Suchet on In The Footsteps Of St Peter

Among the various Bible film related productions airing this Easter is this new BBC documentary David Suchet: In The Footsteps Of St Peter. The series is a follow up to Suchet’s 2012 documentary In the Footsteps of Saint Paul and follows a similar format travelling around in Galilee, Jerusalem and Rome, talking to experts and visiting key places in an attempt to get to know St. Peter better.

For much of the first decade of this century most religious TV documentaries were vaguely controversial, most notably those presented by Robert Beckford on Channel 4. But the BBC seems to have changed tack of late and sought to provide the background to some of the stories of the Bible in a way that will, I would have though, primarily appeal to believers, even though it aims to be neutral and impartial.

There are several new bits of information on the programme. The most important thing is the news that it will air over two mornings, with part one on Good Friday,3rd April at 9am, followed by part two on Easter Sunday Morning, 5th April at the same time. There are detailed descriptions of parts one and two on the BBC website.

Also there is a 5 minute video promo with some short excerpts from the film as well as the transcript where Suchet makes some interesting points, as well as an accompanying article.

One bit that did raise an eyebrow was the final paragraph where Suchet says:

My travels around Galilee talking with people and visiting places associated with Peter such as Capernaum suggest he might have been more of an entrepreneur, running his own fishing business. His financial security made it possible for him to leave a wife, family and dependents to follow Jesus for some three years.

That’s a convenient interpretation – Peter falling back on his wealth from his hard work – rather than a more traditional, and dare I say radical, one which sees Peter as literally giving up everything he had to follow Jesus, and I have to say I’m unconvinced. After all Peter’s business seems to have permanently taken a back seat at least at some point and whilst one could argue that gradually the income from being a disciple increased at around the time his savings ran out, it seems a little convenient. Presumably though the documentary will flesh this out a little.

It’s also interesting to hear that there will be some discussion (and presumably footage) of the, so-called, Jesus boat. It may be almost 30 years since it was discovered but it’s a fascinating find and one I’d like to know more about.

The Story of Jesus (BBC)

This Easter's biggest piece of religious programming was BBC1's two-part documentary The Story of Jesus.

In a break from what has become the standard format for such documentaries, rather than having one (usually photogenic) expert both narrating and interviewing other experts, this programme was narrated by David Suchet (Poirot, minus the accent) but the on-screen camera work was performed by nine different scholars who occasionally met to pass on the baton to the next there were other experts involved as well (I counted 19-20 in total) but these nine had a far greater screen time than their counterparts. After years of seeing the same, increasingly tired, old format, it was good to see a new approach being tried and the hand-overs, which took a bit of getting used too, were an effective way of moving things on.

Part 1 of the series began by looking at the textual evidence for the gospels and their reliability. Tom Wright was very much to the fore here, explaining how the earliest scraps of the scriptures and far more contemporary with the originals than other written sources from the time.

After that Simon Gathercole was introduced and he guided us through the nativity story. There's talk of Herod and the Magi and rather than giving an astrological answer to questions about the Star of Bethlehem, a textual one is given: it's evoking a quotation from Numbers 24:17 "a star has come out of Jacob". The discussion begins to be illustrated with dramatised footage and it's rather good. The lighting, filters and film stock result in high quality footage and the choice of predominantly near / middle-eastern actors (or those of near / middle eastern descent) gives an extra sense of realism. Mary here is perhaps the most convincing looking Mary I've seen, and her performance is pretty decent as well.

The impressive casting also extends to Jesus himself, played by Big Book Media's Selva Raslingam who is almost as far from the traditional Hollywood Jesus as one can get. Having been taken briefly through archaeological finds in Sephoris and Nazareth by James Strange we come to Jesus' ministry. There's talk of John the Baptist (featuring nicely-restrained use of time-lapse photography), and the symbolism that flows out of the story of the Wedding at Cana. We're told that there are two Greek words translated as "miracle", one of which means "sign". In the story of the Wedding at Cana the miracle is called Jesus' first "sign" and alludes to passages from the prophets predicting that water flowing down the mountains will turn to wine. Greg Carey is leading things through now and he highlights the abundance theme in many of the miracles, pointing to God's new kingdom, a place of abundance. There's a brief mention of the roughly contemporary Jewish miracle worker Honi. The first episode comes to a close with Greg Carey discussing the Transfiguration and it's perhaps the first time that the dramatised footage has been a little disappointing.

Whilst from a narrative angle part two picks up from more or less where the opening episode left off, thematically things are very different. It's the turn of Obery Hendricks to present now and his focus is very much on Jesus' radical, political message, rather than this spiritual one. There are small sections on the synagogue at Magdala, and his parables and teaching, and then we're into the events of Holy Week.

The leading expert for this section is Ben Witherington III, although occasionally the location footage oscillates between him and Helen Bond (whose focus is mainly on Jesus' death). It's here that the information being presented is most well known, and as a result least interesting for those who know the subject well. This isn't improved by limiting the viewpoints that are expressed to produce a reasonably conservative position. This is as much in the editing of the experts' soundbites as their viewpoints. Bond is not nearly as conservative as Witherington, but the quotations that are left don't really demonstrate the difference. There's also no more sceptical voices such as that of John Dominic Crossan who claims (incorrectly in my opinion) that most of what is contained in the passion narratives is prophecy being historicised.

Finally we return to Wright again who nicely summarises his defence of the bodily resurrection of Jesus. People in those days knew that dead people stayed dead, Jesus undoubtedly died because the Romans were expert executioners and that when first century Jews talked about resurrection they solely meant bodily resurrection. Suchet wraps things up, though his closing summary is rather poor. Overall however, this is a solid introduction to Jesus' life, handsomely photographed (barring the flyovers of models which were a bit distracting) and well acted, defly providing a traditional view of the story of Jesus and his extraordinary life.

The Easter Experience

It's amazing how quickly things change. When I was growing up the cutting edge of religious film was watching a grainy copy of Treasures of the Snow on VHS. These days things are very different, not only have laptops, projectors and video clips become commonplace, but slickly made DVDs have replaced the rather banal adventures of Lucien and Annetts.

For my money The Easter Experience series ups the stakes even further. It's very much made with the same kind of care, attention, evocative lighting and high quality cameras that are found in Rob Bell's Nooma videos, but since much of the footage is a recreation of 1st century Jerusalem, then there are all kinds of additional factors such as costumes, make up and sets that producers City on a Hill have managed to get right as well.

The Easter Experience is basically a 6 part DVD based small group course. The DVDs come with a resources CD, and a group leaders book, around which to structure the sessions. The core of each session however is the 20 minute film that explains the theme. The videos are fronted by Kyle Idleman, and whilst his voice plays throughout each film, the images change from shots of the action to shots of him sat on set as if he has entered Jesus' world. Some of the dialogue can also be heard in the recreated sections.

It's unfortunate that Idleman immediately reminds you of Rob Bell. The films exude the same quality and commitment to doing things right. Both Idelman and Bell are youngish leaders of big churches. They are both good-looking, fashionable and good in front of a camera. Their theology may differ, but it's hard to see The Easter Experience without thinking of Nooma even though the two projects are entirely different.

A more significant influence on these films would appear to be The Passion of the Christ. Certainly set design and lighting have been inspired by Gibson's film, and this is certainly not a DVD series that shies away from Jesus' suffering. Idelman's church is inerrantist so it's no surprise that those who had concerns over the portrayal of the Jewish race in The Passion will be a little uncomfortable with the occasional moment here.

The series works its way through the event leading up to Jesus' death and his resurrection. Part One - My Life has a Purpose - tackles Jesus washing the disciples' feet and contrasts it with the actions of Judas who is arranging to betray his master.(As an aside, Judas looks like the offspring of Colin Blakley and Peter Dinklage). Session Two - My Life Can Change - looks more at Peter's betrayal and (ultimately) his restoration. Three and Four - My Pain is Understood and My Life has a Plan - explore Jesus' suffering and crucifixion, partially through Mary's eyes in the latter episode. The fifth episode - I Have the Promise of Eternal Life - focuses on the repentant thief at Jesus' side. Idleman speculates here as to the thief's prior life, intending to ultimately enable the audience to relate to the character and make the link between him and them, and Jesus' forgiveness of both. Finally, as would be expected, the final session - My Hope is Secure - looks at what Jesus' resurrection means for us today.

Perhaps the series' biggest weakness however is the actor playing Jesus. Of course our opinions over portrayals of Jesus are highly subjective, but personally Shane Shooter's portrayal just didn't hit the mark. Sooter is also the film's director and I don't think is ability in front of a camera matches his talent behind it.

But overall this is a very good series of films, and perhaps the best DVD small group course I have ever come across. The theology is more conservative than my own, but its message is certainly communicated well and the images are beautifully shot. It might be pushing it to buy this in time to run a lent course this year, but it would be just as suitable for a Holy Week programme, or even small group seeker-friendly course at any time of the year. Trailers for each episode are available to view online.

Big Book Media

For ages now I've been meaning to write something about Big Book Media, known in the US as The Liturgy Series. They've produced a series of films about Jesus' life, available on DVD or for download, for churches and for schools. So far they have either concentrated on key moments in Jesus' life (The Story of the Nativity, The First Easter) or the Gospel readings from the Lectionary.

Big Book sent me a couple of their DVDs to review, and I like what I've seen. The films themselves are shot with high quality film (or digital equivalent!) on location in Ouarzazate, so the producers have clearly invested heavily in the project, and this is obvious from watching them. In addition to looking authentic, almost every shot is really well composed.

The films themselves, at least those that I have seen, narrate a section of scripture over the top of the action on screen, so there's almost no diegetic sound. The result is rather curious giving the films a documentary feel which is well suited to their intended use in churches and schools, though it might not be quite what everyone is looking for. It's possible to turn off the narration, but keep the background music and sounds which might work well to accompany some kind of meditation.

The schools-targeted DVDs, branded as 3 Wise Camels, feature ex-Blue Peter presenter Diane-Louise Jordan doing the voiceover, but the images are just the same. The website suggests that these are suitable for 3-11s, but my feeling is that this is a little low. My daughter is four, and pretty bright, but I think most of this would be above her head. Likewise I could imagine that a good number of those aged 12 would appreciate it too.

British actor Selva Raslingam (currently appearing in Prince of Persia) makes an excellent, middle-eastern Jesus, moving well away from the sadly still typical blondish haired, blue eyed Anglo-Saxon of so many other portrayals, and the fact that he is not typically good-looking all adds to the sense of authenticity. Incidentally, Raslingam also played the lead role in Channel 5's The True Story: Herod the Great.

The series has been put together by David Batty, who both produced and directed Channel 4's Christianity: A History series last year as well as a number of Robert Beckford's documentaries such as Secrets of the 12 Disciples and The Hidden Story of Jesus. Delirious? fans may also recognise these films from the video to their Easter 2010 hit "History Maker" which, I suppose, is a good place to go to get something of a feel for these films.