tunisia and one week in Bulgaria . The motion picture is professionally directed by Giulio Base . Giulio is an expert on Television religious biopics and Roman spectacles such as he has proved in ¨Padre Pio¨ , ¨Maria Goretti¨ , ¨San Pietro¨ , ¨Pompeii¨ and of course , ¨The final inquiry¨ .

The original version titled ¨Inquire¨ (1987) treated the Resurrection as a mystery thriller , directed by Damiano Damiani was starred by Keith Carradine as Tito Valerio and Harvey Keitel as Pontius Pilate and Phyllis Logan as Claudia Procula who in the recent rendition is performed by Anna Kanakis . This 1987 picture was engaging , thought-provoking , violent and gritty but but sadly was ultimately rather flat and dull and had box office flop , however this new retelling (2006) is more commercial , more amusing and aimed for all kind of public as teens as adults .

When I got this movie it had quite a low score here on IMDb. But the subject seemed to be interesting, it was not an Hollywood production and had at least one big name in the paylist - Max von Sydow's. So I took the challenge and gave it a try. Big mistake... Though it's screenplay is written with some interesting plots and with quite an original ideas for a Jesus-related movie this is almost the only thing worth to be praised here.

The first thing you will notice is the music of someone, who's surname is Moricone but his not "the one" but some other Moricone. So is his music - kind of Moricone's style but not "the one" - something is missing, it's to loud and generally does not fit.

Then you will notice the performers and they certainly can help to forget about poor music since they performance is really stunning. Literatim. It's something like operetta filmed in the silent movie period with all those exalted movement and acting typical for those old times. Moreover my version was apparently dubbed in English although the movie was apparently made in English at the first place! I do not know why they did it - maybe some Italian actors had some problems with the language but then if you add voices to a already finished movie it is never perfect and the effect is rather ridiculous. Combined with aforementioned style of acting it looks just utterly stupid. And if this was not enough some of supporting roles are seemed to be written for computer RPG characters! You know, like for example those typical NPCs standing next to the town gates only to say something like "welcome to Jerusalem"... Some dialogues between those characters seemed o be intentionally written in Monthy Python style...

But apart from that there is also an actor there who really stands out - Dolph Lundgren! By far it is the best of his performance I had a "pleasure" to watch. Of course as every barbarian he speaks with Scottish accent witch is really sweet, especially that he apparently is trying to imitate Sean Connory... Since he plays a barbaric Germanic warrior and he has not much to do there apart from being "strong, noble and wild" and of course of swinging his enormous axe everywhere. The movie is full of scenes where Lundgren is shown somewhere in the background or foreground performing this complicated tasks and I must admit he had really mastered it. Seriously - for someone who's performing talent is so, well, narrow I think he is a real star in this movie.

Some say "there is no good movie without a love story plot". But this one could be definitely better without. I had mentioned before about some interesting and original ideas in the scenario but this is only to be observed in the first half of the movie. The second half is devoted mainly to love story plot and this just kills this otherwise would-be-weak-but-not-the-worst movie. It's just dull and absurd in the world of this picture and moreover it is completely redundant.

See for yourself if you dare but there are better ways of spending time.

The original movie, made in 1986 and starring Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel, is a little-known gem of an intellectual thriller, with a plot that takes numerous unexpected twists.

This "remake" (hardly that, since the title, basic premise, and name of the lead character are all that remain) is essentially a Sunday school movie made by hacks, full of pious posturing. It's pretty to look at, but utterly lacking in suspense, narrative drive, good acting, or just about anything else you might desire in a movie.

I am beginning to think that any movie with Valerio Massimo Manfredi's name in the credits is going to be very, very bad.

a Biblical film. not great ambitions, few nice fight scene, basic line, a cast with exercise in this type of drama ( Hristo Shopov - new / old Pontius Pilat, Hristo Jivkov - ex - John in Passion of Crist, now Stefan ), Dolph Lundgren in skin of different kind of role, Max van Sydow, Enrico Lo Verso , F. Murray Abraham as solid pillars , Ornela Mutti like drop of scent and beautiful Monica Cruz - alter -ego of her sister and basic attraction of a movie who is not Quo Vadis, not Jesus of Nazareth but little exercise to recreate atmosphere of Church beginnings. so, it is just an exercise. not spectacular, not interesting, almost boring and predictable but decent at first sigh. crumbs of history - legend about Tiberius death -, pieces of innovation - the decree about Chistianity freedom -, authentic miracle of come back to life of Tabitha and the end - mixture of dust and faith. a drawing like so many others.