Rating: 
Summary: I Was Pleasantly Surprised.
Review: It's always interesting to view a movie in which some reviewers rate it 5 stars and rave about it while others pan it with only 1 or 2. At least you know you will watching something controversial. But as a fan of Antonio Banderas I figured it was worth watching; even though, as a devout Christian, I suspected it might be just another attempt by Hollywood to attack the Christian religion indirectly with an absurd story based upon a profoundly true one.
But one of the reviewers mentioned that the ending of the movie was ambiguous so I decided that perhaps it contained some redeeming qualities after all.
You can read the other reviews for a synopsis of the plot, I won't try to repeat it again here. But I will just say that the story does have it's own special intrigue with interesting characters, fine acting, beautiful on-location cinematography, a wonderful soundtrack worth buying (if it were only available), and it was good enough that I watched it twice. What more could you ask from a movie?
It was a bit heavy-handed at times with certain situations, which I won't reveal. But the way in which the apparant discovery of the body of an un-risen Jesus was finally resolved in the conclusion of the film was a good example of a satisfactual ending for those who do believe. It is well worth watching!
Rating: 
Summary: A compelling Notion
Review: Most often today critics or others who write reviews focus on the actors and not the film. While mutually inclusive to the movie, without a good story, a "loaded" hook, the actors and other interpreters have little to do. The story of this film is awesome in its exploration and scope of the possibility of "what if". Derek Jacobi's representation of the scientst priest is crisp and engaging. The other actors charged with the bulk of the action are convincing. The levels of entry into this tapestry represent three majors religious world views and how their knowledge and distribution of the same could impact the world. It is an engaging film. One that makes you think. One that is not afraid to explore difficult theories and possibilities. I would recommend this film to anyone who is a thoughtful and acute viewer.
Rating: 
Summary: Great ideas, decent acting, lousy execution
Review: The premise is fascinating. What if the body of Jesus were discovered? Of course, the discovery would call into question the resurrection, a key element of Christian (and particularly Catholic) dogma. The questions it would raise are many. How would the Catholic church react to the discovery? How might an individual believer react? Perhaps as importantly, how might outsiders treat this discovery if one of the consequences might be the unhinging of the entire Catholic Church? Certainly, some would invite that result (couldn't you see Osama licking his lips at the thought?); others, seeing the Church as a principal player in the battle with Islam, might think otherwise.So where does The Body go wrong? The answer, unfortunately, is "let me count the ways." What is right about the movie is the casting. Banderas is his usual compelling, understated presence as a good-hearted priest weighed down by a troubled past. He is just the kind of character actor for a role like this, as he navigates the terrain between his own beliefs and the Vatican. Olivia Williams, as an Israeli archaeologist behind the discovery, was also a terrific choice for her role. She is attractive enough to create the possibility of sparks to develop with Banderas' character. (Unfortunately, one of the real problems with this movie is its inability to develop these interpersonal issues with any degree of depth or drama. I suspect it was the directing, but it also might have been a lack of chemistry between Banderas and Williams. A wonderful backdrop to the plot would have been a well-executed demonstration of all the personal dominoes that might begin to fall as a priest's faith is shaken. Unfortunately, we don't really get to see that in Banderas' character, even though Banderas has shown us glimmers of such potential in other roles.) And what happened to Derek Jacobi? Frankly, I expected a deep penetrating performance, even with the thinly written--and somewhat silly--affectations given to his character. The worst thing about The Body, aside from its inability to rise to the challenges of its story, is the mediocre directing. You can see it, in part, in the actors' performances, as I noted above. But it is also present in the sloppy and confusing images, including a particularly inept sequence when Jacobi's character finally gives up hope that the body is someone other than Jesus. One might, to be generous, suggest that this sequence has a dreamy, hallucinogenic quality to it. To me, it just sucks. And then there's the torrent of cliches--the utra-orthodox Jews who let a priest instruct them on the Torah; the slimy Vatican types who are more interested in running the Church as a bank, than expressing any real religious belief; the terrorist bent on using the body as a bargaining chip; and, finally, the tacky disclosure to the audience of the Truth. I'd love to have Hollywood try its hand at this movie again, with a much better script and a seasoned director of serious movies. Or maybe not.
Rating:
Summary: Great ideas, decent acting, lousy execution
Review: The premise is fascinating. What if the body of Jesus were discovered? Of course, the discovery would call into question the resurrection, a key element of Christian (and particularly Catholic) dogma. The questions it would raise are many. How would the Catholic church react to the discovery? How might an individual believer react? Perhaps as importantly, how might outsiders treat this discovery if one of the consequences might be the unhinging of the entire Catholic Church? Certainly, some would invite that result (couldn't you see Osama licking his lips at the thought?); others, seeing the Church as a principal player in the battle with Islam, might think otherwise. So where does The Body go wrong? The answer, unfortunately, is "let me count the ways." What is right about the movie is the casting. Banderas is his usual compelling, understated presence as a good-hearted priest weighed down by a troubled past. He is just the kind of character actor for a role like this, as he navigates the terrain between his own beliefs and the Vatican. Olivia Williams, as an Israeli archaeologist behind the discovery, was also a terrific choice for her role. She is attractive enough to create the possibility of sparks to develop with Banderas' character. (Unfortunately, one of the real problems with this movie is its inability to develop these interpersonal issues with any degree of depth or drama. I suspect it was the directing, but it also might have been a lack of chemistry between Banderas and Williams. A wonderful backdrop to the plot would have been a well-executed demonstration of all the personal dominoes that might begin to fall as a priest's faith is shaken. Unfortunately, we don't really get to see that in Banderas' character, even though Banderas has shown us glimmers of such potential in other roles.) And what happened to Derek Jacobi? Frankly, I expected a deep penetrating performance, even with the thinly written--and somewhat silly--affectations given to his character. The worst thing about The Body, aside from its inability to rise to the challenges of its story, is the mediocre directing. You can see it, in part, in the actors' performances, as I noted above. But it is also present in the sloppy and confusing images, including a particularly inept sequence when Jacobi's character finally gives up hope that the body is someone other than Jesus. One might, to be generous, suggest that this sequence has a dreamy, hallucinogenic quality to it. To me, it just sucks. And then there's the torrent of cliches--the utra-orthodox Jews who let a priest instruct them on the Torah; the slimy Vatican types who are more interested in running the Church as a bank, than expressing any real religious belief; the terrorist bent on using the body as a bargaining chip; and, finally, the tacky disclosure to the audience of the Truth. I'd love to have Hollywood try its hand at this movie again, with a much better script and a seasoned director of serious movies. Or maybe not.
Rating:
Summary: They RUINED a great book/ending
Review: The premise looks interesting; the location is authentic, and we got actors like Olivia Williams (sorry, but I went to see HER, not Banderas). But I wasn't impressed simply because it doesn't know how to deal with this kind of delicate subject matter, namely the faith and religion. The initial setting goes this way: an archaeologist Olivia Williams finds the skelton at the back of hardware store in Jerusalem, and it could be the body of Jesus Christ. A priest (and former soldier in the Middle America) is sent to the site, to investigate the case, but his work is hindered, or used, by the local powers in Israel and Palestine that try to take advantage of the situation, which might change the history of Christianity. So far, so good, even though we realize by now that the subject matter requires the most careful handling, not only because it touches religious matters, but because it needs extraordinarily minute descriptions of scientific knowledge if they really try to prove what those characters are trying to prove. And as for the latter, the film shows some respect to archaeologist's techiniques, not ignoring detailed methods they employ. However, the film fails to develop the knowledge to anything. The tempo is too slow, and the characters are nothing but clithed types: politicians are dirty, priests are plotting, and so on and on. The conflicting religion-science relation that could be intriguing is dumped on the way to the obligatory shoot-out actions at the final reel of the film. Maybe we should not quote the on-going things in the Middle East, but looking at the tragic events among the Jewish and Arabian people, I cannot but feel this film oversimplifies the complicated political issues there. At least, they could have, and should have made it more intellectually stimulating, and in that case only, they are justified in using this rather daring premise. There are some good things, though. The moody photography of Vilmos Zsigmond ("Dear Hunter""Close Encounter") effectively catches the atomosphere of the town, and good supporting cast include Jason Flemmying and Derek Jacobi. But it is Muhamed Bakri as intimidating Abu Yosef who really steals the show. Finally, leading actors. You know the career of Antonio Banderas since his enchanting "Zorro," and I won't repeat it any more. His character is not convincing, but he is not to be blamed. His charisma and charm are certainly here, but the film squanders them away in its mundane course. Olivia Williams, the only good thing in Kevin Costner's "Postman," is slightly better, but her role looks also filled with the stock images of hardworking female scholar from the films in the past. When she can't save the film, no one can.
Rating:
Summary: Very Interesting Premise Goes Nowhere
Review: The premise looks interesting; the location is authentic, and we got actors like Olivia Williams (sorry, but I went to see HER, not Banderas). But I wasn't impressed simply because it doesn't know how to deal with this kind of delicate subject matter, namely the faith and religion. The initial setting goes this way: an archaeologist Olivia Williams finds the skelton at the back of hardware store in Jerusalem, and it could be the body of Jesus Christ. A priest (and former soldier in the Middle America) is sent to the site, to investigate the case, but his work is hindered, or used, by the local powers in Israel and Palestine that try to take advantage of the situation, which might change the history of Christianity. So far, so good, even though we realize by now that the subject matter requires the most careful handling, not only because it touches religious matters, but because it needs extraordinarily minute descriptions of scientific knowledge if they really try to prove what those characters are trying to prove. And as for the latter, the film shows some respect to archaeologist's techiniques, not ignoring detailed methods they employ. However, the film fails to develop the knowledge to anything. The tempo is too slow, and the characters are nothing but clithed types: politicians are dirty, priests are plotting, and so on and on. The conflicting religion-science relation that could be intriguing is dumped on the way to the obligatory shoot-out actions at the final reel of the film. Maybe we should not quote the on-going things in the Middle East, but looking at the tragic events among the Jewish and Arabian people, I cannot but feel this film oversimplifies the complicated political issues there. At least, they could have, and should have made it more intellectually stimulating, and in that case only, they are justified in using this rather daring premise. There are some good things, though. The moody photography of Vilmos Zsigmond ("Dear Hunter""Close Encounter") effectively catches the atomosphere of the town, and good supporting cast include Jason Flemmying and Derek Jacobi. But it is Muhamed Bakri as intimidating Abu Yosef who really steals the show. Finally, leading actors. You know the career of Antonio Banderas since his enchanting "Zorro," and I won't repeat it any more. His character is not convincing, but he is not to be blamed. His charisma and charm are certainly here, but the film squanders them away in its mundane course. Olivia Williams, the only good thing in Kevin Costner's "Postman," is slightly better, but her role looks also filled with the stock images of hardworking female scholar from the films in the past. When she can't save the film, no one can.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Concept Poor Execution
Review: This film adaptation of Richard Ben Sapir's novel "The Body" largely misses the impact the book makes. I do give credit to the screen writers for altering the book's plot to completely write out the role of the Soviets in exploiting the possible discovery of the unresurrected body of Christ. Of course, the book was written in the '70's when the world was deep in the Cold War so this element would be meaningless today. First off, I had trouble understanding the characters since everyone had heavy accents from several different languages. The movie plodded along without ever capitalizing on this rather novel concept: a discovery so powerful it could profoundly alter politics, the balance of power, and, of course, religion forever. Skip the movie, search for this out of print novel and read a rather exciting book.
Rating:
Summary: [....]
Review: This film had a nice message, "Blessed are those who believe yet do not see.". It's too bad that they had to ruin this with yet another Hollywood assault on the Catholic hierarchy and the type of political naivety those Hollywood clowns are so well known for. Using the name of liberation theologist (an attempt to smuggle Marxism into Christianity) Gutierez as the main protagonist is another nice touch. The idea that we can have a God who is involved in some parts of our lives but not in others is a nice job of liberal swindling and a good way to avoid responsibility for our actions. To Hollywood: Come on get off it guys. Could you please give us something worthwhile for once? By the way, if the Catholic church were to sell out to political squabbling, they wouldn't take such a hard line on such ethical questions as abortion and human sexuality; instead, they'd just do what all our "courageous" American leaders do and "take a poll". Nice Hollywood. Keep up the good work.
Rating:
Summary: Great way to spend an evening.
Review: This is a great movie which gives some insight into the ongoing conflict in Israel. It starts with the discovery of an ancient body while a shopkeeper is digging a basement for his home. Early evidence points to this being the body of Jesus Christ. As the movie unfolds, the body becomes a pawn in the various political groups ongoing war with each other. Overall, it's a great movie that keeps you thinking while the numerous subplots unfold.
Rating:
Summary: Magnificent and Thought Provoking
Review: This is quite a magnificent motion picture of great contrasts. It posits that a body could be found in Jerusalem in a tomb nearly 2000 years old-- a body which bears the markings of crucifixion. Is this Christ, and the end of Christianity? The answer is left to an unlikely pair, a beautiful Jewish archeologist and a Jesuit priest dispatched by the Vatican to keep things under control. Swirling around them are the ancient eddys of Jerusalem-- Orthodox Jews, the government, radical Muslims and of course, the Church, all with an interest, and an agenda. Set in the beautiful Holy City, cinematography is vivid and real and immediate. We are taken about the city as this story unfolds, and the main characters go about their quest, tossing it up at times in fiery misunderstanding and finally forging an alliance for truth. Antonio Banderas as Father Matt Gutierrez exquisitely portrays a brave man of simple faith dedicated to his task. This is a deep and sensitive performance, stunning in its restraint, strong and true to its torn character. Olivia Williams, beautifully portrays the scientist challenging him to think as a scientist. She is utterly believeable. But she is no more successful with him than he with her in his efforts to think with her heart. Yet mind and heart come together as they subtly build their trust and face the maelstrom which confronts them. But the viewer will not want to be told more. The supporting cast was quite excellent-- there were no missteps in these choices. A challenging film to the faith of the viewer, and a magnificent lesson on dealing with the crisis of the millenium, both good and bad. A challenge to the mind after viewing, as this viewer has rolled thoughts and precepts around and around. And a call to prayer at the same time. This is a must-see movie.
|
