Son of God
Rated M

Anyone who saw 'The Bible' series on our tvs last year will have a fairly good idea of what they will get in the reworked theatrical release Son of God, but given that it has been edited to focus specifically on Jesus it’s a lot tighter and I think that works very well.

What bothered me about earlier episodes of The Bible series was some really ham-fisted acting and clunky dialogue, both of which are mercifully absent here – along with the ponderous voiceover.

Instead, with sensible editing and a bit of thought, our narrator becomes the disciple John. We start on Patmos and are then given a brief précis of a few Old Testament moments, Jesus’ birth and the
worship of those at the stable, before Jesus calls his first disciples.

The producers and scriptwriters have chosen to change the timing of some events in Jesus’ life, or – to a certain extent – what he does, such as his entry into the tomb of Lazarus instead of remaining
outside, but the core of the message and its purpose remain solidly the same.

I like the idea of putting the temple prayer of the tax collector “Have mercy on me, a sinner” into the mouth of Matthew as Jesus calls him, and it’s also very affecting that Jesus sees his upcoming betrayal and death in his mind’s eye as he shares the last supper with his disciples. Characters such as Caiaphas are a bit one-dimensional and Jesus is almost too gentle and doe-eyed, but Diogo Morgado does a laudable job in a difficult role and the crucifixion scenes are confronting and done extremely well.

This presents the best of the series, and it will be something well worth seeing on the big screen – or taking friends to.