Stone Phillips reports this one hour look at the last days of Jesus, conveniently released to capitalize on the success of "The Passion of the Christ."
Originally an episode of "Dateline NBC," Phillips talks to scholars and takes the viewer through the understood history of Jesus' last hours. The producers also take an interesting tact, as the renowned and learned scholars disagree with one another concerning the Gospels and their descriptions of what happened in Jerusalem. No one "wins" the arguments about whether there was really a Judas, or if Pontius Pilate really washed his hands.
The viewer's like or dislike of the DVD will depend on their personal belief system. If you do believe in God, you will agree with everything Bible based and boo the naysayers. If you do not believe in a Christian God, or are agnostic, then you will rally behind the other opinions concerning two thousand years of worship.
The extras on the DVD consist of other shorter reports concerning Jesus and God in our every day life. Do healing miracles happen today? Can science recreate the sensation of being with God? Or did God's presence merely trigger an affect on the brain? There are many questions to ponder here, but nothing too deep to become morose over.
NBC has done a good job of packaging the similar stories together. It is a shame that is must have been done in order to cash in on a successful film, but many Christians will take what they can get...except Peter Jennings' laughable three hour report on Jesus a few months back. I started giggling when one hit wonder Joan Osborne started asking "what if God were one of us?" on the soundtrack as the report tried desperately to be hip.
Either way, whether a testament of a messiah, or a cheap ploy to make some video bucks, you could rent or buy something worse- like "In Search of Historic Jesus"...or "Left Behind"...or...
Stats:
(2004) 60 min. (7/10)
-Featuring Stone Phillips, Paula Fredriksen, Craig A. Evans, Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan, N.T. Wright
(Not Rated)
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