The Visual Bible: Matthew (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

In the Gospel of Matthew, the story of Jesus Christ is told, from birth to earthly ministry to death to Resurrection.  Jesus was not only fully God, but he was the Messiah, the Savior of the Jews and of the whole world.  He was a historical figure Who not only impacted everyone He came into contact with but also completely altered human history with His coming.

 

Production Quality (2 points)

The Visual Bible was an ambitious film project to create movies that contained entire books of the Bible within them.  Obviously, with this sort of undertaking, the films produced are going to be very long and are going to lack substantial editing.  Moreover, the Matthew installment has good production overall, including good video quality, camera work, and audio quality.  There are a few oddly-lit scenes, but there was lots of effort put into the historical authenticity of this film, especially when it came to sets, locations, and props.  Though there are a lot of slow parts to this film, this is to be expected, and this production is overall above average.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1 point)

Naturally, a movie based entirely on one whole book of the Bible, word-for-word, is going to have built-in narration.  Once again, this is a great take on the entire Gospel of Matthew from start to finish, but there are a handful of issues that come with this territory, such as a high number of scenes that lack dialogue and a hampering of character development due to limited dialogue options.  Nonetheless, this project is well-meaning and has its place as an informational resource rather than as a work of historical fiction.  It’s not possible to watch in one sitting, but it is definitely good and insightful to use in certain situations.

Acting Quality (2 points)

The Visual Bible: Matthew marked the beginning of Bruce Marchiano’s career, and after seeing this version of him, one can understand why he was cast so often as the Messiah.  He stood out in a world of drab, lofty, and ethereal ‘zen’ portrayals of Jesus from the 70s and 80s, thus making The Visual Bible an enjoyable experience with a positive, natural portrayal of Christ.  However, there are other inconsistencies with this cast, such as random cultural authenticity mixed with British and American cast members.  Moreover, most of the acting is fine, even if there are some slow moments, thus making for an overall positive film.

Conclusion

The Visual Bible project is a resource that can be used for various occasions and purposes, even if it is not truly a historical epic.  It played a key role in bringing Bible movies back to the correct basis of Biblical accuracy, which was a contrast from 70s and 80s attempts at using creative license with the Bible.  The Visual Bible is a good example to build off of regarding how to keep Biblical films rooted in historical fact.

 

Final Rating: 5 out of 10 points

 

February 9, 2018January 1, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Biblical, Historical, Movie ReviewsTags: 1993, Bible, Biblical, Brian O'Shaughnessy, Bruce Marchiano, Carole Prentice, Charles K. Robertson, Charlton George, Chris Truter, Chuck Bush, Darryl Fuchs, Dawid Minnaar, Denise Newman, Ed Lopatin, five points, Frank C. Schroeder, Gerrit Schoonhoven, Gordon van Rooyen, Hannes Muller, Historical, Ivan D. Lucas, Jaques De Klerk, Joanna Weinberg, Johann Potgieter, Jonathan Pienaar, Kevin Smith, Marcel van Heerden, Maria Zak, Matthew Dylan Roberts, Patrick Mynhardt, Pippa Duffy, Regardt van den Bergh, Richard Kiley, Robert Marcarelli, Sasha Zak, Sean Cameron Michael, Sue Grealy, The Visual Bible, Tony Caprari, Tony Joubert, Visual International 3 Comments