Judas (2004) (TV)

Director:

Charles Robert Carner

Writer (WGA):

Tom Fontana (written by)

Release Date:

8 March 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History

Plot:

Judas meets Jesus and at first doesn't know what to make of him or whether or not to trust him. A cynical city boy...

Plot Keywords:

Roman | Crucifixion | Bare Chested Male Bondage | Judaism | Judea

Cast

Johnathon Schaech	...	Judas Iscariot
Jonathan Scarfe	...	Jesus Christ
Tim Matheson	...	Pontius Pilate
Fiona Glascott	...	Claudia Procles
Owen Teale	...	Flavius
Bob Gunton	...	High Priest Caiaphas
Mark Womack	...	Peter
Rory Kinnear	...	Andrew
Enzo Squillino Jr.	...	James
Suzanne Bertish	...	Rohab
Harry Peacock	...	John
Paul Haigh	...	Matthew
Georgia Mackenzie	...	Mary Magdalene
Elliot Levey	...	Eliakim
Danny Scheinmann	...	Joshua

Also Known As:

Judas & Jesus (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some violent images.

Runtime:

120 min (including commercials) | Argentina:120 min | Brazil:90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | USA:PG-13 | Germany:12 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Ouarzazate, Morocco

Company:

Fatima Productions

Trivia:

The film was put on the shelf for about two years before it was released on 8 March 2004.

Quotes:

Pontius Pilate: What in the name of sweet Minerva is a Messiah?

Different Perspective On A Familiar Story

Clearly, this is a movie with a purpose: to try to fill in the gap in the Gospels, which never really clearly explain what it was that caused Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus. This movie, then - as the title implies - is filmed from Judas' perspective, and traces (imaginatively, since there are few facts to depend on) the relationship between the two from their first encounter through to Jesus' crucifixion. In that sense, the movie deserves credit for tackling a controversial figure (Judas is the traitor par excellence of human history) and for doing so in an original and thought-provoking way.

Tom Fontana's screenplay has Judas (Johnathon Schaech) as desperately looking for someone who could lead the Jewish people in rebellion against the Romans. He meets Jesus (Jonathon Scarfe), and is immediately drawn to him, and as Jesus begins to build a following of his own, Judas believes he is just the charismatic type who could be the rebel leader he's been searching for. Jesus wants no part of that role, however, and Judas is portrayed as becoming increasingly disillusioned as Jesus preaches peace and forgiveness and reconciliation and love for enemies, and as eventually deciding that Jesus has to go if the Roman yoke is ever to be cast off.

The story is good and imaginative and - to me at least - plausible. And having said all that, the movie really didn't work for me. One problem was the performances, which were mixed at best. I thought Schaech did a good job in the lead role, hitting Judas perfectly as the anti-Roman zealot. Scarfe, on the other hand, did not work for me as Jesus. Tim Matheson also had problems, I thought, with the role of Pontius Pilate, never really coming across as the bloody ruler that he was. Other performances were OK, nothing more. The movie also seemed disjointed and stumbled along without ever really picking up any steam. Perhaps I'm being too hard on it, having just been blown away a few days ago by "The Passion Of The Christ." Comparing a big-budget motion picture to a relatively smaller budget TV movie is surely unfair, and yet ABC chose to air it at the same time as "The Passion" was generating such controversy, clearly hoping to cash in on the current general interest in the subject. Comparisons are inevitable, however different in scale the productions are, and I just couldn't get out of my mind how easy it was to focus on "The Passion," and yet how difficult it was to stay focused on Judas. I have to also say that, while I know the focus of this movie was Judas and not Jesus, I'm still bothered by any movie that depicts the crucifixion without the resurrection.

So, I give the movie credit for guts and originality, but still can't go any higher than a 5/10 on this rather dull TV movie, because I just didn't find it particularly compelling.