The opening scene of the Jesus character fighting with Satan on the sand dune sets up the major conflict throughout the rest of the entire movie. This theme is very straightforward: good versus evil. Whenever something evil happens, the Satan character is present usually right in the forefront of the scene. There are many parallels between the movie and the Gospels as far as this theme goes: political inequality, social unrest, economic differences. These are more pronounced in the movie because as it is set in a more modern third-world situation, these are the problems they would be most likely to deal with on a daily basis.
The crucifixion and resurrection scene are very interesting. In the movie, Jesus is executed in private and in a very precise way. He is beaten to begin with, yes, but then he is shot. This is a ‘sure way’of being certain he is dead, and it fits the time period much like crucifixion fit the Roman Empire. The tying of Jesus to the cross after his death, as we talked about in class, takes a moment of humility and criminalization and turns it into something glorious. In the movie, the dead body of Jesus is used as an obvious symbol of martydom and something to expose the corruption surrounding the people.
Honestly, the film has not really changed my notions of Jesus. As I am not religious, I have passing ideas of him instead of one concrete character. Lauren made a good point in her blog entry – this Jesus stands to remind us that Jesus is a universal figure. I also think it emphasizes a point that I think many people forget or look over. This point is that what is important, or rather what should be important, is not who Jesus was or what he looked like but the message that he spread and the goodness he divulged to humanity.
The crucifixion and resurrection scene are very interesting. In the movie, Jesus is executed in private and in a very precise way. He is beaten to begin with, yes, but then he is shot. This is a ‘sure way’of being certain he is dead, and it fits the time period much like crucifixion fit the Roman Empire. The tying of Jesus to the cross after his death, as we talked about in class, takes a moment of humility and criminalization and turns it into something glorious. In the movie, the dead body of Jesus is used as an obvious symbol of martydom and something to expose the corruption surrounding the people.
Honestly, the film has not really changed my notions of Jesus. As I am not religious, I have passing ideas of him instead of one concrete character. Lauren made a good point in her blog entry – this Jesus stands to remind us that Jesus is a universal figure. I also think it emphasizes a point that I think many people forget or look over. This point is that what is important, or rather what should be important, is not who Jesus was or what he looked like but the message that he spread and the goodness he divulged to humanity.
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