Search - Joshua on DVD

Uplifting, Feel Good Movie!

Shirley Priscilla Johnson | USA | 02/18/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Did you ever wonder just what would happen if Jesus showed up in your town now? How well would you receive Him? How well would your religious leaders receive Him? In this movie we see Joshua, who is really Jesus, show up in a town and change their lives forever.
What impressed me the most about this movie was the total love of God that it showed. Even though at times I wanted Joshua to be very angry at the different towns people, His love for them is what changed them. It was a good lesson and a reminder of just who God is, His true nature and reason for living and dying. His love for mankind.
I was deeply touched by this movie and when it was over I was grateful for the reminder of God's love for me and how I in turn should love others. I highly recommend Joshua, a great family film and one you will want to watch again and again. Wonderful!"

What if Jesus showed up as a carpenter in a small town?

Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 05/21/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Joshua," based on Joseph F. Girzone's novel, is not about the Second Coming of Christ. In fact I would think that it is not about a second coming either, because I get the feeling from this film that Jesus has shown up in similar ways countless times before. This time a stranger named Joshua (Tony Goldwyn) shows up in the quiet town of Auburn. He moves into a dilapidated old barn on the outside of town and when he finds a Baptist church that was destroyed in a storm, he starts working on fixing it up. This seems odd to the members of the congregation of that church, but some of them start to pitch in and help Joshua.

There are no real surprises in "Joshua," especially since the opening credits tell us that Giancarlo Giannini plays the Pope in the movie we are about to see. But the point of the story here is not to tell you anything you do not already know. The message, when Joshua actually articulates one, is the one that has been around for almost two thousand years. So the attraction here is the enticing "what if?" as to what it would be like if Jesus suddenly showed up in your neck of the woods and started doing things and talking to people. Joshua does not preach sermons nor does he tell parables. The important thing here is that when you talk, he listens to you.

This is not the first time that a movie has tried to portray a more "realistic" type of Jesus. There was Jeffrey Hunter in the 1961 film "King of Kings," where Jesus walked among the masses while he gave the Sermon on the Mount. In "The Passion of the Christ" the focus on the story is on the scourging and crucifixion of Jesus, but in the film's few flashbacks James Caviezel reveals a remarkably accessible figure. Tony Goldwyn has an advantage in that he does not have to wear the beard, long hair, and flowing robes of the conventional images of the Biblical Jesus. He plays Joshua as what you can only describe as being a good guy, which is more difficult to play that you would think.

Auburn is not a modern Sodom or Gomorrah. The worst you can say about the place is that the different denominations are not paying attention to each other. But then one of the points about Joshua is that he not only fixes churches and carves statues of Peter, he also fixes small things. "Joshua" is about the ministry of Jesus and the miracles have the same affect they did the first time around.

The supporting cast is solid, with F. Murray Abraham as Father Tardone, the local priest who is suspicious of the stranger in town, Kurt Fuller as Father Pat Hayes, who is captivated by that same stranger, and Stacy Edwards as Maggie, who has a different idea as to what void in her life Joshua can fill. Granted, anyone who has never been to church on Sunday is not going to be interested in this film, but "Joshua" should appeal to most Christian audiences, who will find it a pleasant reaffirmation of their beliefs."