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Title: The Young Messiah (2016)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Adam Greaves-Neal | ... | Jesus | |
| Sara Lazzaro | ... | Mary | |
| Vincent Walsh | ... | Joseph | |
| Finn Ireland | ... | James (as Finn McLeod Ireland) | |
| Christian McKay | ... | Cleopas | |
| Agni Scott | ... | Miriam | |
 |
Lois Ellington | ... | Salome |
| Jane Lapotaire | ... | Old Sarah | |
|
|
Duné Medros | ... | Riba (as Dune Medros) |
| Rory Keenan | ... | The Demon | |
| Sean Bean | ... | Severus | |
| Clive Russell | ... | Weer | |
| Jonathan Bailey | ... | Herod | |
| David Bradley | ... | Old Rabbi (Nazareth) | |
| David Burke | ... | The Blind Rabbi | |
At the age of 7, Jesus Bar-Joseph lives with his family in Alexandria, Egypt, where they have fled to avoid a massacre of children by King Herod of Israel. Jesus knows that his parents Joseph and Mary have secrets they are keeping from him, secrets about his birth and about traits that make him very different from other boys. His parents, however, believe him too young to grasp the truth of his miraculous birth and purpose. Learning that the murderous Herod is dead, they set out to return to their home of Nazareth in Israel, unaware that Herod's namesake son is, like his father, determined to see the boy Jesus dead. Written by Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>
"The Young Messiah" Review, One Woman's Opinion. I recommend seeing it, though on my Boo Hoo Meter, it doesn't even rate, for not a single tear spilled from my eyes, it wasn't that kind of film. It actually was quite a bit scarier than I would have imagined, especially when the evil Satan-like character, who not everyone can see or hear is on screen.
I'm delighted to see a plethora of faith-promoting cinema, and I think that's because so many of us believers are grasping onto whatever shreds of hope that still remain in our dark and dreary world, not to mention the financial success marketing to a faithful populace who thirsts and hungers for something worthy, something uplifting, something not vile, vulgar, gratuitous, or profane. For that reason alone, it's worth supporting.
To be shared a glimpse of what it might have been like to observe Christ from a different perspective than believers currently have has enough merit to provoke further questioning, which may motivate believers and non-believers alike to plunge yet again into the familiar text of the Holy Bible for what IS provided as scripture and sanctioned for distribution to the saints and the world at large, and that is always a good thing.
Additionally, I can't help myself in observing all the costumes, sets, casting, accents, props, behaviors, and such, because in a movie, it takes just seconds to see what the book may take pages and pages to describe in setting the period with complete authenticity. This movie eventually won me over in creating a period of time that was utterly believable with one exception, English accents from Britain. Uh, who said the Christ child had an English accent, hello? So, give this aspect a pass and enjoy the rest of what's good about this movie, because there is a lot to appreciate, despite that.
The physical setting of the film is positively perfect. It's just breathtaking as to how I imagine the accuracy of the day was. It's filmed in Italy, which I guessed when the credits rolled at the end before it said exactly where. Most of the credits are of local people who, naturally, have perfectly Italian last names. I didn't see one evidence of modern-day influence or slip-up, which is saying something. Whoever was in charge of that deserves some kind of award for transporting the viewer to 7 A. D. with no ripples! I really REALLY liked the character, Sarah, the old woman, who surprised and blessed the offending soldiers with food and wine and implored them to spare her family, which was just a brilliant strategy. I have no doubt such women existed and still exist to soften hearts of hardened men. Her weather-beaten look and those of other extras lent to the rawness of the time and harshness of the conditions of that day. They were just great. No sunscreen or night cream regimen for them. No pinking of their lips, no lip balm, and no blush on their cheeks.
Other scenes along their path were sad to see, including the process of hoisting criminals up on crosses. The murdering of all the little boys was also depicted with splatters of blood and shadows, which gave me pause as to whether it would be appropriate for sensitive young viewers, it was pretty intense and scary.
The other scary role mentioned above was the demon I previously mentioned. He was quite deliciously frightening. His whispers to people who couldn't see him are something I believe is possible in our unseen but still real world. It was interesting that Jesus could see him, could hear him, but was unafraid of him in the least. It was also interesting that the demon didn't know who Jesus was, only that he was an "angel" boy and wanted to thwart his good deeds and influence others to do the same.
The fact that the film portrayed Christ performing miracles but still didn't know who He was or why He could was reminiscent of Harry Potter, who performed magic as a boy long before he knew he was a wizard. In reality, I prefer to think His mother Mary and Joseph, along with His Father in Heaven let Him know who He was, but I was not upset in any way how this portrayal was presented. We simply don't know, and that's the fun of this picture. It attempts to fill in the gaps the scriptures leave.
The caution would be to be sure to teach children that this is a work of pure fiction, because of the phenomenon uninformed viewers have of just believing things simply because they are shown in a film, another reason I detest the new "Noah", written with a wicked, intentional, history-revisionist's hand. I refuse to support such deplorable ambitions to distort, marginalize, and destroy real history through political agenda-driven films. This movie is not that. It's simply a suggestion of what may have happened. It offered me a little insight as to the reality of how dangerous it was for him, always being hunted. Joseph and Mary's characters were totally believable. Joseph is a stud for who he was and what he had to take on. Think of it, the scandal! I would have liked to see more of Joseph teaching Jesus how to be a carpenter, how they interacted while not being pursued.
As you can see, there is enough worth supporting about this film. I can't think of a reason to trash a film that attempts to promote faith, unless you're a faith hater. I just don't get that. Intent matters, and while making money is important to the solvency of a project, I don't believe that is the reason behind why this creative team put this out, not in the least. People who make films like these are part of the solution, not part of the problem, and God bless them for that!