THE NEW "A.D." FILM, AND OTHER FILMS ABOUT JESUS

THE  NEW  "A.D."  FILM,  AND  OTHER  FILMS  ABOUT  JESUS

By  Forrest  W. Schultz

     The new "A.D." film has one thing in common with the earlier films about Jesus:  Jesus is not portrayed correctly and almost none of the other characters are either.  For this reason  A.D. was a very great disappointment:  it was in no way deserving of the plaudits it received.  One thing did appear to be good about it -- the historical accuracy regarding the clothing of the characters, and other factors such as the streets and buildings.  There was a good film, intended as promotion and shown a week or so in advance, which noted all the efforts made to attain this accuracy.  What they should have done, instead of trying to act out the events, was to provide a documentary, noting for example, the garb of the high priest, the Roman soldiers, and Pilate, etc.  And the clothing they wore could have been placed on mannikins or statues and put into a museum.  The historical accuracy was great, but the acting in the film was abysmal -- you see one actor trying to act like the High Priest, another trying to act like Pilate, another trying to act like Jesus, etc. 

    But, this is not unusual -- I have never seen an accurate portrayal of Jesus in any of the many movies I have seen -- and the portrayal of the other characters are rarely ever well done either.

     Why is that??  Good question!  

THE LORD OF THE RINGS FILMS: THE ACTING

THE  LORD  OF  THE  RINGS  FILMS:  THE  ACTING

By  Forrest  W.  Schultz



     My post titled "CHRISTOLOGICAL ANALOGIES OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS" has received more page views than any other post on this blog.  It was posted here on July 1, 2010, and is a verbatim  copy of my article which was published in the December 2002 issue of The Chalcedon Report,   which came out on the same day the second Tolkien film arrived in the theatres.  The book is excellent, one of the very best works of literature ever written.  Please read it if you have not yet done so.

     But the acting in the film was very poor, with the sole exception of the portrayal of Lady Galadriel (The Elf Queen) which was "spot on".  None of the other characters were portrayed correctly.  For instance, when I first saw what was supposed to be Gandalf, I said to myself, that is not Gandalf -- it is a guy trying to act like Gandalf.  Ditto with Frodo --   that was not really Frodo:  it was an actor trying to act like Frodo.  Ditto with Gollum, etc etc.

     I highly recommend reading Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.  I do NOT recommend viewing the film.  The only good the film is doing is informing people about the book, which hopefully some of them will read as a result. 

Ferguson and Baltimore?? SAME OLD SAME OLD !!!

Ferguson   And   Baltimore ???

SAME  OLD  --  SAME   OLD  !!!!!


E. G.  LARGE  NUMBER  OF  UNEMPLOYED  YOUNG  BLACK  MALES

WHEN  WILL  THEY  EVER  LEARN??

(AS  WE  USED  TO  SAY  BACK  IN  THE  SIXTIES)

By  Forrest  W.  Schultz

     There are some things which have changed since the 1960s, when I was a twentysomething.  That is a good example -- there was no word "twentysomething" back in the 60s!!  Also no word "Nerd", no "911", no computers like we have now, etc. 

     But one thing which has NOT changed since the 60s is the large number of unemployed young black males, which fact is now usually presented by the news media as though it is something new.  Also, like now, there were slums in the cities and poverty and gangs and drug and alcohol addicts and riots and the breakdown of marriages and families and so on ad nauseam.  We had a popular song back in the 60s which is very appropriate for this:  When Will They Ever Learn!!??.  (Maybe that was not the title, but it was the main point of the song.)

     Another thing that is the same is that programs by civil governments to remedy the matter have usually been ineffective (many of them making the problems worse) and that the efforts which have been helpful have usually been those run by churches and other christian groups, and, it is to the credit of CBS News that they have noted a number of these in their news broadcasts, usually more so than in what passes for Christian TV these days.  (Also the CBS Evening News is to be praised for the many programs featuring Holly Williams interviewing suffering Christians in Syria and Iraq.)

        And, finally, there have been few Christians among those who are concerned who have seen the huge relevance of Scriptural teachings which bear on these matters, and rare are those who have studied the writings of the late R. J. Rushdoony, where many of these answers to these problems are are to be found.  That also has changed little, if any, during the past fifty years.