RISEN – New movie about the Resurrection from the view of a non-believer

9 Comments

1. JARay says:

   27 January 2016 at 3:09 PM

   Going to the cinema is not something which I usually do. However, I too will make the effort to see this film.
2. pannw says:

   27 January 2016 at 4:55 PM

   I am looking forward to this movie and have hopes that it will appeal to a wide range of viewers. The fact that the two stars are well known, particularly the younger man, Tom Felton, might help bring in a younger audience than many faith based movies would. I am also excited by the trailers. They make the movie look quite well and professionally done, and exciting, as the Resurrection surely is. A big name studio like Sony helps. I have supported faith based movies before, in order to support the good people making them, as well as the moral aspect, and have, sadly, often been disappointed in the quality of the actual technical aspects, and sometimes the awkward obvious preachiness of the scripts. So far, this looks to be free of those flaws.

   My one concern is from something I read a few days ago. Someone who claims to have seen a pre-screening said there was a rather disturbing scene where St. Peter shows an odd lack of respect for the Eucharist. I don’t know what that is about, and hope it isn’t as bad as this person said, though he said it was still a good film, even if not great. Otherwise, every time I see the trailers, I get excited to see it.
3. Auggie says:

   27 January 2016 at 5:01 PM

   I liked the trailer very much, but pannw has me concerned about the St. Peter thing. [Look what pannw did.] If he really does show a lack of respect for the Eucharist, I won’t give the filmmakers my money. I’m hoping the movie is good, because the culture needs a thousand good films.
4. danidunn says:

   27 January 2016 at 5:27 PM

   Speaking of the Eucharist, the impression I got from the trailers is that Romans killed Jesus because He would not worship the Roman gods. If this were true, then they would also have persecuted the Jews.

   However, I was always under the impression that a major reason for them persecuting the Christians was because they believed the early Christians were cannibals because they were consuming the real flesh and blood of Jesus. I think this fact is now downplayed because Protestants do not like the idea that early Christians believed in the real presence. If the film does have St. Peter showing a lack of respect for the Eucharist then the movie will be further distorting history to give people the impression that early Christians did not believe in the real presence and would validate Protestant claims that the Eucharist was nothing but a communal meal.
5. pannw says:

   27 January 2016 at 6:31 PM

   Auggie, I read it in a comment section of Catholic World Report, and it was something to do with Peter just tossing the Eucharist/bread to a soldier. The person seemed to think it was Consecrated, because “The apostles are praying over the bread and breaking it, like the last supper.” but my hope is that it was before. ??? I just don’t know why they would put something like that in otherwise. Unless like dannidun says, they are pushing a Protestant view of the Eucharist. I really hope not, because it looks so good! I would be more comfortable if Mel Gibson had directed.
6. Maltese says:

   27 January 2016 at 8:51 PM

   danidunn–well said, many early Christians were persecuted for the belief that they were “cannibals,” thus affirming the True Presence. The director is not Catholic, and therefore doesn’t have the same praxis that Mel Gibson had in his movie (from which Risen is clearly trying to franchise and copycat).

   That said, I might rent this movie, or “own in on blue-ray,” because at least it’s trying (perhaps unintentionally) to do something to perpetuate the Catholic message; or, I should more properly say, the Catholic-Orthodox message (since those are the two lungs of the true church.)
7. AndrewPaul says:

   28 January 2016 at 12:21 PM

   It’s interesting that they feature the Shroud. I thought that was a specifically Catholic thing. Without having seen the film, I can’t really say anything about St. Peter tossing bread other than are we sure it’s the Eucharist he’s throwing?
8. AvantiBev says:

   29 January 2016 at 1:19 AM

   Excellent short article over at CBN website with interview of the producer for Affirm Films, Rich Peluso. Besides being an excellent actor, Joseph Fiennes is listed as a patron of the restoration at Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, London.
9. Magash says:

   30 January 2016 at 11:45 AM

   The Romans killed Jesus because the Jewish temple authorities declared that He was claiming to be a Jewish messianic king. That made him a potential threat to Roman rule.
   From a religious standpoint the Roman Empire was both lax and stringent about individual religious worship. There were a number of authorized non-Roman religions. Judaism was one of them. It was unique in that most other religions of the time assumed a polytheism in which various geographic related deities were worshiped. So I might worship Apis and you might worship Apollo, but that was all good. The Jews didn’t just believe in one God, but believed that all other Gods were idols, that is did not exists.
   But be that as it may Judaism was an officially recognized religion. When he was arrested Paul’s claim to the Romans was that like the Pharisee branch of Judaism Christians believed in life after death and the major premises of the Torah, and so were just another branch of Judaism, and so an officially recognized religion. His accusers disagreed. The local official would have made the call, but Paul used his Roman citizenship right to appeal to Rome, and so was sent there.
   I haven’t seen the trailers for this movie before. As I understand it it is a product of the Evangelical Christian worldview such as “God is not Dead” and “Do You Believe”. Nothing wrong with that. Those were decent movies, but the people making them are not going to have a Catholic theological understanding of the Eucharist.

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