The Risen

    This 107 minute long movie was written by Kevin Reynolds and Paul Aiollo. Directed by Kevin Reynolds, this film is an amazing rendition of the search for truth that must have occurred after Jesus’ body disappeared.

        This is a short storyline telling a bit about what the movie follows.

  In the first 2 minutes it starts with a fight scene. As soon as the main character “tribune clavius” (played by Joseph Fiennes) returns from his battle with the zealot, Barabbas, the prefect (pilot) introduces him to his new aide “Lucius” (played by Tom Felton) and is commanded to go oversee the crucifixion of Jesus (Cliff Curtis). When he gets there, he finds Jesus already dead, thus starting a search for truth that would take weeks.

    After the body is “stolen” he begins a city wide search that includes digging up week old bodies. He finds Mary Magdalene and shortly thereafter Bartholomew, both of which Clavius seemingly dismisses as lunatics.

    He then finds one of the guards who tells him what he “thinks” he saw at the tomb, and you can see Clavious beginning to wonder if Jesus really did rise from the dead. The next day he receives news of the disciples; upon further investigation he finds Jesus alive and well just to see him vanish minutes later.

    Having seen this, he must know the truth so he follows the disciples on their way to Galilee. But they are pursued by Lucius and somehow Clavius persuades him to say nothing about seeing them.

    When they reach Galilee, they are met by Yeshua who proceeds to heal a leper, causing Clavius to come even closer to the truth and then afterwards Jesus comes to speak with him and Clavius becomes a follower of Yeshua. In the following days, Clavius leaves the followers to make his own path through the wilderness.

    Here are some things I thought you might want to know before watching this movie with any and all young children:

*In the beginning fight scene, there are bodies tumbling or just lying on the ground.

*After the battle they have a funeral where they burn the bodies. In the crucifixion scene when Jesus is thrust through with a spear, you can see the blood and water spurting out. And when they are looking for Jesus’ body it gets a little graphic – please be mindful of young children’s impressionable minds.

*In the scene where he is looking for Mary Magdalene, he goes to the men’s barracks and asks who knows her and many of them raise their hands. While this may go over many younger persons heads, you should still be mindful of what they may get out of this and questions they may have.

*And lastly, throughout the movie, but mostly at the beginning, it is mentioned that they “pray to the ‘gods’” or “The ‘gods’ must be angry” and Clavius even prays to a figurine of Mars on occasion. While this may not bother you or it may seem trivial, young children may have questions, even if they don’t ask them at the time. Sometimes it is important to explain things to younger people so they understand.