Search - Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible: Last Supper, Crucifixion, and Resurrection on DVD

Confused film features a confused, "Arian" Jesus

Rich Leonardi | Cincinnati, Ohio | 03/27/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I wanted to like this video. Really, I did.

The animation is crisp, the voice acting excellent and the pacing holds the attention of all but the most distracted children. But "Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible: The Last Supper, Crucifixion and Resurrection" is a deeply flawed and -- dare I say it -- heretical piece of cinema.

My guard went up when I brought the film home from the store, flipped over the clam-shell case and read "Jesus retires to a garden to pray, but is captured by soldiers before dawn, having been betrayed by Judas, one of His disciples. Within a short time He is crucified but does not die -- not in any meaningful sense."

Full stop.

Just as there can be no Redemption without the cross, there can be no Resurrection without death. When Scripture and 2,000 years of Tradition assert that Jesus died, it means He was D-E-A-D, not merely pretending to die as various gnostic heretics asserted during the first few centuries of Church history.

Likewise, during Charlton Heston's introduction, he suggests that "this young man Jesus didn't know and understand the Father's plan. After all he said 'my God, my God, why have you forsaken me'."

In reality, Jesus is citing a psalm that concerns a just man wronged. One of the bedrock Christian beliefs is that Jesus Christ is God. The notion that the Redemption confused Him is utter nonsense. One would have hoped that the definition of Christ's divinity at the Council of Nicea in 325 had put to rest the Arian heresy once and for all. But there it is, in the mouth of Charlton "Moses" Heston.

I literally paused the DVD player within the first thirty seconds of this video for a "teaching moment" with the children to explain why what Heston said was wrong.

There are also various ad-libbed statements inserted into Christ's mouth that have more to do with the director's interests than with presenting the life of Christ.

The entire "Heroes and Legends" series is "advised" by representatives of the United Methodist Church and Hebrew Union College. They must have either slept through this DVD's production or skipped Sunday school.

Their advice brings to mind what C.S. Lewis said about authentic theology[*]: "Theology is practical, especially now. In the old days, when there was less education and discussion, perhaps it was possible to get on with a very few simple ideas about God. But it is not so now. Everyone reads, everyone hears things discussed. Consequently, if you do not listen to Theology, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God. It will mean that you have a lot of the wrong ones."

There are "wrong ones" aplenty in this little film.

Christians seeking a truer, orthodox depiction of the Gospel should spend the extra $5 and buy "The Miracle Maker".
"

Just OK...

St John's Church | 03/27/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I received the video promptly and should have taken heed to the reviews written on the video before I purchased it. First of all, it skipped, but even more importantly, I was searching for a video on the Last Supper for my First Communion class (7 year olds). The Last Supper section was very glossed over. The focus was more on Judas and his guilt. I really just didn't want to show it to the class. Perhaps for another occassion??"