Movie Night: The Young Messiah
Tells the story of Jesus Christ at age seven as he and his family depart Egypt to return home to Nazareth. Told from his childhood perspective, it follows young Jesus as he grows into his religious identity.
Keeping in mind that The Young Messiah was based on Anne Rice's Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, (a book which I actually quite enjoyed) viewers need to remember that it is fiction and that it was written shortly after Rice quit spending her time celebrating her death day and returned to the spiritual fold and found religion.
Keeping in mind that it is fiction I thought it was a great read and found it interesting to see what Rice's thoughts were on who or what Jesus may have been like as a child.
The film explores the more human side of Jesus to the most basic level. Wanting to know about the world, wanting to know the truth, and finding his footing in how to embrace what he really is. The few narrations and many scenes between both himself and his family show that there is quite a pull between how much he yearns to stop being sheltered from reality and how much his family wants to protect him. Its interesting to see the take on what his family life may have been like and seeing Mary as a mother and a wife and how being the mother to Jesus affected her but there was quite a bit in the movie that didn't quite translate as well as I'd hoped it would have.
While I found it entertaining and interesting The Young Messiah didn't quite achieve what I had been expecting from a film that included names like Sean Bean, David Bradley, Jane Lapotaire, and many others.
The Young Messiah was a good movie, not great - but not bad either. It had the potential to be so much more yet in the end it was still worth the watch.
