56% on Rotten Tomatoes
Chloe's thoughts: It's alright
Watch it if you: Are Christian; Are interested in discussions on religion
I think it's funny how in 3 days I saw two films that I thought were going to be completely different, but ended up having some common themes show up. Hail, Caesar! has an actor playing a Roman officer during the Crucifixion era who comes upon Jesus and then has some amazing religious epiphanies. Hail, Caesar! also does its own part in trying to convert you to the religion of Hollywood.
Risen is obviously more religious and more serious, but there are some common elements. It too looks at the crucifixion of Jesus, but before you stop reading, wait! It's actually not ON the crucifixion! We had that movie already, it was called the Passion of the Christ and I was really young when I watched it and even ended up sleeping in the theatre. So no, I don't want to watch that film again.
Instead, Jesus is dead before we even see him, as the film looks at the aftermath of the crucifixion. Clavius, a Roman tribune, is ordered to find where Jesus' dead body is in order to dispell the rumours that a Messiah has arrived.
Crucifixion is pretty terrible, so at least we didn't have to see it, but for those of you who don't know what it involves, scroll down a bit where I do a little rundown on the torturous form of execution.
Back to the film.
As a movie, it dragged on a bit and felt REALLY long even though it was only less than 2 hours.
Joseph Fiennes' acting was great as you could see the conflict in his facial expressions, however everyone else's acting was pretty terrible (I didn't know we had some British people employed as Roman soldiers?). One of the disciples especially had really weird acting that just made everyone feel uncomfortable.
I am also really glad they got an actor who wasn't white with a brown beard to play Jesus. It was more realistic in that way, even though the actual actor is a New Zealander, but at least he looked more like what Jesus would have actually looked like.
There was a really pwoerful moment in the film, and it was really good how they handled the whole concept of doubt. As a not-so-strong-Christian myself, I thought they did this really well, showing how you could have the capacity to doubt a lot of things despite being pretty much certain in something.
So in the end, it is another religious film, but it was definitely handled better than Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) and Noah (2014). I haven't seen the former yet, but I've heard enough to know that both Christians and non-Christians do not like the film, which means it's pretty bad. I did like Noah, but I know a lot of Christians did not feel very well about the creative licencing that they employed.
This film, however, follows the source material (i.e. the Bible) much more closely, and therefore becomes more 'realistic' in Christian terms. It provides an interesting viewpoint as the main character is a non-believer who struggles to cope with the possibility of there truly being a Messiah. So, it is definitely a good watch for those who are already interested in this sort of thing.
A few side notes:
Okay, so I learnt this before, but I forgot all about it until my friend was telling me about it during the movie.
Crucifixion is a form of torture, with the only goal being to give you a slow, humiliating, and very painful death (hence the term "excruciating"). They were often reserved for the worst crimes, because they were the worst punishments.
Some crucifixions were conducted on trees or upright poles, however the ones we are looking at (the ones Jesus and the other criminals of Rome died in) were crossbeams.
Now, imagine you are being executed via crucifixion.
Firstly, you're naked. Secondly, before the actual crucifixion, you would most likely be whipped first, across the back/bottoms/legs/etc. with a short whip that has sharp objects interweaved into it, meaning some of your flesh would be torn out and you'd be bleeding quite profusely.
After this, you'll likely be forced to carry the crossbeam to the execution yourself. Depending on the size and type of wood used, this would weigh around 45kg. And if you think this is an alright figure for you to carry (to everyone who boasts about how much they can lift at the gym), remember that you've just been whipped and beaten, you're naked, the public has gathered around to laugh and throw random stuff at your raw, wounded and bloodied body, and you have to carry this crossbeam potentially for a distance of, say, 1km, up and down the city stairs and streets, or else succumb to some more whipping until you can carry it. And remember, it can get pretty hot under the day's sun.
Once you get to the place of execution, your crossbeam is attached to a post already in the ground.
But before you can find any relief in catching a breath, a nail is then driven into each of your hands and feet to attach you to the crossbeam you have just gotten used to carrying. Sometimes, you are already attached to the crossbeam, which is then attached to the post, and the post is then lifted up with you on it. Either way, you cannot escape the nails in your hands and feet (although, technically, some people did, as they were tied to the posts with cord/rope - the nails were just if you wanted to be extra spiteful).
So what position do you find yourself in now?
Well, you're naked and up in the air for the whole public to laugh at you.
But that doesn't matter because your back, butt and legs are bloody and sore from having been whipped prior to being forced to carry a heavy piece of wood for quite a long distance. Not only that, but these areas where you were whipped, and now have large open wounds, are conveniently resting on this uncomfortable piece of wood that already has your own blood and sweat on it because, remember, you just spent all your life's energy on carrying it to the place where you will now die.
But even that doesn't matter anymore against the loud and painful throbbing in your extremities because now you have four nails driven into you.
This is the end of what the people will do to you, so maybe science can go and do something great and give you a quick death.
THINK AGAIN. Another reason that crucifixion made all the Roman Emperors giddy was because it made the person suffer for several days before they would be able to finally die.
And it's not even the starvation or dehydration that gets to you. It's the asphyxiation.
That's right. Death by crucifixion meant hanging you in a certain way until you no longer had the energy to breathe.
Remember when I said you had four nails driven into you? That's all that's supporting you, so your chest, head and butt all drop down, only stopping when your arms can't go any further down. During head up crucifixions (like the crossbeam ones), you may be given an extra bit of wood on the post for your bum to rest on, but this doesn't mean you're lucky. In fact, you may die longer now that you're a bit more comfortable.
Because of this, the most widely accepted theory is that you die from asphyxiation because you need to keep pressing down on your foot (that already has a nail driven into it) in order to lift your body and head up, open up your lungs and diaphragm, and then grab a breath. Once you grab a breath, you can continue living for a few more minutes, but you're now exhausted from the effort, and too tired to even think about doing it again the next time. When you simply have no more energy to do this, you asphyxiate because you can't breathe. Of course, this is just a theory, because to test this on actual people would be highly unethical to say the least.
Other theories are a) that you actually do die from dehydration before you run out of breath, b) your wounds from the whipping and nails are infected, speeding up your death, c) animals start to come and eat you as your body slowly rots, d) your body just messes up (e.g. heart failure, cardiac rupture, shock, etc.).
Jesus apparently died only after 6 hours or so, but most people die after several days. If you're taking too long to die though, the Roman soldiers might do you a small mercy and break your knees. The resulting increased blood loss, as well as the inability to push off of your feet to draw a breath, results in a quicker death.
To make sure you're dead, the soldiers would then put a spear through your ribs and lungs (just in case you went into a coma instead of dying).
Once you're dead, you might think that you are given one last decency: a burial.
NOPE. If someone isn't rich enough to buy your body, your body gets chucked out onto a pile of other rotten corpses, left out in the open for the dogs and birds to slurp up your intestines and peck out your eyeballs.
So that's crucifixion for you. It's not a pretty sight, and thank the heavens it is no longer practiced.
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