With Darren Aronofsky's "Noah" and Ridley Scott's "Exodus" preparing to duke it out for Old Testament auteur supremacy, Hollywood's religious renaissance gets off to a none-too-spectacular start with a chewed-over New Testament appetizer called "Son of God." A clumsily edited feature-length version of five episodes from History's hugely popular 10-hour miniseries "The Bible," this stiff, earnest production plays like a half-hearted throwback to the British-accented biblical dramas of yesteryear, its small-screen genesis all too apparent in its Swiss-cheese construction and subpar production values. Yet while Jesus' teachings have been reduced to a muddle of kindly gestures and mangled Scriptures, the scenes of his betrayal, death and resurrection crucially retain their emotional and dramatic power, which the charitable viewer may deem atonement enough for what feels, in all other respects, like a cynical cash grab.
As the first quasi-big screen account of the life of Jesus in the decade since Mel Gibson's far more contentious "The Passion of the Christ," ''Son of God" should capitalize sufficiently on church-based word of mouth to intrigue if not galvanize Christian moviegoers. Although some scholars have taken issue with the series' deviations from the Bible, the film arrives in theaters bearing pre-packaged endorsements by such prominent spiritual leaders as Rick Warren, T.D. Jakes and Sam Rodriguez — some of whom served as advisers to the TV project spearheaded by husband-and-wife exec producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey (who retain their producing credits here, as does co-writer Richard Bedser).
"In the beginning was the Word," the gospel writer John (Sebastian Knapp) intones early on, his revelation in the miniseries having been repurposed as a framing device here. From there the film plunges into a clumsy Old Testament highlights reel, a marketing tie-in for "The Bible" that gives viewers just enough time to wave to Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and some god-awful CGI before depositing them at the scene of the Christ child's birth.
Gone are the formative elements of Jesus' upbringing and his temptation in the wilderness, reportedly due to complaints that Satan (as played in the miniseries by actor Mehdi Ouazzani) bore a suspicious resemblance to President Obama. The story proper begins as Jesus (handsome, sleepy-eyed Portuguese actor Diogo Morgado) calls forth his disciples at the Sea of Galilee and begins his compassionate ministry of teaching, healing and prayer.
And so, in fairly rapid succession, Jesus restores a paralytic, feeds the 5,000, and walks on water in a stormy sequence that suggests a relic from the Cecil B. DeMille era. In this abbreviated, arbitrary approach to biblical interpretation, the greatest story ever told becomes a checklist of miracles, and Jesus' words and deeds, far from carrying the shock of radical epiphany, feel obvious and preordained. Time, or at least running time, is clearly of the essence: Miracles and lessons are expediently juxtaposed, and the Sermon on the Mount plays more like the Sermon on the Montage. Although he occasionally pauses to speak in parables, this Jesus is not above getting right to the point for the benefit of a busy 21st-century audience.
Elsewhere, schlock aesthetics prevail: When the sneering Pharisees attempt — and fail — to condemn a woman caught in the act of adultery, their stones fall to the ground in slow-motion, each one landing with a Dolby-amplified thud. While we are clearly a long way from the raw austerity of Pier Paolo Pasolini's masterpiece "The Gospel According to St. Matthew," or the rigorous integrity of Philip Saville's word-for-word 2003 adaptation of "The Gospel of John," a cinematic adaptation of Scripture nonetheless demands style, poetry, vision or, barring that, a point of view — none of which seems to have been part of the assignment handed to directors Christopher Spencer (who helmed the three episodes from which the pic is chiefly drawn), Tony Mitchell and Crispin Reece.
|? n 5h ? t Oculus Rift. Dennis hopes the project will position Condition One as the first provider for premium content to owners of the Oculus Rift, once it's released.
After a demonstration of three clips from "Zero Point" — a sweep of the space station, a glimpse inside a mock Afghan village and a stroll through a crowded convention hall — Dennis discussed the challenges of creating a film in 360 degrees:
Associated Press: How do you compose shots when everything is surrounding the viewer?
Dennis: All the traditional rules of cinematography and editing are gone. The frame no longer exists. You're inside the frame. The cut — the most basic technique of editing — is too abrupt and doesn't work here. If you try to cut from one scene to another, it's too disorienting. Nowhere in our waking life do we teleport, except make when we wake up. I'm finding that a new generation of storytellers inspired by gaming and cinema will have to create a new visual language with the syntax and grammar of how to tell a story with this technology. We're just beginning down that path right now.
AP: "Zero Point" is a documentary, but could you see this technology being used for a fictional film?
Dennis: Absolutely. I think a fictional narrative film is probably an easier place to start. You have to really think about each shot to be able to convey a narrative, instead of just a pure experience. There needs to be a lot of thought about where the camera is and what type of cues can be used to guide people through a story. I think audio will be key to drawing people where to look. Otherwise, they might miss something. The challenges in setting up a scene would be incredible, but it would still be easier than the documentary method of shooting hundreds and hundreds of hours of footage to edit later.
AP: As a filmmaker, it seems like you have to give up a large amount of control to the viewer. How do you manage that creatively?
Dennis: It's less about what the viewer sees and more about their position. As storytellers, we have to deliver viewers a raw experience and let them decide what the frame will be. They're going to choose what's interesting to them within that vantage point. We won't know where they're going to look. Yes, you do lose control as a traditional filmmaker, but I think what's going to happen is that it'll be more like gaming. You can still have deep narrative in first-person games. Ultimately, I think this shift will give birth to an entirely new medium communicated through virtual reality.