Thread by @DecentFilms

Every year during the Pascal Triduum my family watches #TheMiracleMaker in three unequal installments. This year I think I’ll live-tweet our viewing.
decentfilms.com/articles/must-…

The title was suggested by Mel Gibson when Icon picked up distribution. The working title, “In My Father’s House,” was a double allusion to the finding in the Temple and Jesus’ saying about preparing a place for us. I liked the original title better.

Love the opening shot of Sepphoris and the premise that Jesus worked there (the closest city to Nazareth, a tiny village where there wouldn’t have been much work).

I think @MattPage has noted that opening title, “Year 90 of the Roman occupation,” helpfully takes us out of our BC/AD reckoning.

The story echoes Ben-Hur in introducing Jesus in the story’s most notable fictionalized depiction of Jesus: giving a drink to Ben-Hur; stopping the foreman from whipping Mary Magdalene. A physical act of kindness in both cases, creating an emotional bond with the POV character.

We meet Andrew being baptized by John, but we don’t know it’s Andrew until later. Andew is thus the first of the 12 to see Jesus, and to hear a John acclaim him the Lamb of God.

The Temptation in the wilderness introduces the use of cel animation to represent subjective experiences.

Ralph Fiennes is really quite wonderful as Jesus. Strong, authoritative, but also friendly, emotionally accessible, humorous.

I understand, again from @MattPage, that he uses a vaguely north English accent, not too posh to be a laborer from a small town.

The economy of the screenplay is astonishing. Major concepts and themes—Roman/Jewish conflict; the messiah; the kingdom of God—introduced with great efficiency.

Love the animation on the parables of the wise and foolish builders and the speck and log in one’s eye. Brings out the humor in Jesus’ teaching, so often overlooked.

“We’re not paying taxes for thin air!” “James! John! Tie up the boat and don’t pay!” Peter’s fiery personality; the bad rep of Galilean troublemakers; tax collectors viewed as traitors; the introduction of Matthew. The dovetailing is incredible.

The miraculous catch of fish is Jesus’ first miracle. Following Luke’s Gospel, it sets the stage for the call of Peter, Andrew, James and John.

“This man has no respect for anyone!”
“Oh, he has plenty of respect for thieves and vagabonds.”

Jesus’ habit of scandalously wide table-fellowship has been neglected in many productions, but not this one.

The conflict for Jairus, who sees signs of Jesus’ power, and is desperate to save his daughter Tamar, but fears the disapproval of the religious establishment, is well developed.

Exorcism of seven demons from Mary Magdalene overtly recalls Cecil B. DeMille’s silent KING OF KINGS—but gratifyingly there’s no invocation of the seven deadly sins here, nor any suggestion that Mary was a notorious sexual sinner or prostitute.

“Why have we come here? They don’t want us here.”
“I don’t know, but let’s eat before they change their minds.”

“Master, we are honored by your presence…although we understand you prefer to keep company in another part of town…?”

Class consciousness and religious gatekeeping.

One of the things I most love here is how Tamar has been intrigued by / attracted to Jesus, so that when he raises her, her response is not “I’m all right!” but “You came!”

He’s not just a “miracle maker.” He’s JESUS. He cares. He’s here. That’s what matters!

(End of viewing 1)

Our Good Friday Miracle Maker viewing begins with Jesus mourning the death of John the Baptist and determining to go to Jerusalem. An uneasy alliance exists between Herod and the Jerusalem establishment.

Judas is looking forward hopefully to messianic revolution against Rome; Herod is wary of that very thing, and Pilate urbanely briefs a centurion on the possibility of unrest at Passover. The socio-political themes are really well handled.

Ian Holm is Pilate! He has such a gift for creating layers of emotional complexity with his line readings.

“Then alone came a Samaritan.”
“Samaritans throw rocks at us! I hate them, I spit on them!”

The hated status of Samaritans, and the subversive nature of the parable, illuminated in a couple of lines.

Making the rich young man Joseph of Arimathea is a shrewd bit of conflation.

Nice bit of Jewish cultural context in the raising of Lazarus: Jesus covers his head when he starts to pray, and a man in the crowd does the same.

Gorgeous “crane” shot over the wall of Jerusalem at the triumphal entry.

“All the might of Caesar can be aimed at one man—at this magician from Nazareth. Let one man die, and all the people will be saved.” Caiaphas’ motives very clearly summed up.

It just occurred to me that there are two sequences in close succession where cel-animation perceptions give way abruptly to disconcerting stop-motion reality: First Judas’ revolutionary visions are replaced by the unrevolutionary image of Jesus riding a donkey…

…and then Jesus’ own boyhood memories of the Jerusalem temple are rudely replaced by the marketplace reality, leading to the cleansing of the temple. Nice pair of contrasts.

“Take and eat: This is my body, which is broken for you.”

Doubting Thomas: “Your body?!”

A nice reminder of how odd and unexpected Jesus’ words were—by means of one of The Miracle Maker’s simplest, most effective rhetorical techniques: simple repetition.

They get the full moon right. That’s important: of course the moon was full at Passover.

Fiennes has so many strong moments as Jesus that it’s hard to pick a standout, but “Not my will! It’s your will, Father! Father.…your will…be…done” is a contender.

Judas’ desperate flight through the streets, culminating in a terrifying encounter with his old comrade in arms Barabbas in chains, is really effective.

Peter’s denials counterpointed by Joseph of Arimathea making some effort to stand up for Jesus, but ultimately cowed by the Sanhedrin leaders.

“This man is the enemy of Rome!”
“Who is he and what has he done?”
“He opposes paying taxes to Caesar!”
“In other words, he shares your opinion. AND…?!”

Ian Holm is so great.

One thing that stands out on multiple viewings is that Jesus always seems to be the tallest person in the room. Pilate, Herod, the Jewish authorities—certainly in his trials no one is taller than Jesus. Who was it that said you can’t picture Jesus being shorter than you are?

A hint of LAST TEMPTATION! The devil’s voice, last heard in the garden of Gethsemane, urges Jesus to come down from the cross.

Among the many effectively scored moments are the portentous swelling notes at Jesus’ death as the camera pushes into the temple for the rending of the veil.

Great panning shot of the dead Christ from the top of the cross past his body to the crumpled figure of Mary Magdalene at the foot of the cross.

The pathos of Jesus’ death is ideally highlighted by the desperation of Mary Magdalene and the suggestion that, with the Lord gone, she might slip back into madness and demonic oppression.

Our Good Friday viewing ends, of course, with Jesus in the tomb. A very small infelicity: the film fades directly from Mary running through the night streets to Sunday morning at the sepulcher. No clean break. I would have preferred a fade to black and a moment of silence.

The Miracle Maker, viewing 3: Holy Saturday. Watching this film’s resurrection appearances is a crucial annual preparation for Easter in our family.

The film masterfully compresses three Easter appearances and a fourth from a week later into less than 10 minutes, all in one day.

First is the appearance to Mary Magdalene, who runs and tells Peter. Peter and John rush to the tomb, and, per Lk 24:34 /1 Cor 15:5, Jesus appears to Peter.

Jairus and Cleopas relate (in cel animated flashback) the Emmaus Road appearance, and Jesus arrives and appears to Thomas.

The Upper Room segues to the ascension, where Jesus vanishes while walking among his followers, indicating that he remains with us, in our midst.

Crucially, as others have noted, stop-motion is used for most of these, placing Jesus’ resurrection appearances in objective reality.

The tomb itself, which we see both outside and inside, is clearly modeled on the “Garden Tomb,” a location popular among Protestant pilgrims to the Holy Land, but with no traditional associations in historic Christian devotion. Still, a reasonable model.

Peter’s skeptical response to Mary Magdalene aptly highlights the social status of women as unreliable witnesses—an important indication, ironically, of the historical reliability of the role of women in the early resurrection accounts.

Doubting Thomas again used effectively for low-key humor and to highlight the incredible nature of the reports. “No one there.” The rhetoric of repetition is one of the screenplay’s best devices.

Borrowing again from DeMille’s King of Kings (and others influenced by DeMille, such as The Greatest Story Ever Told), Jesus looks right into the camera as he says “Blessed are those who believe without ever seeing me at all.” Those words are addressed to each of us.

No other Jesus film is so historically and critically well-researched and credible. Even the look of the Russian puppets (landscapes, settings, etc.) are more authentically ancient Near Eastern than most Bible movies. It’s a wonder and a gift. Every year I’m grateful for it. /end