Spirituality
Jim Caviezel (Luke) and James Faulkner (Paul) in Paul, Apostle of Christ, written and directed by Andrew Hyatt
APOSTLE OF LOVE Paul, Apostle of Christ opens with the saint as an ish and short. In 64AD a fire had destroyed much of the city. In a fit of old man, imprisoned in Rome by the Emperor Nero… spite, the Emperor had blamed the disaster on the new Christian “sect”. Luke (Jim Caviezel), the author of By Gerard Condon St Paul saw the Good News as the third Gospel, comes to visit his directed to all the nations. Despite erstwhile teacher. They had been com- OR SOMEONE with so much influ- the initial opposition of St Peter, he panions on some of Paul’s missionary ence on the history of Christianity, St quickly broadened the horizons of journeys. Conscious that the Apos- F Paul is remarkably absent from the the fledgling Christian community tles, like Paul, are now elderly, Luke is movies. He does feature as a rather beyond Israel. Using the extensive anxious to record their memoirs for anodyne figure in the 1951 epicQuo road and shipping routes of the Ro- posterity. He finds lodging with the Vadis; and there was a cheesy Italian man Empire, it is said that he trav- family of Aquila (John Lynch) and his miniseries (Paul of Tarsus) dedicated to elled some 20,000 kilometers on his wife Priscilla (Joanne Whalley), and the saint in 2000. This new film from missionary endeavors, establishing uses his skills as a physician to assist Sony Pictures has far better produc- Christian communities all over the those injured in Nero’s persecution. tion qualities and aims for a histori- eastern Mediterranean. He became The church in Rome was “at a cross- cally accurate portrayal of the Apostle known as “Paul,” the Greco-Latin ver- roads,” not sure whether “to continue to the Gentiles. sion of his name, rather than the He- to live in faith,” thereby risking the The reason for St Paul’s low pro- brew “Saul.” lives of everyone, or to escape to the file in the public imagination may relative safety of Ephesus or any of be that he is not mentioned in the Nothing more? the Greek cities where Christianity Gospels. Paul’s role in the Christian was better tolerated. story began after the Resurrection. A Paul, Apostle of Christ opens with leading Jewish Pharisee and persecu- the saint (played by James Faulkner) Pitiable state tor of Christians, he had a dramatic as an old man, imprisoned in Rome conversion on the road to Damascus, by the Emperor Nero. Grizzly and Luke is secreted to Paul’s cell un- after a blinding vision of the risen haggard, he resembles Shakespeare’s der the cover of darkness. He finds Jesus. In Christ he came to be “known King Lear as he peers through the him in a pitiable state, but as can- and loved by God,” in a new way, one bars of his cell and whispers, “Is there tankerous as ever, and humors him that released him from the heavy bur- nothing more?” The city and its deca- with fresh robes and ointment for his dens of the Jewish Law. dent ruler have made life nasty, brut- wounds. Soon enough, Luke’s pres-
42 MESSENGER OF ST. ANTHONY | SEPTEMBER 2018 Jim Caviezel with director Andrew Hyatt, who also directed Full of Grace, a movie on the life of Mary ence is detected and he is brought before the jailer, Marius Gallas (Oliver Martinez) a war-weary commander whose appointment to the jail had been a demotion. His daughter is ill and, realizing that Luke is a physi- cian, allows him to continue visiting Paul in the hope that he might also cure the child. The jailer’s wife, Iren- the Jewish faith, his role in the mar- of persecution. There is little enough ica (Antonia Campbell-Hughes), on tyrdom of St Stephen, and his conver- of Paul himself, certainly not as much the other hand, blames their child’s sion experience. as the title suggests. The movie feels illness on her husband’s association longer than its 108-minute runtime; with the Christians. Written tradition it is dimly lit and dialogue driven. Paul and Luke’s main concern is Caviezel’s efforts to lighten the mood to deliver a coherent and accurate ac- This movie is sympathetic to the with dashes of sarcasm largely fall count of the essence of the Christian language and content of the New Tes- flat. For dramatic effect, I would like faith. This task becomes more urgent tament. Like no other film up to now, to have seen something more of the when retaliation and revenge emerg- it portrays the transition from the vainglory of imperial Rome, and the es as an option among the younger oral tradition of the apostles to the folly of its decadent Emperor. But this male members of the underground written words of the New Testament. is not a sword-and-sandal epic. It was Church. Cassius (Alessandro Sperdu- Viewers who are familiar with the filmed over the single month of Sep- ti) argues that the Christians of Rome writings of St Paul will enjoy listening tember 2017, with a relatively small should strike back and impose the to their favourite quotations from the production budget of $5 million, in a justice of God on their enemies. Paul New Testament. Mine was the actor’s disused fortification in Malta. insists that the Christian message is use of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, on the one of forbearance and forgiveness: qualities of love; and his reference to Age of martyrs “We cannot repay evil with evil. Evil life being poured away like a libation can only be overcome with good.” (2 Timothy 4:3-8). Scripture scholars The movie closes with the martyr- Luke also begins his account of will appreciate how the movie accu- dom of Paul; though we are spared its the early Church, a work that would rately portrays the social context of gory details in this PG-13 rated film. become the Acts of the Apostles. Some the early Church, and the limited, The credits remind the viewer that of the best cinematic moments of the superstitious nature of the pagan reli- Christians around the world are still movie are flashbacks to the life of the gions it would replace. persecuted because of their beliefs. In younger Paul (played by Yorgos Kara- Paul, Apostle of Christ was written countries like Syria that persecution mihos), including his background in and directed by Andrew Hyatt. He has been no less traumatic than it was previously directed Full of Grace (2015) in first century Rome. a movie about the last days of Mary. As Western societies become more Each of the cast members gives a secularised, it is likely that Christians committed performance in convinc- will again find themselves on the mar- ing costumes, and makes good use gins of society and in conflict with an of the intelligent script. Of note to alien culture. Our gut reaction may be Christian audiences is Jim Caviezel, to withdraw to a safe haven or adopt a devout Catholic, who previous- a retaliatory stance. The popular God’s ly portrayed Jesus in Mel Gibson’s, not Dead series of movies are tinged The Passion of the Christ (2004). James with such a negative reaction to West- Faulkner, as Paul, conveys the strong ern society. This movie, however, en- willed character of the person we are couraged me to bear patiently with all familiar with from his writings in the forms of hostility. Our duty is never New Testament. to strike back; or as the character of On the downside, too much of St Paul puts it in this movie, “Love is the movie is taken up with the story the only way.” ✦
SEPTEMBER 2018 | MESSENGER OF ST. ANTHONY 43