The ‘Risen’ movie: an unbeliever confronts the empty tomb
Feb 22, 2016 – (BreakPoint)
February 22, 2016 (BreakPoint) — “Ben Hur,” “The Robe,” “The Ten Commandments,” “Quo Vadis?”—who can forget the golden age of biblical films? But that was the 1950s, and this is 2016.
Biblically based movies these days often comes across as, well, less than inspired. Writers and directors sometimes play fast and loose with the source material, leaving out crucial details and inventing some bizarre stuff. Worse, portrayals of God often come across as flippant or even blasphemous. And that’s just not something I enjoy watching.
Well, I want to urge you to give the genre another chance. Because a film that hit theaters this past weekend proves that swords-and-sandals productions based on the Bible can still hold their own against “Ben Hur.”
“Risen,” directed by Kevin Reynolds and starring Joseph Fiennes, is the story of the manhunt for the corpse of Jesus Christ. Spoiler alert: They don’t find it.