Itsura ni Jesus sa ‘Son of God’ ibang-iba; mas makatotohanan

“SON of God” will lift your spirit and strengthen your Catholic faith. It’s movie time in between two Makati meetings last Thursday and with so many movies opening, there is only one we want to watch, the newest film version of the “Greatest Story Ever Told”.

Magkukuwento muna kami. The History Channel’s highest rating miniseries of 2013 was the multi-part “The Bible”. It got several Emmy nominations and surprised a lot of media practitioners that the often repeated story can generate enough interest and ratings pa rin.

What the producer did – a first in Hollywood – took the last two parts of the miniseries and turned it into a two hour movie entitled “Son of God”. It was a bold move, something never done before.

Napanood na sa TV ng libre why would the audience pay to watch it in the big screen ikanga? The gamble succeeded big time dahil as of this writing, almost 60 million dollars na ang gross ng pelikula na wala namang production cost other than promotion dahil this was done in TV na nga.

Back to the movie, half full cinema 5 ng Greenbelt 3 for its 4:50 p.m. showing. What is surprising about this is the demography. Maraming senior citizens in the audience and it’s not a free screening for the senior citizens.

Marami ring foreigners, probably Catholics like us. Finally, maraming guys, in groups and we barely saw girls so we don’t know what it means.

“Son of God” started as a recap from St. John (Sebastian Knapp), in exile now and about to write his Gospel. Pinag-usapan ang pagkabuhay nina Adam (Paul Knops) and Eve (Darcie), Noah (David Rintoul) and the flood, Abraham’s test (Gary Oliver), Moses (William Houston) escape from the slavery of Ramesses (Stewart Scudamore), Samson’s strength (Nonzo Anozie) and the epic battle of David (Jassa Ahluwalia) and Goliath (Conan Stevens) until the birth of Jesus, child of Mary (Leila Mimmack) and Joseph (Joe Con).

Fast forward na ang kuwento when Jesus (Diogo Morgoda) starts gathering his followers – or apostles – starting with the fisherman Peter (Darwin Shaw) until the last, the money changer Matthew (Said Bey).

This does not sit well with the elders of the Jewish church lead by Caiaphas (Adrian Schiller) and Nicodemus (Simon Kunz). Afraid na ipasara ang Holy Temple even before the holiest day of their faith na Pass Over ni Roman prefect Pilate (Greg Hicks), hinuli nila si Jesus, condemned to death and died on the cross.

Watching Jesus’ life is never boring and it never gets old. It must be the Catholic in us pero feel na feel namin ang movie.
Minimal special effects, what it had is good looking and good acting actors lead by Diogo na rin playing Jesus.

His face is always smiling, something new dahil every time we see Jesus on screen, palaging sabukot ang mukha niya at dala niya nga ang problema ng buong mundo.

Not in “Son of God”, he looks a very sexy and approachable rock star you will really root for him kahit alam mo na ang kuwento niya. Diogo wisely does not over-act nga. His seven last words is heartbreaking because hindi niya ito inaktingan nang todo.

His “I thirst” is almost a whisper and this is the highlight of the seven last words so the other actors who portrayed Jesus, sinisigaw ito.

Again, ang uso na nga TV, no mediocre looking actors and so what we get are male models like Paul Knops playing Adam with all his underwear shots in the net and sexy Frazer Ayres playing Barabbas.

Model looking sina Mary Magdalene (Amber Rose Revah), Eve (Darcie) and the two Mary’s, young (Leila Mimmack) and old (Roma Downey).

With minimal special effects nga, it is the shots that will impress you. Ilang beses na naming napanood ang pag-angat ng krus ni Hesus mula sa lupa hanggang sa tumayo ito but in “Son of God”, it was breathtaking.

Must be the combination of perfect camera angle and scenic backdrop, mapapanganga ka nang inaangat na ang krus.
The ascension scene is very good too.

Dahil halos walang special effect, you sort of expect na aangat si Jesus but with a flashing light, a change of camera angle, wala na si Jesus where he stood and that’s okay with us as we want our Bible story neat,  simple and devoid of  effects.

Another good thing here is that Jesus’ story is almost completely told from his birth to his ascension. Mostly inuumpisahan ang kuwento kapag malaki na siya at tinatapos after his resurrection.

Here, you almost get to see everything but one, his being lost in the church at 12 years old bago mag-missing years siya.For the Catholics, “Son of God” is the best Lenten movie, binabalik ang panahon na pag Holy Week, puro biblical stories lang ang palabas sa big screen.

For  non-Catholic, try to watch the movie so you’d know why we call him Son of God. It’s good cinema too for what it’s worth.