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Son of God | 2014 | PG-13 | - 2.6.2

This film records the birth, ministry, betrayal, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth (Diogo Morgado), as told by John the Revelator (Sebastian Knapp) in exile on the island of Patmos. Also with Darwin Shaw, Roma Downey, Greg Hicks, Amber Rose Revah, Adrian Schiller, Said Bey, Mathew Gravelle, Simon Kunz and Joe Wredden. Directed by Christopher Spencer. [2:18]

SEX/NUDITY 2 - Adam and Eve appear in a head shot with nude shoulders for a few seconds. In a sword practice scene (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details), a man is clothed in a loincloth and we see close-ups of bare thighs and lower legs, chest and abdomen. A newborn baby is shown nude and looks wet (we see no genitals). In a long shot, several men wearing loincloths are shown hanging from crosses. In a mid-range shot and a few close-ups, three men wear loincloths.

VIOLENCE/GORE 6 - As a darkly shadowed silhouette, a warrior shoves a large sword blade through a man and pulls it out (we see blood dripping from the blade). Soldiers on a dirt highway overturn a large cart on top of a child; the camera cuts to the mother as she cries over the dead boy whose face is red with blood on the forehead and cheek. In a long shot of a field we see many crosses on which men are lashed, bleeding from shallow slashes on shoulders and chest. A man dies on the cross after the sky blackens, winds roar and he prays; he slumps forward, no longer breathing as soldiers laugh, shoot dice and enjoy the crucifixions; at death, a soldier stabs the man in the side off-screen and brings away the red tip of a spear.
 Soldiers chain a man to a short post and two guards flog him with whips, as the pain causes shouts and screams; more lines of blood show, along with dark blood smears while the man trembles increasingly and nearly has a convulsion as a woman shouts, "They're going to kill him"; he is forced to carry a heavy wooden cross down a long street, while other men carry crosses across their shoulders following him as crowds of people cry and soldiers whip and beat him continually as he walks; he falls several times, a woman wipes his face with a cloth and a soldier kicks a cup of water out of her hand while two women in the crowd cry and embrace. Reaching a field after carrying a cross down a street, a man trembles as soldiers rip his long burlap garment from him, leaving only a loincloth before he crawls onto a cross, where his hands are lashed, and 8-inch nails are driven into his palms off-screen as the hands become blurry and the camera cuts away (we hear pounding and screams and we also see a nail through the insteps of the crossed feet).
 A man is covered head-to-toe in blood after profuse bleeding on a cross (blood drips from his forehead, hands, feet, mouth, nose and eyes); a man walks to the edge of town to a hill where he can see the city and tosses the end of a rope over a high tree limb; we see a noose around his neck as he steps off the hillside, descending quickly and the camera cuts to a view of his feet hanging in the air.
 A large protest group gathers at a Roman governor's home and demands clean water and he orders soldiers to beat them, kick and punch them and slaughter them with swords; the scene cuts to a ground covered with male and female bodies with dirt and some ants on their heads and faces and we see a little blood here and there, on a cheek, a hand and a forehead, a few times. Roman soldiers grab people in an street and force them to pay taxes by beating them with fists and sticks (no blood is shown). Two men fight over a chicken on a street and one man punches the other unconscious and the loser sinks off-screen. In sword practice a man is slashed across the shoulder and chest, with some blood flow as he shouts in pain and turns away from the camera.
 Soldiers with torches capture a man in a garden at night with his followers and fistfights ensue; another man cuts the ear of a soldier and the man heals it with a touch (we see the bloody sword fall to the ground) before he is dragged to jail in chains and manacles and with a black burlap bag over his head; in jail the man suffers kicks, punches, beatings with fists and whippings with cat o' nine tails as we see close-ups of him grimacing; the camera moves back to show bloody lash marks, blood smears and some clotting on the man's back and later on the burlap shirt placed on him; in a jail cell, he slides down a wall and leaves it bloody while later, soldiers push a crown of large thorns onto his head and he groans.
 A temple crumbles in an earthquake and winds, a long, wide curtain comes down and tall urns of fire for lighting crash to the ground and extinguish causing people to run, screaming; people at a crucifixion look frightened with the continued loud thunder and large bolts of lightning, the sky clears and a man is lowered from the cross in a sheet, which becomes bloody and we see his whole body caked in blood and dirt; the camera cuts to a scene of a woman washing the shoulders of the body and covering the face and head with a sheet and the camera then cuts to the inside of a tomb with the covered body on a slab and we see a stone rolled across the doorway as if we are still inside.
 A man has a vision of himself writhing on the ground and shouting in pain from bloody whip lashings; a man tells his friends at supper that this is the last meal they will have together before he dies and they all become tearful and one gets up and dashes out of the room; in the street, he spits a piece of bread out onto the ground and runs away; one man says to the man with the vision, "I will lay down my life for you."
 Two soldiers drag a crying woman and slam her down onto the dirt; she rises to her knees, wailing as several priests prepare to stone her until a man raises a stone in the air and says, "I will give my stone to the first man who has not sinned" causing the other men to drop their stones and walk away.
 A huge flood appears for a few seconds followed by a city exploding into flames smokes in the middle distance and Roman warriors marching with swords drawn. Two men are shown hanging from crosses in a field and their faces are covered in blood. A priest slits the throat of a half-grown sheep and we see blood flow.
 Many people call for a man to become king, but he looks troubled and walks away, saying that using force to become a leader is wrong; a violent, black-skied storm appears suddenly, with lightning and thunder as well as choppy water at sea; a dozen men and a woman move a boat into the sea and one man calls out, "It's a ghost," but it is a man walking on water; one of the men in the boat gets out and walks on the water until lightning and thunder distract him and he sinks, then the camera cuts to a view of him lying on his back on the shore, opening his eyes, and shuddering. A priest shouts to other priests that it is wrong to kill an innocent man and they back away in fear; meanwhile, a poor man throws 30 silver coins at a Roman governor in another area of the city and we see the coins fly in slow motion.
 Several crowd scenes depict hundreds of people cheering and crowding a man to touch him. Two scenes feature angry crowds chanting and shouting about not wanting to pay taxes and demanding water from Roman leaders. One scene shows a crowd shouting loudly for the crucifixion of a man. In several scenes, a Roman governor shouts loudly at a priest and at commoners. Each time a man is shown to be performing miracles, another man appears and shouts at him for committing blasphemy and once says that the man should be stoned. A dozen men and a woman argue about something that another man says. A man states that the scripture is fulfilled in him and another man begins to shout and claim that demons are responsible for his healings; a high priest later repeats the claim about demons. A man with long multiple and puckered scars from his temple to his chin agitates a crowd by mocking a man and spitting twice (we see spit leave his mouth and move off-screen).
 A woman sees a ghostly vision of a man as she enters an empty tomb and finds a shroud that is purplish with blood in the center; she runs to get a friend, who sees the empty tomb and alerts 10 other friends that the man is alive before the man appears to the men and for 40 days visits people and we see an open hole in his hand; he then vanishes from a hillside after speaking with his disciples. A man in exile on an island sees a vision of a man, who promises that life is eternal.
 A man walks into a temple and overturns merchants' tables, telling them the place is for prayer; merchants gather their goods and leave as he turns to a little girl and tells her not a stone of the temple buildings will be standing in the end and she laughs with him. A high priest tells several colleagues that a man wants to destroy the temple, leaving them nowhere to go, while the Romans will begin slaughtering people and that anyone who is contemptuous of a judge or a priest deserves death.

LANGUAGE 2 - Name-calling (fraud, agitator, murderer, false prophet, hypocrites, traitor, preacher, blasphemer, Miracle Man, King of the Jews, Messiah, Jew, The Prophet), stereotypical references to Galileans, soldiers, Roman leaders, Jews, corrupt priests, the rich, the poor and uneducated, tax collectors, 17 religious exclamations (e.g. Lord, My Lord, My God).

SUBSTANCE USE - Two scenes of communion show red wine being poured and it is referred to as the "blood of Jesus" while several men drink it from a common cup, and a man in a moving crowd carries a wine skin, but does not open it.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Jesus Christ, Pax Romana, Roman rule of Judea, martial law, anti-Semitism, differing religions, Pharisees, corrupt priests, hypocrisy, commitment, whipping, crucifixion, trust, fear, visions, betrayal, sin, blasphemy, redemption, miracles.

MESSAGE - A dozen people can change the world with a powerful message.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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