Customer Reviews

Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible: Last Supper, Crucifixion, and Resurrection

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I wanted to like this video. Really, I did.

The animation is crisp, the voice acting excellent and the pacing holds the attention of all but the most distracted children. But "Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible: The Last Supper, Crucifixion and Resurrection" is a deeply flawed and -- dare I say it -- heretical piece of cinema.

My guard went up when I brought the film home from the store, flipped over the clam-shell case and read "Jesus retires to a garden to pray, but is captured by soldiers before dawn, having been betrayed by Judas, one of His disciples. Within a short time He is crucified but does not die -- not in any meaningful sense."

Full stop.

Just as there can be no Redemption without the cross, there can be no Resurrection without death. When Scripture and 2,000 years of Tradition assert that Jesus died, it means He was D-E-A-D, not merely pretending to die as various gnostic heretics asserted during the first few centuries of Church history.

Likewise, during Charlton Heston's introduction, he suggests that "this young man Jesus didn't know and understand the Father's plan. After all he said 'my God, my God, why have you forsaken me'."

In reality, Jesus is citing a psalm that concerns a just man wronged. One of the bedrock Christian beliefs is that Jesus Christ is God. The notion that the Redemption confused Him is utter nonsense. One would have hoped that the definition of Christ's divinity at the Council of Nicea in 325 had put to rest the Arian heresy once and for all. But there it is, in the mouth of Charlton "Moses" Heston.

I literally paused the DVD player within the first thirty seconds of this video for a "teaching moment" with the children to explain why what Heston said was wrong.

There are also various ad-libbed statements inserted into Christ's mouth that have more to do with the director's interests than with presenting the life of Christ.

The entire "Heroes and Legends" series is "advised" by representatives of the United Methodist Church and Hebrew Union College. They must have either slept through this DVD's production or skipped Sunday school.

Their advice brings to mind what C.S. Lewis said about authentic theology[*]: "Theology is practical, especially now. In the old days, when there was less education and discussion, perhaps it was possible to get on with a very few simple ideas about God. But it is not so now. Everyone reads, everyone hears things discussed. Consequently, if you do not listen to Theology, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God. It will mean that you have a lot of the wrong ones."

There are "wrong ones" aplenty in this little film.

Christians seeking a truer, orthodox depiction of the Gospel should spend the extra $5 and buy "The Miracle Maker".

This DVD was OK the negative thing is that is seems to put more emphasis upon Judas than upon Jesus at times. there is a song about Judas that sings, "Your a backstabbing, two faced crook..." no matter if this is true or not I don't want my children talking like that and I certainly don't want them singing that song. But I do watch it still and just mute the song...my toddler doesn't know the difference and still loves it.

I received the video promptly and should have taken heed to the reviews written on the video before I purchased it. First of all, it skipped, but even more importantly, I was searching for a video on the Last Supper for my First Communion class (7 year olds). The Last Supper section was very glossed over. The focus was more on Judas and his guilt. I really just didn't want to show it to the class. Perhaps for another occassion??

While this does a pretty good job of telling the Easter story, I was quite repulsed that the main focus of the story seemed to be on JUDAS-- the theme song throughout the DVD is "oh Judas... what's it all about?" and saying that Judas is a "two-faced, backstabbing crook" in the song. It goes on and on! While Jesus is clearly in the story, I just don't like so much focus on Judas when there are way more important parts to be told!!

This DVD production of the story of Jesus' Passion & Resurrection has accomplished exactly what I had hoped for my 3yr old son: an interest in learning about the Lord and His involvement in the lives of those who trust Him, recognizing Jesus endured a punishment for our sin (aka disobedience for my son), Jesus victory over sin and death, and the relevance that has in my son's life. My son often recites (in surprising detail) various scenes from the tale. One of my fellow brothers in Christ calls my son "The Little Preacher" because my son enjoys capturing the attention of those around him so he can retell the story of Jesus Passion and Resurrection. I understand some reviewing this telling of the story may prefer stricter adherence to various nuances and literary exactness from Scripture - I can appreciate that as I am a literal believer of Scripture. There is never a perfect retelling of any Biblical story that will appeal to everyone's preference. As already mentioned, this achieved what I had hoped for my son: an interest in learning about the Lord and His involvement in the lives of those who trust Him, recognizing Jesus endured a punishment for our sin (aka disobedience for my son), Jesus victory over sin and death, and the relevance that has in my son's life.

On a final note, I had reservations about ordering this for my son given his age as I was uncertain of how the animators and story writers could treat something as brutal as the Passion in a way that would convey Jesus' suffering without frightening children. This retelling did a wonderful job with such a difficult subject/imagery. There should be no worries by parents with this retelling of the Passion. It was done tastefully and reverently.

I ordered severeal of these to show to my kids. As we read each story I wanted to show them the movie behind it. The kids enjoyed these very much and at a inexpensive cost, it is definitely worth it. It's very engaging and can allow for much interaction with the kids.

My 6 yr grandson loves this series (except Charleton Heston's intro, which he says is boring)

greast movie, tells the story in a way kids can understand, leaves out a few things though