The Body (2001)

Director:

Jonas McCord

Writers (WGA):

Richard Sapir (novel)
Jonas McCord (screenplay)

Release Date:

5 January 2001 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

Chaos, unearthed.

Plot:

A crucified body dated back to the 1st century A.D is uncovered at an ancient cave in Jerusalem. Trouble ensues as word spreads.

Plot Keywords:

Jerusalem | Cave | Tomb | Skull | Helicopter

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Antonio Banderas	...	Father Matt Gutierrez
Olivia Williams	...	Sharon Golban
John Shrapnel	...	Moshe Cohen
Derek Jacobi	...	Father Lavelle
Jason Flemyng	...	Father Walter Winstead
Lillian Lux	...	Mother
John Wood	...	Cardinal Pesci
Makram Khoury	...	Nasir Hamid (as Makram J. Khoury)
Vernon Dobtcheff	...	Monsignor
Ian McNeice	...	Dr. Sproul
Mohammed Bakri	...	Abu Yusef (as Muhamed Bakri)
Yoav Dekelbaum	...	Avi (as Yoav Deckelbaum)
Sami Samir	...	Achmed
Jordan Licht	...	Dorene
Limor Goldstein	...	Galic

Also Known As:

Das geheimnisvolle Grab (Germany)
The Body - Das geheimnisvolle Grab (Germany) (TV title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some violent sequences and brief language.

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

USA | Israel | Germany

Language:

English | Arabic | Hebrew

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #35768) | Finland:K-15 | South Korea:15 | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | France:U | Germany:12 | Spain:13 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12 | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Israel

Company:

Avalanche Films

Goofs:

Factual errors: The first time, Matt Guttierez enters the tomb, he tells Sharon Golban the references of the narratives of the resurrection in the Gospel : "Matthew 27, Mark 15 and Luke 23". Actually, they are read in Matthew 28, Mark 16 and Luke 24.

Quotes:

[Reading from Father Gutierrez's file]
Cardinal Pesci: I believe that Jesus Christ is God because I spoke to Him this morning in my prayers. And I've known that He was God since I was a boy. He has always been my best friend even though I haven't always been His. In Him, I have peace.

A good idea, down the toilet

The Body is an example of how an interesting idea for a movie (the ideological and political implications of the discovery of the body of a crucified man that could be Jesus Christ) can go absolutely wrong. It could have made a really good movie with interesting analysis of the situation, but it is an absolute failure: The script is very bad, with meaningless and forced dialogues. The cinematography and screenplay is very bad too with a lot of repeated and uninteresting shots (no, not that city fly-by again please...) And besides the technical details, there are a lot of senseless and very cheap scenes, and a lot of absurd events (i.e., even though the Israeli authorities are very interested in the matter, sometimes there's guards around the excavation, sometimes when the storyline needs it there are none... and I could go on...) There's no rythm, there's nothing... it's like any cheap TV telefilm.

The acting is quite bad too. However not as bad as the rest of the movie...

All in all, it's really a pity. The movie is boring, technically flawed and very badly directed. Either if you're looking for a thriller (that's the way it's being sold) or a philosophical clip, look elsewhere. It will make quite a lot of cash though, due to the presence of Banderas and a clever marketing campaign that make the movie look really good.