The Gospel of John describes the narrative of Jesus Christ after two generations following his crucifixion. The movie The Gospel of John (2003) gives a precise presentation of the life of Jesus Christ through crucifixion and resurrection by accurately blending the happenings of the time with a variety of stylistic filming strategies. The movie presents apt outlooks of characters such as John the Baptist and Jesus himself. However, though formulated to nearly represent the actual stances of the Bible characters, the characters may portray contrasting statures that denote spiritual indoctrination of the modern-day gospel of Jesus Christ. In this regard, this paper evaluates the integrity of the gospel of John as presented in the film, the miracles exemplified therein, and the demonstrations typified on the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus Christ as portrayed through the gospel.
Integrity of the Gospel
The film is precise in developing characters that resemble the actual visualizations underpinned through the Gospel. For instance, the character of John the Baptist as developed in Scoot Handy portrays a stern and ascetic appeal. At the onset of the movie, John the Baptist is seen raging about wanting a successor 1 . This disposition demonstrates the superiority of John the Baptist, who the Mandaeans visualized as their patron and king. Also, John is pictured as wide-eyed and approaching a demented posture. Being an influential personality in the history of religion, the film manages to capture the descriptions of John to reveal more of what the Johannine authorship implore. Additionally, Jesus as represented in The Gospel of John film reveals a more charismatic individual who expresses superiority over John the Baptist, his predecessor. Ranging from suave and telegenic nature, Jesus appeals to viewers as the supposed messiah. Moreover, Jesus in The Gospel of John film constantly refers to his disciples as “children,” which is a consistent term of endearment used in the Johannine’s storyline. However, the film negates the most common characterization of Jesus movies to refer to anti-Semitic ideologies and personalities. This is evident through Henry Ian Cusick’s human-divide disposition that outweighs that of his disciples in the film. Even so, the gospel of John is one of the most precise developments that portray Jesus’s anti-Semitism nature towards the elites of Jerusalem and the Jews. 2 The film corresponds to political correctness through the characterization of Malchus, who is a black man, as the high priest’s slave to espouse the apparent positioning of the “black man” in most contemporary movies.
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Miracles
Jesus performs skillful miracles through the development. 3 Ranging from changing water into wine and healing Lazarus, the immense ability of the messiah to alter the norm is appealing to the viewer. As with the emotional vortex perceived in Jesus, the renowned writings of John’s gospel “Jesus wept” recount a bitter but self-assured lad. Elsewhere, at the context presented through changing water into wine at the wedding of Cana, the movie portrays guests enjoying the wine without any indications of intoxication. While the presentations of the miracles do not accurately picture the writings as indicated in John’s gospel, it suffices that the producer does not hold any bias on the doctrines exemplified through spiritual miracles whatsoever.
Crucifixion
The film unpacks realism of the crucifixion process by adopting a passionate intensity of what should have been revealed in most Jesus movies. For example, though critics have it that the presence of Mary Magdalene in the crucifixion of Jesus has no evidential citation in the gospel of John, the film captures her accompanying Jesus and his disciples to Jerusalem. In addition, she was present in the crucifixion and burial of Jesus. 4 This demonstrates the efforts of the movie to include what many gospel writers may have omitted, even as the information remains vital in the development of the scripture. Moreover, the crucifixion of Christ reflects a melancholic and mournful disposition, with the standard action expressed by Henry Ian Cusick’s bedeviling response to torture before death.
Resurrection
The movie expounds on the resurrection of Jesus Christ through the presence of Mary Magdalene on the tomb and the disposition of an open tomb to illustrate that Jesus had beaten death. 5 Nonetheless, the mere handshake that Mary Magdalene gave to the messiah does not suffice the overjoyed reaction expected, especially from surviving death, hell and grave time.
Bibliography
Bruner, Frederick Dale. The Gospel of John: A Commentary . Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2012.
Callahan, Allen Dwight. 2018. "October 3, 2003 ~ Film Review: THE GOSPEL OF JOHN | October 3, 2003 | Religion & Ethics Newsweekly | PBS". Religion & Ethics Newsweekly . http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2003/10/03/october-3-2003-film-review-the-gospel-of-john/11980/.
Marsh, Clive, and Gaye Ortiz, eds. Explorations in theology and film: Movies and meaning . Blackwell, 1998.
Reinhartz, Adele. "The Gospel of John." In The Oxford Handbook of English Literature and Theology . 1995.
