Satan character resembling Obama cut from ‘Son of God’ movie
Graded_TB_Day24B_042612_CC_MG_1167 - Jesus (Diego Morgado) greets his followers.
Graded_TB_Day17B_041712_CC_D3S7724 - Jesus (Diogo Morgado) at the Last Supper.
TB_Day26D_07012012_JA_D3S8977 - Diogo Morgado stars as Jesus in SON OF GOD.
Graded_TB_Day11B_041012_CC_MG_7220 - Mary (Roma Downey) struggles with a centurion.
Graded_TB_Day07B_040312_CC_MG_2840 - Pontius Pilate (Greg Hicks) makes an accusation.
Graded_TB_Day12A_03192012_JA_TB__D3S8290 - Mary (Leila Mimmack) and Joseph (Joe Coen) embark upon a memorable trek through the desert.
Graded_TB_Day06B_040212_CC_D3S4296 - Jesus (Diogo Morgado) undergoes a brutal trial.
Graded_TB_Day19B_041912_CC_MG_9569 - Jesus (Diogo Morgado) stumbles on his way to the crucifixion.
GO: If you’re glad someone has made the effort to tell the story of Jesus Christ in a major motion picture — other than Mel Gibson.
DON’T GO: If you think Christianity is something best left for Sunday School.
Yes, this is a film compilation of the 10-hour miniseries “The Bible” based on the life of Jesus Christ, but it may be talked about more for who is NOT in the film.
The movie includes some deleted scenes that weren’t in the miniseries, but does not include scenes featuring Satan due to the feedback that the character resembled President Barack Obama.
Co-producer Roma Downey told The Hollywood Reporter, “This is now a movie about Jesus, the son of God, and the devil gets no more screen time … we cast Satan out. It gives me great pleasure to tell you the devil is on the cutting-room floor.” Enough said. Moving on.
Let’s focus on the actual movie, and here’s the thing.
The first half feels almost like a narrative, in the vein of “…previously on Jesus of Nazareth…” as we are skipping over a lot of information and just hitting the highlights.
There’s not much deep emotion early on. It’s more into the storytelling aspects and focusing on the eventual, big finale during Passover in Jerusalem.
Here’s where it gets interesting, as Simon the Pharisee grouses about Jesus (Diogo Morgado), who he believes is speaking blasphemy around the region. He gets the ear of Nicodemus, who I swear looks just like Craig T. Nelson under all that makeup. Nicodemus tells Caiaphas, a high priest, that this Jesus guy is coming and is making some pretty outrageous claims about the future of the Jewish faith and his bold part in it.
Caiaphas feels threatened, but since it’s the Passover, he tries to get the Roman Prefect, Pontius Pilate, to do his dirty work, but Pilate sees what’s going on here and tries to give himself an out. Besides, Pilate’s wife has had a dream that an innocent man was killed by her husband’s hands and now he really wants no part of it. It’s a fairly complicated political scenario and easily the best constructed section of the film.
Then we get into the 40 lashes, the crown of thorns, all the disturbing “passion” moments, and while it is tamer than Mel Gibson’s version, it is still very difficult to watch, so families be careful about traumatizing the younger ones. It is PG-13, after all.
Now, keep in mind, every Christian religion has its own unique take on the story of Jesus. Some focus more on the Crucifixion, while others lean toward the spiritual trials of the Garden of Gethsemane.
I think another thing you’ll notice is the “new translation” speaking style and the emphasis on the body and blood of Christ symbolism, which makes sense, since producer Roma Downey is a devout Catholic.
Other than that, I think “Son of God” is a very good attempt at retelling the story of Jesus. It has excellent production values and powerful moments that will touch your heart, but it doesn’t exactly explore any new ground and doesn’t say anything more than most of us don’t already know about his life.
That’s the nuts and bolts of the movie side. Any spiritual uplifting aspects rest entirely on you, the individual. That is not my department.
REVIEW
l THE FILM: “Son of God”
l OUR RATING: ***
l STARRING: Diogo Morgado, Amber Rose Revah, Sebastian Knapp, Greg Hicks and Darwin Shaw.
l BEHIND THE SCENES: Co-written and directed by Christopher Spencer (3 episodes of “The Bible” TV mini-series); filmed in Morocco.
l PLAYING: Layton Hills 9, Syracuse 6, Megaplex 13, Cinemark Farmington, Layton Tinseltown, Newgate Tinseltown, Megaplex 14, Walker 8, North Ogden 6, Capitol. Runs 138 minutes.
l MPAA RATING: (PG-13) for intense and bloody depiction of the Crucifixion, and for some sequences of violence.
