It is Easter Sunday, and that means you are looking to find a Christ-centered movie to watch this season. This is no simple task, as there are many to choose from. Throughout the history of cinema, Jesus Christ has been portrayed in numerous ways. Writers must make a choice: either stick with or drift far from the little source material that we have of His life. The lack of information we have on Christ is fertile ground for creativity and imagination to fill in the gaps of His history. One particular part of Christ’s life is extraordinarily vague: His childhood. We only have the account in Luke of the New Testament where Jesus is found at the temple at age 12. This is why 2016’s The Young Messiah caught my interest.
Directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh, produced by Chris Columbus, and based off of apocryphal writings about Jesus’s childhood, The Young Messiah tells the story of seven-year-old Jesus as he slowly begins to discover and understand his religious identity. Having fled to Egypt to avoid King Herod’s massacre of newborns, Mary and Joseph decide it is safe to make their journey back to Nazareth after hearing about Herod’s death. Unbeknownst to them, King Herod’s son, Herod, is determined to carry out his father’s mission and make sure the young Messiah is found and put to death. He hires a centurion named Severus, played by Sean Bean, to hunt down and kill Jesus.
The writers make an interesting choice in this movie, which is to portray Jesus as though he has been performing miracles as early as his childhood. He raises someone from the dead, heals the sick, and cures the blind. What makes this odd is the fact that Jesus has no idea who he really is yet. He can perform these miracles, but yet has no idea as to how or why. He is well versed in scripture and has an excellent scene where he outsmarts a rabbi in some back and forth. Mary and Joseph make the conscious decision to keep Jesus in the dark in respect to his religious identity because they feel that he is too young to comprehend his miraculous birth and purpose. This is an intriguing way to approach the family dynamic and gave a compelling sense of what it might be like to be the earthly parents trying to raise the Son of God.
I like the way Satan is portrayed as well. He is seen throughout the movie whispering into people’s ears, trying to turn them against Jesus and his family. Jesus is also the only person who can actually see him. They share an effective scene together where Satan attempts to convince Jesus that his purpose here is useless. It is inconsistent with the idea that Jesus doesn’t really know who he is or what his purpose is yet, but it was effective nonetheless.
Sean Bean is the clear standout in this movie, and I wish he had more screen time. His character, Severus, wrestles with his task of hunting down Jesus because of his participation in the newborn massacre under King Herod’s reign. He sees his fair share of violence and bloodshed and his conscience is catching up with him. I really like his arc; he has perhaps the most effective scene in the movie. The only downside is the fact that I was more interested in diving into his backstory than Jesus’, whose story should be the center of the film. His character had a lot of weight to it and I would’ve liked a few more sequences exploring his story.
For having virtually no source material on the subject, I am impressed by the bold endeavor the writers took on. They manage to give an original and interesting take on an untold portion of Jesus’s life. This isn’t one of the best iterations of Christ I’ve seen, but the story does have a lot to offer. With a decent budget of $18.5 million, the production design was solid, the acting chops were there, and it never felt like it was playing anything down. If you want to experience the story of Jesus from a very different perspective with some faith-affirming moments and interesting characters, this will satisfy your needs. Happy Easter!
