Review of the New Biblical Movie: Risen

Aimed at the faith community, but with an eye to the mainstream, Risen has just been released by Sony Pictures.

First off the plot: we are in Palestine in AD 33. We meet a Roman Tribune, Clavius (played by Joseph Fiennes), wandering in the Judean Desert. He stops at a tavern and orders some food. Thereafter, in flash back, his story is revealed.

Arriving back in Jerusalem from fighting Zealots, we find him commanding a Roman garrison under pressure from many sides in the seemingly endless religious arguments of the city’s Jews.  Clavius meets with Pilate, the Province’s irritable Governor. The latter has lost all patience with religious sectarianism, wondering why the Jews can’t take a more pragmatic view of divinity and like the Romans have many gods. Nevertheless, the Governor is still haunted by the encounter with the man, known as ‘the Nazarene’, and whom he has just sent to his death at the behest of a baying mob. He asks Clavius to ensure that that crucifixion goes according to plan and that there is no more talk of this ‘Nazarene’, and, more importantly still, that the dead man’s body is securely disposed of. This is not least because Pilate is still plagued with deputations from the Sanhedrin who are obsessed with fears that the body will be taken and used for propaganda purposes. Thereafter, we watch as the Tribune wearily heads to Calvary…

From then on the film moves from a standard Biblical epic to more of a crime scene investigation. It is a mystery thriller of sorts. Soon the questions are: Where is the body? Who took it? What really happened? There are claims and counter claims. Inevitably the already exasperated Governor is even more annoyed with what subsequently happens, for, despite the tribune’s best efforts in sealing and securing the tomb, the body has indeed gone missing. And, with the Emperor due to visit this troubled part of his empire, Pilate cannot afford to have such matters still occupying his mind and disturbing the peace, both political and personal, that he craves.

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Thereafter, the movie turns into a conspiracy thriller. As Clavius and his men search for clues, there begins a race to find the body. Raids are carried out on those suspected of having played a part in the body’s disappearance. A known associate of ‘the Nazarene’, Mary Magdalene, is questioned. There is talk of ‘sightings’, all of which makes no sense to those investigating.  And then the twist that most reading this will know from the end of the Gospel story. It is unlikely to be giving too much away to say that this tribune’s Stoic world comes crashing down around him when, whilst searching for a place known as the Upper Room, he encounters the body he seeks, but, the only thing is, it is not a dead body…

The movie’s strengths are its locations, look and feel – clearly influenced by films such as The Passion and The Nativity Story. The small details have been clearly worked on – both historical and Biblical – and so also have certain aspects of Christian Tradition around the events of Easter. There is, for example, an explicit reference to the Shroud of Turin. Taken as evidence by the Roman soldiers searching for the truth that ‘something’ has occurred. That said this latest Biblical epic lacks the deeper spirituality of either of the aforementioned films.

Styling itself as a thriller, Risen lacks pace. And the basic plot device, that the Easter story is a thriller-like mystery, albeit a good one, is hardly new. The 1953 classic, The Robe, followed a similar trajectory but did so with much more tension and panache. Whereas in that earlier work, Richard Burton’s Roman soldier was haunted by the events of Calvary, Fiennes’ character is much more hunter than haunted. And, when the moment of conversion does come in this latest film, it is less dramatic, less tortured and, therefore, less interesting than in Burton’s performance; it just happens and then the story moves on.

Herein lies the real problem with Risen: it is a story whose plotlines many will anticipate long before they are revealed on screen. The fact that the script does not do enough to make us suspend belief or forget any preconceived ideas, in the end, makes it hard for the film to hold one’s interest for nearly two hours. As a mystery, it is just not mysterious enough, and, for a thriller, there are just not enough thrills.

On the plus side, the acting throughout is good. Fiennes cuts an heroic figure, and looks and sounds the part of the hard-bitten soldier. The ‘new man’ that he becomes by the end is a harder act to pull off, however, not least because of the script. Colin Firth’s Pontius Pilate is equally as good. His performance as a world-weary politician is an interesting take on a role that has always been one of the most rewarding on-screen of Gospel accounts. Why is it so much easier to play the more morally suspect characters on screen than the virtuous? The question leads us to the Apostles who prove much harder to portray. It is a difficult task to communicate men whose lives have not only been wholly changed but also filled with the Post-Resurrection sense of wonderment and a nascent sense of mission. The film fails to make this a concrete cinematic reality. On screen, the Apostles remain largely undifferentiated –a group rather than well-defined individuals. To some extent at least, the role of St. Peter is an exception. It is good to see the first Bishop of Rome clearly portrayed as the leader of the Apostles both in prayer and teaching.

So to whom will it appeal?

There is, thankfully, no major divergences or odd additions from the Gospel accounts.  And as regards the fictional structure imposed on the Gospels, we are used to seeing fictional characters, such as Clavius, interacting with real Gospel figures and here that is all done effectively and coherently. There is nothing about Risen that will offend any Christian group, and much that will commend it to audiences of faith and of none.

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KV Turley writes from London

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