A Non-Cheesy Christian Film Does Exist: Risen, Starring Joseph Fiennes and Tom Felton
/By Marilette Sanchez
Joseph Fiennes and Tom Felton, Risen, Affirm Films
For those of you who know me, you know I have an extremely low tolerance--allergy if you will—towards most music and film stamped with the “Christian” title. Most Christian art is at best, bland, and at worst, insensitive in the way it glosses over the depth of human emotion.
With that said, I am about to unabashedly give due praise to the new film, Risen, starring Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love, Luther) and Tom Felton (Harry Potter film series). Produced by Affirm Films, a division of Sony Pictures, it is a whodunit detective story in which a first-century Roman soldier Clavius (Fiennes) is assigned by Pontius Pilate (Peter Firth) to locate the missing body of the recently crucified Jesus Christ, or Yeshua, as he is referred to in the film (Cliff Curtis of AMC's Fear the Walking Dead). Sitting in the theater, I was waiting for the shoe to drop for a single cheesy / unrealistic moment. It never came.
Now, many of you will now ask me: “Is the film true to the Bible?” Yes, and no. Let me pause here a minute to look at what exactly that means. Some Christians judge music and movies on whether it follows the Bible exactly, which allows for very little creativity or freedom of expression to convey truth through art. Does the Risen script follow the Bible verbatim? No. The story is a piece of historical fiction, and like all good historical fiction, the true events of history are correct, but we view those events through the eyes of a fictional character. In historical fiction, we see old events through new eyes because the story creates empathy with the fictional and real characters.
This is the case with Risen. Risen does recreate 1st Century Judea and follow the timeline of Scripture almost exactly, even as it shares the story of a fictitious Roman Tribune, a military commander, named Clavius (READ: There is no account of a Clavius in the Bible). In that vein, there is no way to compare the film to a specific biblical text. But the film is noticeably well-researched and does justice to the political and cultural landscape of the Roman empire. (Suggested exercise: Read over Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10 and meditate on Jesus’ reaction to the Roman soldier’s faith--“I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”).
The truth is, Risen is a new benchmark for Christian filmmakers. And honestly, this is probably not the last time you will hear me raving about it. Too many times, I hear Christians complain that Hollywood doesn’t create enough uplifting films, and when the rant is over, the studios are the only ones to blame. In reality, we, the consumers, have a very real power in choosing what types of movies get made. Alas, behold the beauty of capitalism. A movie does only as well as its box office sales.
Please do a service to me, yourself and posterity and go see Risen.
P.S. If I haven't successfully convinced you to watch it yet, here are some of my favorite interviews from the actors and producers of Risen.
"When I first started reading [the script], I was an out and out athiest, and after sitting with [Director] Kevin [Reynolds] and reading it a few times, now I’m a sort of indecisive agnostic. It’s definitely, you know, it’s changed me." - Tom Felton
“[Making the film] definitely taught me a lot and definitely changed the way that I see spirituality and religion. […] You don’t need to say I’m sure of this and I’m sure of that. In fact, saying I’m unsure of this and I’m unsure of that is probably a better way of living rather than being absolutely convinced of something.” - Tom Felton
WARNING: The following video contains plot spoilers.
#1 New York Times Bestselling Author Eric Metaxas (Miracles, Bonheoffer) Interviews Actor Joseph Fiennes
Eric Metaxas Interviews Senior VP of Sony’s Affirm Films Rich Peluso and discusses Hollywood and the film 'Risen'.
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