The Greatest Story Ever Told

My 70 Things List, item #6 "Go to the Cinema" has been ticked off. On Easter Sunday, Nick our Pastor showed a trailer for "The King Of Kings" which came out a couple of weeks ago. 

After a morning of worktops, it was our Bank Holiday Monday Treat. This film was showing in Norwich - two tickets plus fees, parking etc >£30, or Fakenham <£10. No contest!
This was an interesting film with an intriguing history. In 1849, Charles Dickens wrote a story for his children "The Life of Our Lord" which he then read to his family every Christmas. He bequeathed the manuscript to his sister in law in 1870, and said it was never to leave the family or be published whilst his children were alive. She died in 1917, and it passed to the youngest of Charles' sons, Henry. In his will, he stated that if the majority of the family agreed, it could be published. So in 1934, his widow and children sold it to an American company for £200K....Fast forward 90 years, and an animated film has been produced.

Bob and I sat in the tiny 3rd Screen of Fakenham Central Cinema [F's only cinema] along with just one other family. The seats were comfortable. The film was...vaguely bizarre. Here is the UK trailer to give you a flavour

Why was it bizarre? Well it seems to be sponsored by some US Christian groups, but produced by a South Korean film studio. It has a rather star studded cast - Kenneth Branagh is Dickens, Uma Thurman is his wife, Ben Kingsley is Caiaphas the High Priest, Pierce Brosnan is Pontius Pilate. Mark Hamill is Herod, and Forest Whittaker plays Peter. Oscar Isaac is Jesus and Roman Griffin Davis Is Walter [Dickens' son]

In the film, Walter is obsessed with King Arthur, and Mrs D suggests to Charles that he tells his son the story of The King of Kings and Son of God. So he does, and the boy [plus the cat] gets caught up in the story, and is transported to 1st century Palestine. He warns Mary and Joseph to escape from Herod's soldiers, he sits and listens to the Sermon on the Mount, He watches the Palm Sunday Procession and the crucifixion - and witnesses the Resurrection. 

They have tried to cram too much into 105 minutes - Jesus' birth, life, death and resurrection plus Adam and Eve, and the Passover story en route. And how did they decided which Gospel events to put in? They've included Slaughter of the innocents, when young Jesus got lost, The Temptations, Blind Bartimaeus, Resurrection of Lazarus, Sermon on the Mount, Miraculous Catch of Fishes, Walking on the Water, Feeding 5K, Man through the roof, the woman who anointed Jesus' feet, clearing the temple, Judas with his 30 pieces of silver...and even the woman taken in adultery. It is a year's worth of Sunday school lessons and then some.

One minute you see the Victorian child at home in London as his dad tells the story, then next minute they are transported to a dusty, crowded middle eastern street [still in their 1800s clothes] I think if you don't know the Bible narrative very well, you might get a bit lost. And I am not altogether sure about the characters 

All the Pharisees and disciples had HUGE noses and were generally not very attractive. But the Jesus character was slim, with a tiny neck, and lovely hair - but he looked like those bobble head caricatures people stick on their dashboards. And the three Marys all looked the same to me [Mary his Mum, Mary sister of Lazarus, Mary at the tomb]  Over the closing credits, inexplicably, they played the 1896 hymn "I surrender all"

It is rated PG in the UK and USA because of violence.
So who is this film aimed at?

I am not sure I'd use it as an evangelistic tool. But as Bob said, there were some clips that would be good sermon illustrations, or useful to tell a story at Holiday Club [no, we are not doing anymore!] I don't think I'd take my grandchildren - too scary for the little ones, and too complex a story even for Rosie to make sense of. 

It was a fun afternoon out - but I was glad we had not paid over thirty quid for the experience! I am sort of relieved that the Guardian reviewer had similar reactions

*** please let me know if you have seen it and what you thought

Just before we went to the cinema, I heard of the death of the Pope. I am pleased he was able to come onto the balcony in St Peter's Square on Sunday and wave to the crowds. RIP Francis. Having recently read Conclave, I suspect we may now shell out a fiver to watch the film at home sometime.
But a final thoughtful comment from Pierce Brosnan who was interviewed about the film, he simply said
I tell you, this will be good to have a retelling of Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Our Saviour. Why not? We need it....