Son of God

A New Testament-oriented condensation of the History Channel's The Bible—a 10-hour miniseries produced by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey—director Christopher Spencer's Son of God zips through the stories of Adam and Eve, Noah, and Abraham before arriving at the point where the Christ child is born to Mary (Downey) in Bethlehem. Christ's formative years are passed over, so the central narrative really begins with Jesus (Diego Morgado) calling forth his disciples at the Sea of Galilee. Exuding beatific compassion, Jesus heals a paralytic, walks on water, and feeds 5,000 hungry followers. Jesus later travels to Jerusalem, turning over the tables of the moneychangers in the temple, and exposing the symbiotic relationship between despotic Roman prefect Pontius Pilate (Greg Hicks) and Jewish high priest Caiaphas (Adrian Schiller). Unfortunately, this banal, distilled biopic seems fragmented and dispassionate, trivializing parables to one-liners as it inexorably moves toward the Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Revelation. And Portuguese model-turned-actor Diego Morgado's performance is so charmless and bland that it is hard to understand his character's charismatic effect on supporters, even if he is billed as “the first Latin Jesus.” Specifically designed for a faith-based audience, this sermon-as-entertainment has been endorsed by prominent Christian pastors and the Anti-Defamation League, but it's a trivial work compared to Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ or Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Gospel According to St. Matthew. Optional. [Note: DVB/Blu-ray extras include the production featurettes “Reborn” (29 min.), the Spanish-language “Un Reino sin Fronteras” (23 min.) and “From the Set: The Passion” (8 min.), as well as a “Faith Into Practice” children's primer (5 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are bonus DVD and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a lackluster biographical portrait.] (S. Granger)