There's a decent movie buried under the mess that is Paul, Apostle of Christ. There might even be two decent movies here. The trouble is, first-time director Andrew Hyatt and the filmmakers at Affirm Films can't decide which of these movies to make, and trying to cram all of them and then some extra stuff into less than two hours just doesn't work.
There are hints of an interesting character study of the author of more than half of the New Testament. Luke (Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus in Passion of the Christ, so I guess this is a step down) finds Paul (James Faulkner) in a deep, dark prison in Rome. (I'll give credit to cinematographer Gerardo Madrazo-these early scenes, with their shadows and isolated shafts of light, look great).
It's looking pretty grim for Paul, who's been in prison before, but this time it doesn't look like he'll find a way out. So Luke sets out to record all of his mentor's missionary adventures; of course, his writings would eventually become the New Testament book of Acts.
As Paul tells his stories, the film highlights his days as a persecutor of Christians and portrays Paul as haunted by the people he killed before he encountered Jesus. He comes across something like a Vietnam vet who burned villages; he is visited in his dreams by the people he killed. This is an image of Paul, one the great Church fathers, as torn between trying to compensate for the terrible things he's done and running hard toward the grace and forgiveness offered to him by both God and the community of Christians he leads, and it's a fascinating, compelling idea. This is the movie I wanted to see; I really wish Hyatt had stuck closer to his titular character.
But then, there's also a movie here about the brutal and relentless persecution of Christians in Rome under Nero. Paul, Apostle of Christ is without a doubt the darkest and bloodiest movie I've seen come out of the "faith-based" film industry; we see the mutilated bodies of murdered children and hear the blood-curdling screams of men set on fire-it's enough to make me wonder if Affirm Films is in danger of alienating their target audience.
The main characters in this story are Priscilla and Aquila (Joanne Whaley and John Lynch), who are divided on whether to stay in Rome and continue to be a light in that dark city by helping those in need or to lead their small community to safer quarters; the longer they stay, the smaller their community gets. They also struggle with a young man named Cassius (Alessandro Sperdutti), who, after seeing so many of his friends and family tortured and murdered at the hands of Nero, wants to abandon the Christian principles of love and nonviolence and join a burgeoning movement to violently overthrow the emperor.
This second thread of the movie doesn't have much to do with Paul, but would be an interesting look at the struggles and challenges of the early church, if the themes were developed well and given the time they need.
Unfortunately, the third movie crammed into Paul, Apostle of Christ's relatively short running time is also the most predictable and least interesting. My guess is that this is the subplot the producers insisted upon. This one stars Paul's jailer, Mauritius Gallas (Olivier Martinez). He starts out incredibly brutal, but grows curious about his notorious prisoner (Nero has accused Paul of starting the fire that burned half of Rome) and his mysterious Greek visitor (for some reason, Gallas, being from Gaul, has a strong French accent, while Luke, from Greece, has no accent at all. Neither does anyone else.) Also, Gallas' daughter is dying, and the sacrifices he is offering to Roman gods don't seem to help; neither do the Roman physicians. You can pretty much see where this is going, and it doesn't exactly find a new or interesting way of getting there.
Hyatt seems more interested in cramming everything possible into his movie than in actually making something that resonates emotionally. There's no space to breathe in this movie; the pacing is far too heavy and ponderous. Decent actors are reduced to speechifying and wailing. And seemingly every time Paul opens his mouth, he says something we are guaranteed to recognize as scripture; the result is awkward and stiff dialogue that reveals a screenwriter more interested in checking off a "greatest hits" list of quotes than in writing something a human being would naturally say.
It's a pity; I think Andrew Hyatt had some good ideas for this movie, but lacked the discernment-or the stubbornness-to cull the good from the best. You've heard it said the good is often the enemy of the best; cinematically; Paul, Apostle of Christ is a perfect example.
Will Krishchke and his wife work with InterVarsity in Durango, Colorado, where his wife directs Native Ministries for InterVarsity.
