Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Jim Caviezel | ... | Jesus | |
Maia Morgenstern | ... | Mary | |
Christo Jivkov | ... | John (as Hristo Jivkov) | |
Francesco De Vito | ... | Peter | |
Monica Bellucci | ... | Magdalen | |
Mattia Sbragia | ... | Caiphas | |
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Toni Bertorelli | ... | Annas |
Luca Lionello | ... | Judas | |
Hristo Shopov | ... | Pontius Pilate (as Hristo Naumov Shopov) | |
Claudia Gerini | ... | Claudia Procles | |
Fabio Sartor | ... | Abenader | |
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Giacinto Ferro | ... | Joseph of Arimathea |
Aleksander Mincer | ... | Nicodemus (as Olek Mincer) | |
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Sheila Mokhtari | ... | Woman in Audience |
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Lucio Allocca | ... | Old Temple Guard |
A depiction of the last twelve hours in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, on the day of his crucifixion in Jerusalem. The story opens in the Garden of Olives where Jesus has gone to pray after the Last Supper. Betrayed by Judas Iscariot, the controversial Jesus--who has performed 'miracles' and has publicly announced that he is 'the Son of God'--is arrested and taken back within the city walls of Jerusalem. There, the leaders of the Pharisees confront him with accusations of blasphemy; subsequently, his trial results with the leaders condemning him to his death. Jesus is brought before Pontius Pilate, the prefect of the Roman province of Judaea, for his sentencing. Pilate listens to the accusations leveled at Jesus by the Pharisees. Realizing that his own decision will cause him to become embroiled in a political conflict, Pilate defers to King Herod in deciding the matter of how to persecute Jesus. However, Herod returns Jesus to Pilate who, in turn, gives the crowd a choice between ... Written by Anthony Pereyra {hypersonic91@yahoo.com}
Having avoided this film during its cinema release - partially thru fear as to whether I would be able to handle the violence etc I did eventually catch this on DVD. Bye the way - I write this as a non-religious person. The film was very watchable, never boring and Caviezel was superb in the main role. Your heart really went out to him - even as a "non-believer". I have to say that after all the acres of print I had read about the violence and bloodshed in the film, I actually felt it was rather less nasty than I may have feared. Certainly more visceral than, King of Kings, Greatest Story ever Told etc, a lot of the worst scenes took place in slow motion, off camera etc which somehow did make things easier to stomach. I can imagine if Mike Leigh or Ken Loach had made this it would have been far more unpleasant!
Powerful, moving, even if you don't actually "buy" the central storyline. Jim C truly looks as if he has gone thru hell. Respect is due - to him and all.
I think that the final few moments, segueing into the closing credits would have been quite something to experience in a full cinema!