By REY FLORES
It is said that to know God is to love Him. It is also said that to truly embrace our faith, we must know our faith. The stories of the apostles in their efforts to establish the one true Church founded by Jesus Christ are so very important for us to know.
While the daily readings or just making the effort to read our Bible or works of the Church fathers are certainly important, films like this one can be a great way to introduce ourselves to the founding of our Church.
The incredible faith and the sufferings of Jesus’ most ardent followers are stories to be learned, shared, treasured, and cherished. It is with great joy that we now have a film — Paul, Apostle of Christ — which shows the struggles of Paul as he faced a very hostile and violent anti-Christian Rome ruled by Emperor Nero.
Practicing one’s Christian faith in those early days of the Church in Rome often meant a death sentence brought about by horrific means. Nevertheless, the early Church continued to serve despite all the adversities.
In the film, Luke, played by actor James Caviezel, risks his own life when he goes to the city of Rome to visit Paul, who is held captive in Nero’s cruel prison. Nero’s persecution of Christians was relentless, so Paul is only one of the many who suffered and was martyred for the faith.
I must say that, at first, I found it difficult to accept Caviezel as the Apostle Luke, rather than as Jesus, which the actor so wonderfully portrayed in Mel Gibson’s Passion of The Christ years ago. Caviezel, however, is a gifted actor and I watched the rest of the film finally having accepted him as Luke.
Paul is excellently played by actor James Faulkner, who is mostly known by his work in the television drama Game of Thrones. We see how the most infamous persecutor of Christians transforms into the most influential apostle of Jesus Christ.
Before Paul’s death sentence can be enacted, Luke resolves to write another book, one that details the beginnings of “The Way” and the birth of what will come to be known as the Church.
Bound in chains, Paul’s struggle is internal. He has survived so much — floggings, shipwreck, starvation, stoning, hunger and thirst, cold and exposure — yet as he waits for his appointment with death, he is haunted by the shadows of his own past as persecutor of Christians.
The movie was written and directed by award-wining screenwriter Andrew Hyatt who also brought us the terrific film Full of Grace which follows Mary of Nazareth as she spends her final days on Earth helping establish the early Church.
In some gruesome scenes — which are brief, but nevertheless affecting and frightening — we see Christians being tied to poles on the streets and used as human torches to light the streets of Rome. For this reason alone, I would probably not take small children to see this film. Another thing is that there is plenty of dialogue which would probably lose the interest of younger viewers as well. It well deserves its PG-13 rating.
As usual, I encourage all of you to support these films especially on their opening weekends. It is with our actions and our pocketbooks that we send a clear and strong message to filmmakers and movie studios that there truly are large audiences for these types of good, Christian films.
Paul, Apostle of Christ opens in theaters nationwide on Friday, March 23. Visit www.PaulMovie.com to view the trailer and to order individual and group tickets.
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(Contact Rey Flores at reyfloresusa@gmail.com.)
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