Tag Archives: Jesus Christ

The Miracle Maker

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It’s time for a film that I was really impressed with. The Miracle Maker is a solid film that chronicles the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It adapts a whole lot of events from this period in the Bible and does so in a relatively short time frame. It links all of the events very well too. While there are some creative liberties taken, there is nothing I saw that directly contradicts the source material or that seemed to be there for dishonest reasons. Mainly they seemed to be there in order to connect the events and foreshadow others ahead of time.

The film is mainly in stop motion animation which of course isn’t my favorite. I will admit that this one didn’t really change my view on that but hey it still tells the story it set out to tell so that’s what counts. When it comes time for the parables and dream sequences it does change to hand drawn though which tends to look really great. In particular Judas has a really intense nightmare that makes use of the hand drawn style extremely well. The stop motion itself is also done well so they’re not cutting corners or anything like that. The production is well done the whole time.

The voices are good and the writing is on point. In terms of the foreshadowing and extra detail, it’s really solid like I mentioned before. Seeing Judas start off for the wrong reasons in wanting to be on the right side of power and slowly descending into darkness was solid. Likewise having many of the people Jesus healed appearing before they got sick was a nice attention to detail. Mary getting hit with the demons and being a background character for a while before we actually get to her plot was also nice.

There are of course a lot of details and moments that can’t be squeezed in as well. The price for adding all of these extra details and using some more obscure moments is some of the big classic moments are also taken out. No walking on water, feeding the masses, the angel on top of the stone, etc. It’s a fair balance I would say because realistically you can’t adapt literally everything unless you were ready to make this a complete epic. Even then it is extremely difficult and you can usually expect some things not to get adapted.

You still have the sense of scale here and there is definitely a lot of drama. The film is also completely revolving around Jesus at the center which is the way to go. All of the characters have their own agency and moments but when it comes time for an event to happen it is always centered around him. I would say Jesus also gets more dialogue than in other films and while the exact wording can sometimes be things that weren’t in the Bible, again it doesn’t feel out of character.

This also helps to capture the fact that he would talk a lot. He was a teacher/pastor in addition to performing miracles. He would tell all of these stories to the Disciples and we do get to see many conversations among them so it’s reasonable to assume that he was fairly talkative. I couldn’t picture him ever being more on the quiet or aloof side and this film did a better job of really showing that compared to most.

We also get to see a bit more of him after the resurrection which is usually a portion that doesn’t get adapted as much. The films tend to mainly have him resurrect and then the movie ends real quick but technically he did stay on Earth for a little while after that. So this time we get to see one of the conversations he has with the Disciples in addition to appearing before them. It’s the little details like this that help to make the film really stand out and also shows that the creators were really invested and did their research.

Overall, The Miracle Maker is definitely a really good film and one that was really perfect to watch for Easter. I would definitely recommend checking this out, it does a good job of adapting most of the biggest moments from this part in the Bible and keeps you engaged the whole time. It tackles a lot of advanced subjects but never gets all that violent so it is a good watch for all ages as well. So if we need stop motion to get more titles like this then I’d say lets go for it!

The Nativity Story

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It’s time to check out The Nativity Story. Considering that this one got to claim this title you can say that it’s seen as the definitive film adaption of this moment in time. It’s definitely got very solid production values and they did well to adapt everything here. There’s a lot of attention to detail throughout each part of the movie and no corners were cut here. The movie has definitely aged well and of course it’s always nice to see the events of the Bible played out on the big screen.

The film really focuses a lot on Mary and her coming to terms with all of this. Initially she did not even know Joseph and the whole arranged marriage came really suddenly. Mary was understandably not a fan of this but ultimately goes along with it so as not to disappoint her family. What makes matters tricky for her is that she ends up being pregnant with Jesus despite not having any affairs. It is difficult to actually convince anyone of this though so her reputation is shot. It’s definitely a rather difficult burden that she has to bear in the meantime.

Same with Joseph as he is pressured by the customs to out Mary and have her stoned. He decides not to do this of course and makes the heroic choice of keeping this to himself but for a while he doesn’t totally believe her either. It’s definitely something that is tough to believe, particularly since he was well aware that she was not happy about the marriage initially. Fortunately things turn out for the best and they manage to finally get along by the end. Usually in the films we cut to the end when Jesus is born and the 3 Wise Men appear so this was a bit of a change of pace with how the focus was on the earlier events. The birth doesn’t happen until near the very end of the film and isn’t the main subject this time.

So I would say the main theme of the film was faith. Ultimately each character needed a whole lot of that to survive here. Joseph had to have faith in Mary telling him the truth and overcoming the dreams he would have. Mary had to have faith that she actually saw the angel and everything was as foretold, etc. Without faith none of the characters would have been able to make it to the end. Even the Wise Men needed this or else they may have lost sight of the star and ended up giving up on the journey halfway.

They are the comedic plot of the film as they bicker a lot and have a lot of fun on the way there. You can tell that the 3 of them are good friends and are close enough to mess with each other like that. Fortunately they’re also wise enough not to tip off the king about exactly where Jesus was and just keep on moving. I’ll give the film credit for not making the King quite as obvious about how evil he was compared to other adaptions. He also felt like a very imposing figure with how he threatened his only son and showed how he has stayed in power for so long. Definitely not someone you want to get in the way of.

This is an adaption everyone can be proud of. It sticks close to the scriptures and I wouldn’t say any of the scenes felt like they didn’t belong. Naturally the film does need to expand on some scenes and throw in a lot of extra moments to pad out the runtime, but it was never anything that made you feel like the writers were messing things up. I get the feeling they did a lot of research here and likely collaborated with scholars to learn more about the customs and how a day to day life would have been like. There are a lot of people who make a career out of that so you could definitely get some good background elements this way.

While the events in the Old Testament were massive and living through them would have been quite the experience, it’s also abundantly clear that it would have been a very difficult age to live in. The film shows in detail just how tough life was on everyone there. Food was scarce and you could always count on thieves and soldiers showing up to erase all of your hard work. There were no modern conveniences and walking for miles was a normal thing. There was no part of daily life that was easy and it’s really something to think about. We have the privilege of knowing everything from the future as opposed to living through it. We all face trials and they would be different in the past compared to the present but I’m personally glad I’m in a future era. Naturally it’s moot since if I grew up back then I wouldn’t know the difference since it would seem normal to me but I’m rather used to this era.

Overall, The Nativity Story is a really solid Christian film. It’s a good adaption of the birth of Jesus Christ and serves as more of a prequel compared to most adaptions. There’ a lot going on here and each of the characters gets a lot of development. They spared no expense on the visuals and soundtrack throughout the film. It’s all a very impressive production here and with Easter quickly approaching it’s always a good time to reminisce about the birth of Jesus Christ. That would ultimately lead to the Resurrection and then bring us up to the current date. Now’s a great time to watch the film as well as any time. Just as it has held up over all these years, I expect it will continue to do so as the years go by. It’ll be difficult to make a more detailed adaption of the Nativity.

The Greatest Story Ever Told

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It’s time to look at a movie which recounts the greatest event in history. It’s the moment in time that gives our lives meaning and also gives us something to strive for. We see the events from the birth of Jesus Christ to his ultimate death and resurrection. I saw this movie on Easter which was a very fitting time for it. This film does a good job of recounting the events with a good amount of detail. Surprisingly the ending is very rushed and starts to cut out bigger events than expected, but the movie was quite long as it is so I suppose they had to end it at some point. Regardless it is a great movie to check out.

The opening scenes show the wisemen following the star to Jerusalem where they meet up with the King. He asks them to let him know when they find Jesus but fortunately they were wise enough not to do so. We then eventually get to John baptizing Jesus and that’s when the majority of the film begins. We see Jesus teaching his disciples and hear about all of the miracles he performs. The Pharisees are not pleased and continue to try and find ways to arrest or destroy Jesus. Ultimately this does lead to him being betrayed by Judas and crucified on the cross. 3 days later Jesus is resurrected and continues his teaching before ultimately moving on to Heaven where the rest of the Christians will join him upon death or being alive during the rapture.

Usually I don’t recap the whole movie including the ending but as these are true events it’s not as if they are a secret. Mainly the parts that are a bit rushed take place on Jesus dies on the cross. The movie very quickly has him be revived and then ascend. It’s understandable that we don’t see much of the 40 days where he returned to teach once again because we don’t have a lot of detail on that. What I was surprised about was cutting out the scenes of Jesus showing the disciples where to fish or Mary heading back to the disciples to tell them that Jesus is alive. In this version they ran over to the tomb with her as opposed to only showing up after she let them know. This all seems to be in the effort to move things forward so you can rest assured that nothing is changed in a way to alter the Bible or anything like that.

The film may have some violent moments but compared to something like Passion of the Christ it’s not super intense. This would be a movie that is a lot easier to watch with your children or if you just don’t really care for very graphic scenes. I’m not sure about the movie being G but typically documentaries and other films based on true events are given a much wider pass when it comes to the rating. I assume this is to encourage more people to watch the movie since extra knowledge on these things can be very helpful. So I understand the rationale even if I still have a bit of mixed feelings about potentially scaring someone. As I said, this one in particular is not very violent though so there is no issue.

It’s always interesting to see the Disciples reactions to what Jesus is saying since they are the few people to really know Jesus personally given that they were standing right with him throughout his life. It’s easy to read the Bible and think they were all very slow at putting the pieces together or not dependable when Jesus needed them, but in those times things were very tough. Everyone is tougher in their own mind than when put to the test. That’s why we all need Jesus. Ultimately our own strength is quite minor in the grand scheme of things.

The movie is very long but there is an intermission which helps and it’s all interesting enough where you won’t notice the length quite as much. The writing is definitely solid as well. There’s no real reason not to watch this film. My favorite depiction of the resurrection is still the short film “He is Risen” though. While that one doesn’t go quite as much into detail as this one, it does still adapt everything and the ending actually has more detail than this one which is impressive since its length probably isn’t even a third of this one’s.

Overall, The Greatest Story Ever Told is a quality epic and a great film to check out. You don’t need to wait until Easter to check it out, anytime is good for this. Whether you are a new Christian or one who has been on the path for a long time, it’s always a great idea to re-experience these events and re-affirm your faith. The resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God is ultimately what gives Christianity its power. Without the resurrection we don’t have a full basis to believe in God and his works. By coming back from the dead as he predicted, Jesus proved beyond the shadow of a doubt his connection to God and of the Trinity. Resurrection is not something that any person can do, nor will it be something that anyone could ever do in the future. Whenever you are growing weak in the faith or just having a tough day, remember the end goal. You’re surviving in this world to ultimately go into Heaven. God won’t give you any more than you can handle. You may certainly be tested to your upper limits but so long as you never lose faith in God you will ultimately persevere and going to Heaven is the best prize you could ask for.

The Young Messiah

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There are some movies that had good intentions and just didn’t work so well and others that had poor intentions from the start. This one is the former and the plot just didn’t do it for me. The film had to take a lot of liberties to be a full length feature film, but at the same time I just can’t picture a lot of this happening. Now, I won’t profess to be a super expert on the Bible where I can tell you 100 quotes or have all the families of David memorized, but I do believe that in the Bible it is heavily implied that Jesus lives a very ordinary life as a kid. He didn’t stand out and that’s why we didn’t hear about the great miracles he performed or his status as the Savior until after he had grown up. This film has him performing many miracles and in front of large crowds at the age of 7. (Apparently anyway based on the poster) He even has to run from the authorities because they find out and it becomes a huge debacle. I’m just not sure about this.

One big plot point in the film is that Jesus is initially a seemingly ordinary child and he doesn’t even know about his abilities. Gradually, he starts to gain knowledge of them and at times he personifies his role as the son of God and then he’ll turn back to normal. It’s almost like his body is slowly being taken over or his mind is being awoken from a long sleep and I’m not sure about that either. Granted, there aren’t really any easy answers for this. Did Jesus just take up one day when he was an adult with his full knowledge or had he always known ever since he was a kid? I actually like to think it was the latter personally. I believe that Jesus was essentially a perfect child and that he simply lived a very quiet life. He wouldn’t lie, steal, or make any moral mistakes that many kids make, but at the same time he would learn how to read and write the same as any other person.

After all, God chose to come to Earth as a man in order to live among us and save as many people as possible. I think it’s definitely feasible that as a result, he wouldn’t have immediately brought about his all knowing mind and other abilities that would make him stand out from the start. That’s why I can picture him knowing that he is Jesus Christ and just gradually growing up normally until it was time for him to act in the public sphere. Furthermore, I imagine that he waited to act until it was the perfect time for him to have an influence on as many people as possible. As a child maybe he knew that less people would be more convinced or that it would hurt in the long run. God knows all eventualities so he would ultimately choose the best route.

As I mentioned, I do think it was a nice effort in concept though. Biblical scholars have made a profession out of reading the Bible and trying to find more details that are hard to catch or can only be noticed by cross checking various books in the Bible and even other sources. You can find out a lot of fascinating things online and I’m sure that they would love to learn more about Jesus as a child. I just think that there isn’t much to find because he just wasn’t standing out at the time. Did Jesus have to content with bullies when he was a kid? Maybe. Did he have to revive a boy who was killed by the Devil in an attempt to frame him? That one’s a far greater stretch, but you never know. The point is, the film had to take a lot of liberties to make this a film, but as long as it doesn’t directly contradict the Bible or attempt subtly make Jesus or other individuals look bad, then it’s fine.

Overall, This can still be a good film to check out if you find the premise interesting. I personally prefer to relive parts of the Bible or listen to scholars speculate what may have happened back in the day based on their findings. I just find those more interesting than a film like this one, but it’ll really depend on the individual. At the very least, you can be sure that the writers probably did their homework on how the scenery and surroundings may have looked so that can be fun to see. It is good to see so many Christian films coming out nowadays and hopefully that trend will continue. The God is Not Dead series is certainly still my favorite, but we have had a nice array of titles that span many different genres. Hillsong, Risen, The Young Messiah, God is Not Dead, and many more. There is something for every Christian to check out. Some of the films didn’t go very well at all like Noah, which changes so many things that I even wonder about the intentions. I certainly would not be surprised in the least to see some “Christian” based films that exist only to discredit and confuse Christians rather than spread awareness. Always be prepared for every trick in the book in this day and age. I’m not sure which film is coming next, but I shall be awaiting the next Christian adventure.

Risen

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Risen is a Christian film that takes an interesting approach to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Most films look at it from the point of view of one of the Disciples or Mary, but this one looks at it from a roman soldier’s point of view. Clavius has been tasked with finding out who is spreading the rumors of Jesus being alive and putting an end to the problem. Clavius works at this goal for a while, but eventually begins to realize that this may not simply be a baseless rumor, but an incredible truth. This puts him at odds with the government so he quickly finds himself in a dangerous situation.

I can definitely appreciate what the director/writer was thinking here. This fresh take on the event is fun to see and Clavius is a good lead. He’s a reasonable guy who may have started out rather hard, but eventually came around. Paul ended up being one of the greatest Apostles in history and he started out as a murderer. There is always time to become a Christian even if you have a dark past. It can be easy to feel like it’s too late, but it certainly is not. The biggest mistake you can make it putting off your repentance and salvation because you want to wait for a good day. If you wait too long, you may find yourself dead before you have a chance. Prolonging things of such importance is not a good idea and the world continues to be in constant turmoil. It’s really impossible to say whether you will be dead or alive tomorrow so don’t take the risk. It is not worth losing your soul for eternity.

If I have any complaints about Risen, it’s that I would have liked to have seen the Disciples more. They rarely got to appear and didn’t get to look all that great when they did show up. Granted, they certainly would be cautious since Clavius was a Roman and they are only human. They did offer him food to eat and were amiable, but I suppose they still had their guard up. When Clavius was interrogating Mary (I believe it was Mary or it could have been one of the other two women) she didn’t do a great job of talking about her faith. She would just ignore him and stare at a corner, saying only a word or two once in a while. I think that aspect of the film certainly could have been handled better. More screen time for Christian messages to be spread by these characters would have been great.

Risen does a good job of recreating what the landscape would have been like back in the day. It’s not all that pretty to look at, but that’s the general point. It’s better to get an accurate look at the area than a romanticized version of it, at least for a film like this one that is depicting real events. The chase scene we get towards the middle of the film where Clavius tries to locate the Disciple base was fun. It’s certainly hard to catch anyone in those streets since the buildings are everywhere and objects obscure your view from all sides. Being able to see the Disciples and Jesus for the first time after his resurrection was definitely the turning point for Clavius.

When thinking about everything that Jesus did in this era, it’s amazing just how close minded people were. He cured people of various diseases, gave the blind sight, and made the crippled walk again. The miracles that Jesus performed were numerous and in front of many witnesses. As Clavius was converted in this film after witnessing Jesus Christ’s power and being exposed to the message, it’s hard to see how someone wouldn’t be converted after seeing it first hand. It can never be that easy of course and there will always be those who don’t believe, but I like to think that the majority would after such a spectacle. I suppose some people simply refused to believe it, no matter what evidence was presented.

Whether in the old days or in current times, there will always be people who have completely closed off their hearts. Nobody is too far gone for God to change, but free will is a privilege that he gives us so we still have to make that choice. If you’re trying to talk to someone about Christ and that person is completely unwilling, it’s best not to force the issue. It can just make that person all the more resistant to change so waiting it out can be a good approach. Nobody can stop you from praying so you can always pray for that person to have a change of heart. Praying for others is a good habit to do every night and you should also pray for yourself as well. If you talk to God every night, it will certainly help you stay strong as a Christian. It can be tough to find time during the day, so you should always keep some kind of schedule in mind. Whether you read a daily devotional every morning or read the Bible during lunch, try to have some kind of routine. It’s not as if it’s tough to make an appointment with God, you can talk to him instantly at any point in time. Always remember to keep that connection active and it will make a difference in your life. You’ll respond to people differently if you have God in mind while you are acting.

I definitely recommend checking out Risen. I recommend it higher if you are already a Christian as you will enjoy seeing this from a new perspective. If you are not yet a Christian, then I’d sooner recommend other films like God’s Not Dead or the 10 Commandments. I admit that I have not watched the latter yet, but I’ve heard that it’s excellent and faithfully recreates a lot of events from the Bible. This film just didn’t have enough Christian discussions and messages in my opinion which is why it wouldn’t be at the top of my recommendations list, but it is still a very solid film. You certainly won’t be worse off for watching it and perhaps you will be able to identify with Clavius. Christianity looked odd to him at the beginning and he thought that it was all foolish, but after actually learning what it was all about, he saw the truth. It’s why it is important to learn about something before writing it off. That’s something that we can apply to everyday life as well.

Do You Believe

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God Is Not Dead was a terrific film and it’s good to see more and more Christian films make it to theaters. As more and more people hear about the Word, hopefully we will see them accept Christ into their lives. When I saw the title of this film, I immediately thought of a song that has been sung in Church fairly often as of late. It’s a great song based on the Apostle’s Creed where you reaffirm your faith in God. This film shows us many different characters who will have to deal with their faith in different ways as hardship comes in many forms.

There are a number of plots here and they are all rather separate until a highway situation forces all of them to meet up and help each other out. A pastor is asked if he believes in the Cross and is unable to really answer at first. It is certainly a powerful symbol which has been interpreted in many ways. Sacrifice and kindness would be the first two words that I would use for it and other Christians would possibly have different views. We all know that Jesus died for us and how we respond to that is all different. The pastor asks everyone what the cross means to them. He is then faced with other tough choices like whether he should accept stolen money from a gang member or not. Naturally, accepting such an offer is certainly not something that a Christian wants to do, but not accepting it would possibly put the criminal in even more danger as the guy wants to walk away from crime. The best thing that the Pastor could have done in my opinion, would have been to hand the cops the money immediately. I suppose that they may have forced him to identify the guy who gave the package to him, but it still seems like the best case scenario for the guy.

Not all of the plots end up perfectly happy for the characters, but most of them end up seeing the light and becoming a Christian before it’s too late. I think that the gangster plot was probably a little out of place here, but it did add some action to the whole ordeal, which is probably what the writers were going for here. One of the plots saw an emergency worker get sued for supposedly trying to convert someone to being a Christian and letting the guy die as a result. Naturally, this was not the case as the man tried his best to save the victim before converting him, but the wife would not hear of it. The man refused to lie about this even though it meant that he would lose all of his money in court as well as his job. Certainly a tough decision for anyone to make considering that your life would effectively be over as it would be very tough to bounce back from that. He certainly gave us a good example of standing by the belief that God will ensure that everything turns out okay. You have to believe and have faith.

Some of the plots were certainly more enjoyable than others, but in a film with so many storylines, it makes sense that this would happen. None of the plots were bad though. For example, I didn’t care too much for the Pastor’s subplot where he took in a girl who was pregnant and having a tough time so he took her in. It’s not my kind of plot, but it definitely shows how selfless the Pastor was here. An old couple also took in a girl and her mother, who didn’t have a home before then. They were fortunate to meet up with these Christians and one also gave them a place to stay before that. Seeing such generosity is always inspiring.

Do You Believe is a more somber than God’s Not Dead and shows you a lot of real trials that Christians deal with all the time. As such, the other film is naturally a lot more fun for me, but both titles are good to check out. As Christians, it’s good to give these films support provided that they do a good job of presenting God’s truths and aren’t simply trying to capitalize on them. This film has a number of good messages and I definitely recommend checking it out. At 2 hours, the movie is certainly able to fit a whole lot of themes in.

If I had pick which trial was the toughest, it would probably be taking in the pregnant lady. You have to be really selfless to do such an act since letting someone into your home is no small feat. It will also be expensive since you will have to provide for another person. The easiest one would probably be the court case. Not saying that it is easy by any means, but at that point in the game, your honor as a person would also help you to stick to your story of what happened. Pride and honor wouldn’t let you back down and since you know that telling the truth is the right thing to do here, it’s a double incentive for you. The gangster one depends on if you’ve made your peace with the world or not. At the very least, the end should be fairly quick in that scenario. I was glad that the film didn’t go over the top with the sadness angle though as a certain individual staying in the car at the end would have been unfortunate.

I look forward to seeing which Christian film I check out next. I know that several more will be coming out in the near future and that’s a really good thing. Despite society drifting further and further away from the Bible, these films give people a chance to retink Christianity and every person that ultimately converts into Christian is a big battle that has been won by the people behind the film. As in the film, there will always be those who will refuse to accept God even if a miracle occurs right in front of them, but we must still pray for as many people as possible to see the truth. Miracles do occur each and every day after all and until the Lord comes again, our mission to bring more and more people to Christ is not over!