The Lost Tomb of Jesus

In the vein of Holy Blood, Holy Grail and The Da Vinci Code (as well as similarly provocative works about early Christian history), this Discovery Channel-aired documentary presents a highly speculative interpretation of the contents of a first-century tomb uncovered during excavations in Jerusalem in 1980, specifically a chamber featuring a group of ossuaries—small stone boxes containing bones (ossa)—inscribed with the names of the deceased. The controversial premise of this program, which follows an expedition to track down the moved and reburied ossuaries, is that the tomb was the burial place of the family of Jesus Christ, and housed not only his bones and those of his mother, father, and brothers, but also the remains of Mary Magdalene, assumed to be his wife, and their child Judah. This argument is largely based on statisticians' calculations concerning the likelihood of more than one family of the period having the precise set of names found on the boxes. All in all, the evidence is hardly compelling and the conclusions are tenuous, at best; still, those interested in alternative theories about the early history of Christianity should find this technically topnotch and sure-to-be-popular production fascinating. DVD extras include interviews with director-researcher Simcha Jacobovici and executive producer James Cameron, extended scholar interviews, a “making-of” featurette on the historical recreations, and an epilogue. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)