DIRECTOR:
Andrew Hyatt LEAD CAST: James Faulkner, Jim Caviezel, Olivier
Martinez, John Lynch, Joanne Whalley SCREENWRITER:
Terence Berden, Andrew Hyatt PRODUCER: Terence Berden, David Zelon, Jim Caviezel
EDITOR: Dorota Kobiela &
Justyna WierszynskaScott Richter MUSICAL
DIRECTOR: Jan A.P. Kaczmarek GENRE: Biblical/ historical
drama CINEMATOGRAPHER: Gerardo
Madrazo DISTRIBUTOR: Columbia
Pictures LOCATION: Malta
RUNNING TIME: 108 minutes
Technical assessment: 3
Moral assessment: 4
CINEMA rating: V14
Paul,
Apostle of Christ is the story of Christianity’s most traveled apostle. It is 67 AD
and an old, beaten-up Paul (James Faulkner), leader of the young Christian
community in Rome, is locked up and
languishing in the Mamertine prison. Christians are falsely accused by Emperor
Nero of burning down half of Rome and are relentlessly persecuted. They are
beaten, burned alive like torches to light the streets, crucified or thrown to
the lions for sport. Greek physician Luke (Jim Caviezel), manages to sneak into
prison to assist his friend Paul, and to get whatever message he has for the
fearful Christian community headed by Aquila (John Lynch) and Priscilla (Joanne
Whalley). Luke writes down Paul’s story and his thoughts about Jesus’ message
of love and mercy, which eventually finds its way into the Acts of the
Apostles. The prison warden Mauritius (Olivier Martinez) is intrigued by
Paul and is suspicious of Luke. When the warden’s daughter gets seriously ill
and no doctor or sacrifice to Roman gods could heal her, he turns to Luke for
help.
A good number of films have been produced to tell the story of St.
Paul, and Andrew Hyatt’s attempt focused on Paul’s later life, when he was
aging and imprisoned in Rome. Through flashbacks, we learn of Stephen’s
martyrdom and Paul’s conversion from being a persecutor of Christians to
becoming an apostle of Christ. Faulkner essays a tortured Paul with restraint
and dignity; he and Caviezel give us the Paul and Luke so human we see the
Bible come to life. Production design and make-up are spot on. Though based on
some historical facts and personages, Paul, Apostle of Christ is
fiction. Hyatt weaves in the narrative of Mauritius, his family and the life of
the early Christian community to the friendship between Paul and Luke. Don’t
expect the magnificent cinematography of Cecil B. DeMille’s biblical epic, The
Ten Commandments, either. Filmed in Malta where St. Paul actually
went, Hyatt opted to show bodies torched and Roman soldiers stabbing Christians
rather than the spectacle of believers being devoured by lions in the Colosseum
or the Circo Massimo. The film
employs the chiaroscuro
technique, to stress the fear and sufferings of believers, and the scenes in prison
used the darkness to convey risk and secrecy.
For a historical/biblical drama, the film spends so much time in
telling/talking rather than showing, which less interested viewers might find
boring.
Bible scholars argue that there is no historical evidence that
Luke ever met Paul. (Paul’s second letter to Timothy is deutero-Pauline, that is,
not written by Paul himself.) Faulkner’s Paul is a tortured man, guilt-ridden
and questioning: “Is this all there is to it?” This is not the Paul we read in
the Acts of the Apostles and his Epistles. Paul is of “robust character”—he
never forgot his being a persecutor of Christians, but he was not guilt-ridden
as the film suggests. Paul wrote: "Christ loved me and gave himself for
me!" God's love and mercy is so much greater than our sins. Paul was awed
by this and he felt compelled to share it with others. The title
of the film is Paul, Apostle of Christ. Apostle means one who is
sent, to proclaim the good news. The film barely shows the greatness of Paul as
an Apostle of Christ, but its over-powering message is God’s mercy and grace.
One sees the humanity of the characters and the struggles they all go through,
vacillating between faith and doubt, courage and fear, strength and weakness.
The early Christians and Saints were not superheroes but flawed human beings
with whom the audience can relate.
To be a Christian means to “carry one’s cross” with love, to
endure with lively hope, and to trust in God who is rich in mercy and grace.
Though falsely accused, tortured, beaten, and imprisoned, Paul never retaliates
and prefers to suffer in silence. He says: “Only love can overcome evil.” Luke
does not refuse to minister to the daughter of their jailer Mauritius who
worships Roman gods. Priscilla and Aquila welcome everyone in their Christian
hideout with no questions asked, to tend their wounds, offer shelter and
sustenance, endangering not only the community but their lives as well. Casius
instigates a revolt among the Christians to avenge the death of young orphan
Tarquin (Daryl Vassallo) and others. He attempts to free Paul and Luke from
prison, but the two refuse revenge and violence, saying: “The only way is
love.” And when some Christians were to be thrown to the lions the next day,
Luke reminds them that the pain will “only be for a moment.” “Our suffering on
earth is little compared to the joy that awaits us in heaven.” The scene where
they pray the “Our Father” for themselves and for the daughter of Mauritius
(who ordered their execution) is deeply moving. Would that all Filipino
Christians in our day follow the way of non-violence, charity, and compassion
as Paul, Luke and the early Christians did. And may all who have been
persecuted for their faith find solace and courage in Paul, Apostle of
Christ.
Adults are cautioned to avoid bringing children to watch the
film. It carries very violent and disturbing scenes of burning bodies,
immolation and bloody deaths, etc., some of children.
