PG-13 | 1h 47m | Drama, Mystery, Action, Historical Fiction | Feb. 19, 2016
There are claims in TV spots and trailers that “Risen” is the best movie about Jesus Christ since “The Passion of the Christ.” This is a bold statement that is, for the most part, accurate. Since the release of “The Passion” two decades ago, corporate and independent studios via both the large and small screen jumped on the Christian cinematic bandwagon—a genre that, in actuality, has been around since movies began and has never been fully dormant.
The biggest problem that most critics and the majority of secular audiences have with many movies about Christianity in general, and Christ in particular, is the tendency to soften the edges and simplify the narrative in order to make them safe as milk for the choir. Very few of them take any chances. “Risen” falls somewhere in between these movies and “The Passion” by keeping the violence in check and giving nonbelievers something to think about by reimagining events contained in the Bible.
The Original Habeas Corpus
Things get sticky when Pilate is strong-armed by the same Hebrew clerics who clamored for Christ’s death to avoid further unrest, and follow it with a request to deliver his corpse soon after his burial. Their theory is that if Christ does indeed “rise,” it will only solidify his followers’ beliefs regarding his immortality. Having a corpse for all to view (including a soon-to-be visiting Emperor Tiberius) would prove otherwise.
At this point, director Kevin Reynolds (“Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” “The Count of Monte Cristo,” “Waterworld”) and his co-writer Paul Aiello switch narrative gears and turn the film into something of a police procedural.
A Conversion Begins
What happens next is an event that not even the most faithful or religious could imagine, while providing Clavius with many reasons to doubt not only his mission but also his entire belief system. It is a transcendent moment and will rightfully be remembered as one of the most memorable scenes ever in a movie about Christ.
It is worth noting that when characters speak of Christ, he is not referred to as the Christian “Jesus” but rather his given Hebrew name “Yeshua” (the same name used in “The Passion"), and the actor portraying him (Cliff Curtis, “Fear the Walking Dead”) is a New Zealander of Maori-Polynesian descent who easily passes as Middle Eastern.
Mr. Curtis, who frequently plays characters with Latin and Arabic origins, is olive-skinned with black hair and dark eyes. This is one of the few instances where a non-Caucasian has portrayed Christ, a point that resulted in contentious debate. Bully to Reynolds for casting an actor who physically looked like a Middle Eastern man of his era.
Perhaps sensing that they might be getting too heavy with the message and the methods, the filmmakers make the understandable mistake of including bits of comic relief along the way. While it mostly works—one scene with the apostle Bartholomew (Stephen Hagan) is particularly funny—the humor is unneeded and feels oddly out of place. Biblical scholars might also take issue with some of the portrayals and, specifically, the ultimate fate of Barabbas, one that is not even close to most accounts.
With “Risen,” Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Aiello have come up with a story that we’ve never seen before, one that is in no way blasphemous, while offering up a “what-if” set of circumstances that are entirely believable and could have happened. At worst, it will reaffirm the opinions of firmly entrenched Christians and, at best, will give nonreligious viewers a refreshingly new way to look at one of the most significant events in world history.
