Posted On: Wednesday - November 15th 2023 5:33PM MST
In Topics: Movies ctrl-left Bible/Religion
Well, they're free, right, so I grabbed this movie with a few others and got around to watching it the other night. What I thought was going to be a movie (because the print on the box was kinda small) is not. Last Days of Jesus is a PBS documentary.
PBS, well, that's nice of them to consider Christianity as a topic at all, all things considered*, such as the usual hard-left attitude of that organization. Who knew what they were up to, though? Again, these movies are free, but I went ahead through the entire documentary.
Of course, PBS producers are not going to put out a purely religious documentary, unless it's about some other religion, ANYTHING but Christianity. No, this documentary brings in lots of Roman and Judaean history of this time period to call into question the official - Biblical - story from the Gospels. I was glad to learn some more history the easy way, with a few actors portraying Jesus, his Disciples, some Romans, and some Sadducees and Pharisees, rather than all that internet reading.
The narrators that appear are what you'd expect from PBS - 2 women, one American and one British, one White guy who may or may not be gay, and the other who is likely Jewish, as he has that cloth beanie on, there in Jerusalem. Well, so, no bias against the old traditional story?
From the get-go, with Beanie guy telling us that the Gospels "just ... don't... make... sense" (in that fashion) one can tell that some interesting facts of tales may be cooked up here. I cannot say that I caught every single part of the explanation for Jesus' death here, because it was late, and I nodded off a few times (but played it back still). However, all I got for the reason that another explanation must be found is in the person of Pontius Pilate. We are told that he was a cruel, impulsive, and ruthless official, who would off someone on a whim. (They do have some scenes demonstrating things like this to keep the viewer awake, or, try to.) Why would he be reasonable with Jesus, trying to pardon him per Passover custom in return for the crucifixion of the known insurrectionist** Barabbas?
I won't and really can't describe PBS's entire story here, but the whole impetus for the alternative explanation hinges on that one contradiction with Pontius Pilate. The question to be answered was why Jesus wasn't dealt with earlier than that Passover week.
The 3 big players in the documentary are Jesus, Herod Antipater, son of Herod the Great (late - by this time - King of Judea), and the Roman Emperor-wanna-be named Lucius Aelius Sejanus. Herod Antipater had often-frustrated ambitions*** to be King of the Jews, as his Dad had been. These politics were part of the story. Mr. Sejanus was a highly ambitious soldier and confidant to Emperor Tiberius.
Both of their stories come into play to answer the contradiction of why Jesus had not been dealt with earlier than Good Friday circa 30 to 33 AD. (It's questionable.) Even that question is one I don't totally get. The scene of Jesus upending a table and clearing out the temple of money-changers is shown over and over. That wasn't all there was to it, of course. His long-term claims to be the Messiah, unorthodox (ha) methods of teaching with no "credentials", and those healing powers had put the Sadducees and Pharisees on edge for years. He was one of those agitator.
The whole long, but often interesting, political story was presented in order to show that, regarding that ONE DAY OR TWO of Jesus' terrible treatment and crucifixion, the Gospel accounts must have been wrong. To make it all work, all this background was to prove that the sudden change in the political environment - mostly Roman, but local too - was what precipitated the crucifixion. Instead of this one week of Passover being the time-line, to make it work, Jesus must have been in prison for months, and, well, I honestly didn't get the point very well.
Let me digress and get into movie review mode for a bit, something Peak Stupidity has admitted to being not so good at, I will say that the little scenes acted out to represent the points being made, and the actors playing Jesus, Judas, Pontius, Herod, Tiberius, and Sejanus, were believable, even if sometimes they were only shown making some facial expression in a scene to match the story.
What I didn't like was that some of the crowd scenes were not in keeping with the 2,000 year-ago theme. I understand that PBS probably didn't have the money to make big scenes - MOAR FUNDING! - with extras in costumes. What they did, though, was show scenes of the important Gospel location and a few Roman locations with modern big crowds. The first time it really surprised me - hey, that guy there outside the temple is wearing a padded nylon jacket, WTH? I don't know, this just didn't work. Pick out some Monty Python scenes, if you have to. They already spent the money.
Last Days of Jesus has some history one might appreciate. However, believer or not, I don't recommend this movie. It doesn't prove its point well at all, so it's a waste of time and a let-down.
I get it. PBS wanted to discount the Christian story. However, they didn't want to go too far, so, to paraphrase the last line: "This event caused a new religion to be born for billions of people over 2,000 years." That's nice, but Christians will NOT like this PBS production. That's OK, as PBS is not worried about studios being burned down or producers having to go in hiding for years. That's a different religion. I'm looking forward to an installment on the alternative Islam story.
* Wait, that's NPR, but I'm rolling here ...
** History says he trespassed into the Temple during the Sabbath. Some say we was invited by a Pharisee named Ephraim Epps.
*** It was much like Merrick Garland and his quest for SCROTUS judge. I am sure we'd have been better off if this Totalitarian HAD been made his goal, rather than becoming the head Executioner of the Executive branch.
Comments:
MBlanc46
Saturday - November 18th 2023 12:02PM MST
PS MY understanding of the Gospels is that they weren’t intended to be history in the sense that we 21st century Westerners understand it, but to present a theological narrative that would induce people—Jews at first, but Gentiles later—to understand Jesus as the savior of the world.
Moderator
Friday - November 17th 2023 8:56AM MST
PS: I think I can explain. That URL seems to be made of the year, month, day, and time to the second (military time for the server or Zulu time) of the time this page was archived. The site wasn't up yet until late November of '16. That was the page the hosting company would put up for you domain, if you had absolutely nothing - no "index" page.
Moderator
Friday - November 17th 2023 8:53AM MST
PS: I don't know how I missed your 2 comments here till now, Mr. Hail. Sorry, I saw the (4)* and thought I'd read them all (1/2 being me lots of the time, ha.)
Anyway, I went back to the IMDB page. I wanted to find out if Ben Reid was one of the 4 narrators that appeared on video. All I get for "full cast" is:
David Bacque David Bacque ... Pontius Pilate
Hami Belal Hami Belal ... Manaen
Helen K. Bond Helen K. Bond ... Self (as Helen Bond)
Simcha Jacobovici Simcha Jacobovici Self
Robert Nolan Robert Nolan ... Herod Antipas (uncredited)
The 2 "self"'s are 2 of the narrators, one of the women, and, well, I don't think either of the guys would be named Simcha, but maybe he was the guy with the beanie. Who were the other 2? The names of the 4 were probably shown when each first appeared, but I don't feel like putting it in the player again.
"By the way, a close reading of the Gospels do shed plenty of light on what the Jews were plotting, where and when and why. I don't think traditional Westerners think of it as any historical mystery."
Yeah, not only that, but the idea that Herod Antipater would have had just plain enough with Jesus right around this time makes sense with both the Gospels and the history that was shown in the documentary. I.e. This Antipater guy was a big part of this thing, yet, all the recent political changes described didn't negate anything about Antipater not wanting to do away with competition to be "King of the Jews".
I truly don't get the point - all based on that Pontius Pilate didn't sound like his real self. He was really reaching.
* Yeah, I know, if I get to the software, I can easily have it flag new comments for me - or for anyone else too.
Anyway, I went back to the IMDB page. I wanted to find out if Ben Reid was one of the 4 narrators that appeared on video. All I get for "full cast" is:
David Bacque David Bacque ... Pontius Pilate
Hami Belal Hami Belal ... Manaen
Helen K. Bond Helen K. Bond ... Self (as Helen Bond)
Simcha Jacobovici Simcha Jacobovici Self
Robert Nolan Robert Nolan ... Herod Antipas (uncredited)
The 2 "self"'s are 2 of the narrators, one of the women, and, well, I don't think either of the guys would be named Simcha, but maybe he was the guy with the beanie. Who were the other 2? The names of the 4 were probably shown when each first appeared, but I don't feel like putting it in the player again.
"By the way, a close reading of the Gospels do shed plenty of light on what the Jews were plotting, where and when and why. I don't think traditional Westerners think of it as any historical mystery."
Yeah, not only that, but the idea that Herod Antipater would have had just plain enough with Jesus right around this time makes sense with both the Gospels and the history that was shown in the documentary. I.e. This Antipater guy was a big part of this thing, yet, all the recent political changes described didn't negate anything about Antipater not wanting to do away with competition to be "King of the Jews".
I truly don't get the point - all based on that Pontius Pilate didn't sound like his real self. He was really reaching.
* Yeah, I know, if I get to the software, I can easily have it flag new comments for me - or for anyone else too.
Hail
Thursday - November 16th 2023 7:48AM MST
PS
Well, now; Unz.com is down for me.
In the meantime, I drop here some riveting OT material:
Your comment is requested on the following:
https://web.archive.org/web/20140104181339/http://peakstupidity.com/
Well, now; Unz.com is down for me.
In the meantime, I drop here some riveting OT material:
Your comment is requested on the following:
https://web.archive.org/web/20140104181339/http://peakstupidity.com/
Hail
Thursday - November 16th 2023 7:46AM MST
PS
"The question to be answered was why Jesus wasn't dealt with earlier than that Passover week...I honestly didn't get the point very well."
This is a really strange question to ask, isn't it? Would they ask the same or a similar question about anyone else?
The only comparable big historical question of that kind which I have often seen posed or referred, and which I can now think of readily, relate to a man who was often seen hanging around in early-20th-century Vienna. That man sought to be a painter, but washed out of painting and drifted up to Germany. The questions posed about this man relate to "what if he had been killed x years earlier" than some of his later life-events.
By the way, a close reading of the Gospels do shed plenty of light on what the Jews were plotting, where and when and why. I don't think traditional Westerners think of it as any historical mystery.
I see the writer and director for this 2017 documentary is a certain Ben Reid. In 2022, th same man made a documentary glorifying (?) the life and work of Jeffrey Epstein's partner Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of Mossad man. Interesting.
And ---- a "wow, just wow" moment: The very same Ben Reid, writer and director of "The Last Days of Jesus" (2017), just one year before seeking to expose the Jesus story as a historical fraud he directed a documentary with this title: "Adolf and Eva: Love and War" (2016). I kid you not! I wrote my second paragraph up there as a semi-joke, but, then, Reality again delivers better than parody can manage.
"The question to be answered was why Jesus wasn't dealt with earlier than that Passover week...I honestly didn't get the point very well."
This is a really strange question to ask, isn't it? Would they ask the same or a similar question about anyone else?
The only comparable big historical question of that kind which I have often seen posed or referred, and which I can now think of readily, relate to a man who was often seen hanging around in early-20th-century Vienna. That man sought to be a painter, but washed out of painting and drifted up to Germany. The questions posed about this man relate to "what if he had been killed x years earlier" than some of his later life-events.
By the way, a close reading of the Gospels do shed plenty of light on what the Jews were plotting, where and when and why. I don't think traditional Westerners think of it as any historical mystery.
I see the writer and director for this 2017 documentary is a certain Ben Reid. In 2022, th same man made a documentary glorifying (?) the life and work of Jeffrey Epstein's partner Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of Mossad man. Interesting.
And ---- a "wow, just wow" moment: The very same Ben Reid, writer and director of "The Last Days of Jesus" (2017), just one year before seeking to expose the Jesus story as a historical fraud he directed a documentary with this title: "Adolf and Eva: Love and War" (2016). I kid you not! I wrote my second paragraph up there as a semi-joke, but, then, Reality again delivers better than parody can manage.
Moderator
Thursday - November 16th 2023 4:58AM MST
PS: I give UR commenter Jack D. a lot of credit for knowledge on a wide range of subjects. When it comes to "his people", all semblance of fairness usually goes out the window.
I'll look for that particular comment (easy enough on that site), to see if it was just that he got frustrated in getting his way. It doesn't sound like it though.
I'll look for that particular comment (easy enough on that site), to see if it was just that he got frustrated in getting his way. It doesn't sound like it though.
Hail
Wednesday - November 15th 2023 9:50PM MST
PS
Speaking of people who plotted to kill Jesus,
Mr. Jack D yesterday leaves these words of wisdom:
"(A)dvocating for White-Christian interests is another name for racism."
Speaking of people who plotted to kill Jesus,
Mr. Jack D yesterday leaves these words of wisdom:
"(A)dvocating for White-Christian interests is another name for racism."