Judas, The Hero?
Last night (March 8, 2004) ABC rushed a movie to the TV screens to capitalize on the popularity of The Passion of the Christ. It had Jesus in it, sort of. But the main character was, of course, Judas. Let me give you my take on the movie.
Jesus was portrayed as a down-to-earth, happy-go-lucky guy that seemed like the sort of fellow you would run into at a bar. His disciples were sort of like the cast of Cheers. They were all a little goofy and none of them seemed to have a clue as to why they were there and why they were following Jesus. When Jesus called Matthew, the tax collector, he wanted nothing to do with Jesus until he stood up and looked deeply into His eyes. If this had been an even cheesier movie, you would see little beams of light coming out of Jesus' eyes as He took over the mind of this tax collector. The disciples were a rowdy bunch. When Judas was entertaining Jesus and the disciples at his house, the disciples cheered when he mentioned he had wine. It reminded me of how the bar patrons of Cheers would respond if someone asked if they wanted beer. In fact, a couple of the disciples resembled Cliff and Norm!
The actor who played Jesus was just so miscast. He was a light-haired, blue-eyed "Jesus" who was really goofy. He reminded me of a surfer dude, in fact, in one scene where he heals a guy I'm pretty sure he said, "Narly!" When he played the scene in the Temple where Jesus overturned tables and such, he was just plain mad. Judas, in the next scene, said he was really impressed by Jesus' actions in the Temple. Jesus said something like, "Oh, don't be impressed. I just lost my temper." That was another of my problems with the movie. The actors used modern day language to converse. I'm not saying they should be talking in Aramaic or Latin but how about trying to match the times with the character's speech? I swear I heard one of the disciples say, "Cool" when Jesus turned water into wine!
Jesus seemed really taken with Judas, more than Judas was taken with Jesus. Jesus in the movie clearly had no idea that Judas was a bad guy until the very end of the movie. In reality, Jesus "knew the hearts of all men." The Jesus portrayed in the movie was politically correct and very non-confrontational (except for the Temple scene). There was literally no reason for the Romans or the Jewish leaders to be against Him. The main plot of the movie was the friction between Judas' rebellion against the government of Rome and the Jewish leaders desire to keep things the way they were. (The Jewish leaders were clearly Right-Wing Republicans. How dare ABC engage in such anti-Semitic nonsense!?). Jesus was sort of an afterthought. Jesus was into WWF Smackdown though! In one scene he and Judas wrestled - I think Judas won! I thought "I can do all things through Christ, Who strengthens me." Oh well, wrong movie for that sentiment.
Now, to the main character. Judas was clearly the superior thinker of the bunch. He even had a great idea that Jesus should start charging for His miracles (Was Judas a liberal or what?!). The Jewish leaders and the Romans used Judas. A fellow Jew betrayed him! The Judas! The story about Judas included the fiction that his father had been crucified and he had a pretty bad childhood. Isn't this the excuse for all killers and scoundrels with the liberals? (I expected to see Charlize Theron testify on Judas' behalf if he was brought to trial). Judas had one goal in mind, the overthrow of the Roman government (I think the Romans were also Republicans). That was his only reason for following Jesus. When the disciples were sent out two-by-two to cast out devils and heal the sick, Judas was paired with another rather goofy disciple (not sure who it was). They had no idea how they were going to pull off healing people but decided instead (at Judas' encouragement) that they would go recruit an army to fight the Romans. (The other disciple told Judas that if Jesus could make bread out of thin air then surely he could make some swords!). Their first encounter was with a wealthy Jew whom they really wanted to impress. His wife had died and they said they could handle the situation. They went into the tomb and were whispering to each other, "How are we going to get out of this one." It reminded me of how Abbott and Costello would have played the scene. Judas went out to "buy some time" and the other disciple brought the woman back to life (although when the veil was removed, she still looked like death warmed over).
Lots of people were healed and somehow the disciples brought them all back to Jesus. Judas apparently expected Jesus to give them all swords, instead He fed them! This was the last straw for Judas. Well, not quite. You see, his mother died. Right at that moment, he was kidnapped by the Jewish leaders and "forced" to betray Jesus. The 30 pieces of silver were not the price of betrayal but instead would defray Judas' burial costs for his mother. Forget about Jesus, Judas was having a bad day!
Judas' dedication to "the cause" (rebellion against Rome) was clearly shown by the fact that when his mother died, he completely forgot about her burial and all those things and took some time off to betray Jesus and then to follow Him around all night and the next day. All Jesus' disciples abandoned Him, save one. You guessed it, Judas. Judas told the Romans and the Jewish leaders to stop and leave Jesus alone. They wouldn't listen. When the crowd shouted "Crucify Him!" Judas, alone, yelled out "No! Stop!" They wouldn't listen either.
Jesus was crucified and, well, the movie kind of stopped there with Jesus anyhow. His character was killed off and never seen or talked about again (kinda like Pernell Roberts character on Bonanza). But there was a burial scene of a "holy man" included in the movie. No, it wasn't Jesus. You see, at the moment Jesus died on the cross, Judas hung himself. Jesus' disciples took time from grieving over Jesus' death (did they even know it happened?) and running from the Romans to gently take Judas down from the tree and pray over him. Peter said it was what Jesus would have wanted (okay, so they did mention Jesus again). Judas, the hero, the only one in the movie who had a clue, was dead. Screen fades to black.
Before I go I have to comment on two other important characters. Pontius Pilate and his wife. Pontius Pilate was played by Tim Matheson. That's right, "Otter" from Animal House! And, yes, he wore a toga! All I could chant whenever I saw him was, "Toga, Toga, Toga!" Until my wife made me stop, that is. His wife was played by Courtney Love. Well, not really but she sure reminded me of her! She looked a little crazy and really went off the deep end when she had a dream about Jesus. But, alas, she was too late to save Jesus. Otter, er I mean, Pontius Pilate was really bummed out too!
Finally, why can't Hollywood and L.A. just accept the facts of the Gospels? That's their real problem with the Passion of the Christ, by the way. It sticks too close to the actual scriptures. If it doesn't trash Jesus (The Last Temptation of Christ), imply he had sex dreams about Mary Magdalene (The Last Temptation of Christ), or portray Judas as the hero (Jesus Christ Superstar and Judas), it is just not fit to be made into a movie! Interestingly enough, the Judas movie did include a scene in which the disciples walked in on Jesus and Mary Magdalene alone, sitting very close to each other. It was left up to each viewer to determine what was going on before they were so rudely interrupted. My final rating, two thumbs down! If this movie should come to the small screen again, run . . . and go see The Passion of the Christ!
~Gary~(3-9-2004)