For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.
Great lines:
- "The gods are angry" [Lucius]. -- "One of them is [Clavius]."
- "Did he say anything?" [Clavius] -- "It is finished [centurion]."
- "I believe Yeshua will embrace you (Clavius) as a brother, even as you slew him" [Joseph of Arimathea].
- "I pray not to thee today, divine Mars, but to the God of the Hebrews, Yahweh. Hear me. Take back your favor in defense of these people I seek, and relinquish them to me. If you do this with clear and recognizable signs, I found two temples for you and initiate games in your honor" [Clavius].
- "They... are... everywhere!" [Bartholomew, on being asked where the disciples are hiding.]
- "But in the end, what does it matter? In a few years, that'll be us (a corpse)" [Pontius Pilate].
- "Welcome, Clavius. Come join us, brother; there are no enemies here" [Yeshua].
- "I have seen two things which I cannot reconcile: a man dead without question, and that same man alive again" [Clavius].
- "My right hand turned against me. How could he follow [Yeshua]?" [Pilate] -- "Perhaps it's true" [Lucius]. -- "Well, if it is, I'll kill him again" [Pilate].
- "I don't have every answer; we're astounded, too!" [Peter, to Clavius]
- "I don't even know what to ask" [Clavius]. -- "Speak your heart" [Yeshua]. -- "I can't reconcile all this with the world I know" [Clavius].
Room to improve:
- Although grace is abundant, I would have liked a little more on repentance. Jesus is warm and accepting, smiling and encouraging, without any anger or rebuke. Perhaps he could have been a little more serious. On the other hand, he interacts relatively little with the religious establishment -- those whom we know he would have been strongest in his denunciations.
- At the end, Clavius walks off on his own -- he's an independent Christian. What about Christian community?
- Pentecost is missed out completely.
- The biblical consultant(s) made many errors, unless the screen writers paid little attention. Remarkable accuracy of detail often gives way to inaccuracy or unnecessary speculation.
Strong points:
- The characters are real people. Believable dialogue.
- It was interesting seeing the foolishness of the cross through the eyes of a Roman soldier.
- Risen stimulates us to re-vision the events surrounding the life and death of Jesus.
- Good development of idea of Kingdom of God not being based on power.
- Jesus' bodily resurrection. (It's not rationalized or spiritualized away.)
- No attempt to undermine faith (common in documentaries and even in some films about Christ), or promote sectarian doctrine.
- Clavius is forced to choose -- good! We can all relate to him. Even though he still has some changing to do at the end of the film, so do we... None of us has arrived.
