*My 200th review on my page!*
The Visual Bible: Matthew gained my attention when I was about 7 or 8. It was for sale at the now closed Family Christian Store, and my Dad bought it. We had an intention of seeing it, but the 4 hour and 25 minute run-time kept us from doing so. He passed away when I was 9, and at no time did I ever see it.
I ended up finding a copy of it in high school at my local Salvation Army (I no longer had that old one) and it became one of my favorite Biblical movies.
The Visual Bible: Matthew is just that- a visual of the words of Matthew. The dialogue- narration and spoken, comes strictly from The NIV translation. My 1st of 2 nit-picks with the movie is that as such, some verses are removed- namely 17:21, 18:11, and 23:14, and the Bible tells us to never take away from God's word, and I find that contradictory for a movie being "word for word."
That aside, this is one of the best Biblical movies ever made. Bruce Marchiano is a more historically accurate looking Jesus, and one of the best actors to play him at that.
He also has some personality, something people criticize from actors like Max Von Sydow, who played Christ in The Greatest Story Ever Told. For example, when Jesus speaks Matthew 7:3-5, he says:
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
As he does this, he jokingly places a plank next to his eye, making him and his disciples laugh. This leads to my other nit-pick, in which he speaks to a crowd in The Sermon on the Mount scene, while it's narrated in Matthew 4:25-5:1 that Jesus ignored the crowd to speak to only the disciples.
My nit-picks aside, The Visual Bible: Matthew is one of the best Biblical movies ever made- and it proves that Scripture itself is all that's needed to make a powerful movie based on The Bible. While Pasolini's The Gospel According To St. Matthew is my favorite movie about Jesus (and movie period), this ranks up there with it as one of the best Jesus films ever produced. It is a word-for-word masterpiece.
Note: Because Matthew is writing the words, we cut to him saying the words of his text to some kids at times.
The Visual Bible: Matthew gained my attention when I was about 7 or 8. It was for sale at the now closed Family Christian Store, and my Dad bought it. We had an intention of seeing it, but the 4 hour and 25 minute run-time kept us from doing so. He passed away when I was 9, and at no time did I ever see it.
I ended up finding a copy of it in high school at my local Salvation Army (I no longer had that old one) and it became one of my favorite Biblical movies.
The Visual Bible: Matthew is just that- a visual of the words of Matthew. The dialogue- narration and spoken, comes strictly from The NIV translation. My 1st of 2 nit-picks with the movie is that as such, some verses are removed- namely 17:21, 18:11, and 23:14, and the Bible tells us to never take away from God's word, and I find that contradictory for a movie being "word for word."
That aside, this is one of the best Biblical movies ever made. Bruce Marchiano is a more historically accurate looking Jesus, and one of the best actors to play him at that.
He also has some personality, something people criticize from actors like Max Von Sydow, who played Christ in The Greatest Story Ever Told. For example, when Jesus speaks Matthew 7:3-5, he says:
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
As he does this, he jokingly places a plank next to his eye, making him and his disciples laugh. This leads to my other nit-pick, in which he speaks to a crowd in The Sermon on the Mount scene, while it's narrated in Matthew 4:25-5:1 that Jesus ignored the crowd to speak to only the disciples.
My nit-picks aside, The Visual Bible: Matthew is one of the best Biblical movies ever made- and it proves that Scripture itself is all that's needed to make a powerful movie based on The Bible. While Pasolini's The Gospel According To St. Matthew is my favorite movie about Jesus (and movie period), this ranks up there with it as one of the best Jesus films ever produced. It is a word-for-word masterpiece.
Note: Because Matthew is writing the words, we cut to him saying the words of his text to some kids at times.