The Gospel of John is one of the first movies narrating the life of Jesus Christ from the biblical text. The movie was directed by David Batty in 2015. One of the fascinating features of the movie is that the script is made of the exact initial narration of Jesus Christ from the Bible. Hence, the film is considered to bring a fresh light on religious book, the Bible. Generally, the movie has a high rating (7.8/10 on IMDB) with some good reviews of the viewers saying they have watched the movie for several times and and praising the choice of actors.
Basically, the production standards are pretty decent, the costumes and sets look realistic, and Palestine stands in the Moroccan countryside. John's script is read as the other characters play out the plot speaking Aramaic. With actor Selva Rasalingam's depiction of Christ, the crew seems to appear much more indigenous than other actors who previously were shot in movies about Jesus. It is said that he is of largely Tamil origin. Even if he is light-skinned, the protagonist has a more Mediterranean appearance. This aspect is important to note since Jesus and all his early disciples were of Jewish origin, hence choosing the right actor who will play Jesus Christ also affects the way the audience perceives and understands the story.
«The gospel of John» firstly makes few clarifications. According to the film, «it is set on a time when the Roman empire controlled Jerusalem». However, it is also said that «The gospel of John was written two generations after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ». So, the Gospel may not contain all of the toils of Jesus or may be somehow altered through time. The plot of the movie starts with Jesus exposing himself to the society through signs and his discourse about the God, eventually coming to a much more credulous and aggressive universe. As he speaks to the crowd of people and reveals them the truth about himself and the God, there is a lot of debate going on among the crowd. People often divided into groups of those who believed Jesus' words and those who thought he was some kind of a liar or charlatan. After that he draws his attention on the small group of those who have truly trusted in God and Jesus himself to encourage them to continue on his work. There were many disputes and miscommunication between the church established by the Roman Empire, the Jewish citizens and Jesus Christ. The church, thus, made up a motive for the King to crucify Jesus. The film ends with the scenes of death and burial of Jesus, followed by some of his appearances in his state of resurrection to his disciples.
The principle of «living Word», that Jesus represents as the creative source of life and light are clearly depicted in the film. These principles are shown in Jesus' ability to enliven and enlighten individuals who trust him, for instance when Jesus created wine out of water, cured royal representative's son from a serious disease, walked on the sea, made the blind man see again and some other supernatural abilities of Jesus. All these miracles have a meaning and a motive for people to show Jesus' power. To be precise, converting water into wine symbolizes the difference between being born in human form and being born from heaven. Jesus reveals that by giving the blind man eyes he is the light of the world and that by giving life to Lazarus and waking him up from dead, he is the resurrection. Thus, the movie clearly shows how interesting and important were these miracles performed by Jesus Christ not only to prove people that he was, indeed, the son of God, but also to make the audience elaborate on the concepts of belief and religion.
Another important issue depicted in the movie is the conflict between Jesus and religious leaders. "The gospel reflects the period of unprecedented polemic and antagonism between the emerging church and the religious establishment of the Jewish people". One of the reason for such a conflict may the the clash of views. Jesus criticized religious leaders for their wrong beliefs about God, exposed their hypocrisy and recommended people to not believe the religious representatives. Religious leaders, in contrast, criticized Jesus for performing miracles and curing people on the Jewish Sabbath Day, criticized for treason and generally were jealous since more and more people trusted Jesus Christ each day despite the ongoing debates.
Despite many advantages of the film, it is also vital to mention that The Gospel of John is fairly long (2.5 hours), which is why it is difficult sometimes to follow the plot. In addition, the film includes a number of violent scenes such as the crucifixion of Jesus and two other thieves with blood clearly depicted on the bodies. These kind of brutal and bloody scenes are definitely not recommended for children and teenagers, or at least it should be warned to watch at the presence of parents. Nevertheless, I would recommend the movie for the common audience to get general information about the life of Jesus Christ.
Basically, the production standards are pretty decent, the costumes and sets look realistic, and Palestine stands in the Moroccan countryside. John's script is read as the other characters play out the plot speaking Aramaic. With actor Selva Rasalingam's depiction of Christ, the crew seems to appear much more indigenous than other actors who previously were shot in movies about Jesus. It is said that he is of largely Tamil origin. Even if he is light-skinned, the protagonist has a more Mediterranean appearance. This aspect is important to note since Jesus and all his early disciples were of Jewish origin, hence choosing the right actor who will play Jesus Christ also affects the way the audience perceives and understands the story.
«The gospel of John» firstly makes few clarifications. According to the film, «it is set on a time when the Roman empire controlled Jerusalem». However, it is also said that «The gospel of John was written two generations after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ». So, the Gospel may not contain all of the toils of Jesus or may be somehow altered through time. The plot of the movie starts with Jesus exposing himself to the society through signs and his discourse about the God, eventually coming to a much more credulous and aggressive universe. As he speaks to the crowd of people and reveals them the truth about himself and the God, there is a lot of debate going on among the crowd. People often divided into groups of those who believed Jesus' words and those who thought he was some kind of a liar or charlatan. After that he draws his attention on the small group of those who have truly trusted in God and Jesus himself to encourage them to continue on his work. There were many disputes and miscommunication between the church established by the Roman Empire, the Jewish citizens and Jesus Christ. The church, thus, made up a motive for the King to crucify Jesus. The film ends with the scenes of death and burial of Jesus, followed by some of his appearances in his state of resurrection to his disciples.
The principle of «living Word», that Jesus represents as the creative source of life and light are clearly depicted in the film. These principles are shown in Jesus' ability to enliven and enlighten individuals who trust him, for instance when Jesus created wine out of water, cured royal representative's son from a serious disease, walked on the sea, made the blind man see again and some other supernatural abilities of Jesus. All these miracles have a meaning and a motive for people to show Jesus' power. To be precise, converting water into wine symbolizes the difference between being born in human form and being born from heaven. Jesus reveals that by giving the blind man eyes he is the light of the world and that by giving life to Lazarus and waking him up from dead, he is the resurrection. Thus, the movie clearly shows how interesting and important were these miracles performed by Jesus Christ not only to prove people that he was, indeed, the son of God, but also to make the audience elaborate on the concepts of belief and religion.
Another important issue depicted in the movie is the conflict between Jesus and religious leaders. "The gospel reflects the period of unprecedented polemic and antagonism between the emerging church and the religious establishment of the Jewish people". One of the reason for such a conflict may the the clash of views. Jesus criticized religious leaders for their wrong beliefs about God, exposed their hypocrisy and recommended people to not believe the religious representatives. Religious leaders, in contrast, criticized Jesus for performing miracles and curing people on the Jewish Sabbath Day, criticized for treason and generally were jealous since more and more people trusted Jesus Christ each day despite the ongoing debates.
Despite many advantages of the film, it is also vital to mention that The Gospel of John is fairly long (2.5 hours), which is why it is difficult sometimes to follow the plot. In addition, the film includes a number of violent scenes such as the crucifixion of Jesus and two other thieves with blood clearly depicted on the bodies. These kind of brutal and bloody scenes are definitely not recommended for children and teenagers, or at least it should be warned to watch at the presence of parents. Nevertheless, I would recommend the movie for the common audience to get general information about the life of Jesus Christ.