Download Risen (Blu-ray + UltraViolet) 1080p BluRay x264 DTS-JYK

There are several things I enjoy about this original Biblical drama movie. One is that no one has ever focused before on imagining the Gospel of Matthew's account of the search for the body of Jesus, nor come up with an explanation for why the disciples would go to Galilee and then return to Jerusalem after the resurrection. In this movie, the safety of the disciples is threatened, and the main character, the Roman soldier (Joseph Fiennes), follows them to Galilee because he has become a convert.

I like that the movie's style of dialogue and visual style are consistent with each other. Biblical dramas in the 50s and 60s had more of the "European painting" and theatrical look to them, and dialogue that was theatrically stilted, because they were more like large-scale pageants. In the movie Risen, the dialogue is not poetic or theatrical at all, but more realistic, in keeping with the gritty visual look.

It was filmed in Spain and Malta, and though it was impossible to show the largeness of Jerusalem and the extent of the Jewish religious leaders' influence, I didn't feel cheated out of anything worthwhile. These limitations were made up for by the personal conversations where the Roman protagonist, who hardly ever shows emotion, seeks out and interrogates the early witnesses of the resurrection. The Gospel of Matthew is the main resurrection account used in the movie, and John chapter 21 with a miraculous catch of fish.

I like that the movie doesn't show anything except what the Roman character experiences. The movie doesn't show the tomb being rolled away in the resurrection, or the first appearances of the resurrected Jesus. There are only a few encounters he has with the followers of Jesus before his conversion, and it feels like about half the movie is him discussing the situation with his assistant and with Pilate and Caiaphas.

His assistant is played by Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter. Some people might call it a suspenseful mystery, but it seemed more to me like a character-focused drama where the Roman must make choices based on the knowledge given to him. He doesn't have all that many conversations with Jesus' disciples even after joining them, but I felt like it was written satisfactorily enough. It's a pretty interesting movie

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