Too many fans seem to be blown away

Sick Product of a Sick System

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Admirable film.

A slow burning affair that will have many reaching for the off button or catching a quick nap during proceedings, Rodrigo Garcia visually striking and occasionally touching interpretation of Jesus's time of 40 days and 40 nights of fasting isn't a film for everyone but considering the other faith based films that have come our way over recent times, The Last Days in the Desert is a cut above other similar fair.Joining Jesus's last portion of his experience as he travels back towards Jerusalem through the solemn desert, tempted as he goes, only for him to find a place of resting and meaning with Ciaran Hind's poor farming family consisting of a sick wife and depressed son, whose played rather disappointingly by Tye Sheridan.With this, Garcia is less concerned with focusing on Jesus's more solitary trip, rather the "what if" scenario of his dealings with such a family and the moral choices he makes within his time with them, as he too continues to ponder his important future that lay at the end of his trip.Played surprisingly by Ewan McGregor, who makes little to no effort at hiding his far from suitable linage in concerns to playing the Middle Eastern messiah but makes it work by the films later stages, we do get a great sense of feeling at the enormity of Jesus's path that he must follow and even though we get no glimpses of miracles or out of the ordinary occurrences, the story humanises Jesus's to the point that he feels like an ordinary man, set forth on an extraordinary journey and it's a nice point of difference from other such films that would prefer to focus on the miraculous, over the everyday.It would've been an easy sell or a more obvious choice for Garcia to go all out and let his imagination run wild but the most out-there we get is McGregor playing off against McGregor as the prince of this world assumes the form of Jesus as he tries to cloud his judgement of what is to come.The other detail working in Garcia's film favour is the stunning work of Terrence Malick's DOP Emmanuel Lubezki who captures the unforgiving lands of the Middle East with stunning authority.Anyone familiar with Malick's more recent works will be able to instantly pinpoint the skills of the world class cinematographer as his camera glides over the dusty landscape and follows the cast on their various strolls and combined with Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans classy score, Last Days feels like a polished and assured production, even if its fanfare free release suggests it wasn't going to be the case.Final Say – At times to slow and ponderous to ever threaten to become a must-see with slightly too much focus on Hind's and his family, Garcia who has shown a wise hand with fine dramas like Mother and Child and Nine Lives delivers an above average interpretation of a well-known Bible story and The Last Days in the Desert ends up becoming a quietly moving portrait of a human being unlike any other that was set on upon a path of greatness.3 big bed bugs out of 5

I have a fairly calm enough demeanor to sit down and enjoy a movie such as this particularly if I enjoy the subject matter. The first half of the movie was interesting watching McGregor develop the character but if you are watching a movie about Jesus, the savior of the world you expect a little more than an ineffective, indecisive individual in a quandary over typical human problems. Hello! Jesus was supposed to be one of the wisest men that ever lived, oh yea, even more than a man as you have heard and I don't think He just got wise between the desert and walking out. Family counseling should have been a breeze. And so you are telling me that he does not have more direction for this family than an occasional minor tid-bit of timid advice.Once that character realization sets in and the downbeat, even depresso soundtrack establishes itself the movie for me is setting on thin ice. I love to give movies a chance because i have seen many pull themselves out of some real nosedives but not here. The ending just drags the movie down into the ditch of what ever it was supposed to mean.So Jesus, the Son of God cannot pull a man up and save him from a fatal fall and then leaves a woman abandoned in the desert not long after her son abandons her meaning Jesus fully abandoned her when he walked away. Did He leave her for dead or did he heal her and then leave her abandoned and alone in the desert? As Jesus leaves the tent the devil blurts out "who do you think you are?", so apparently Jesus did heal her but still left her. Not the Jesus most of us know.For the Christian this movie would have zero inspiration and for anyone else there is little reason to even investigate this man from Galilee. If someone is wanting to bum others out on Jesus then this would be an effective movie and is the one effective thing about it.As for the ending it reflects the typical "realist" skeptic view that Jesus was only a man. A crucifixion, a burial and then apparently Mary and her entourage waiting outside the tomb and then no resurrection or anything even symbolizing it. A hummingbird floats just in front of Jesus's face as he dies on the cross. Nice touch but.... If the director wants to show tourists at the same location on the cliff where the father died and i take it that is what is intended then fine but is this story of Jesus just a story out of history where tourists come to take pictures or is there more?Not in this movie.

This is one film that I have been waiting to see since January 2015. After it premiered at the Sundance film fest and received solid praise out of the gate, I was looking forward to it. But was it picked up for a wide release? No it was not. So, nearly a year and a half later it has finally hit shelves. Recently the box office has had an abnormally high amount of pandering faith driven religious films. Which isn't really a bad thing. They certainly know their audience, and they have cornered the market for their films. That being said, this isn't one of those films. Seeing a movie that is largely religion based you normally see the typical one sided, you're wrong and we are right thing. I am happy to say that this doesn't do that. This adaptation is about Jesus, playing out in an imagined portion of his forty days of fasting in the desert. As he is trekking through the desert on his way home, he encounters a small family. He quickly realizes that they are in turmoil of emotional proportions. He decides that their needs out way his own and attempts to aid them. The story mainly takes place during this period of time. Now this movie could have been so incredibly dull. The main story is fairly thin and it doesn't exactly move around that much. But writer/director Rodrigo García has infused this film with palpable emotion. The more we learn about this small family the more we realize that they are pretty dysfunctional.The father and son don't see eye to eye on anything and the mother is laying on her death bed for the entirety of the films run time. For me the scenes between the son and father really struck true. I often have experienced the same communication issues with various people that these two do. Where you want to say something but don't know how and before you know it, the moment to express that feeling has pasted.As these issues become more prevalent the more you just want them to work it out. This creates some real drama with in these scenes. But the shining moments of the film come in the short encounters between Ewan McGregor and Ewan McGregor. Who plays both Jesus and the devil. The conversations that they have point out both sides of the religion spectrum.It presents interesting arguments for both parties. Which honestly helps you feel what Jesus is feeling. The whole point of Jesus's desert journey was to be put on trial to see if he could over come any adversity that the devil could come up with. So when the film puts him through these temptations and presents interesting arguments for either side, it helps you get into the characters shoes.That being said this film still has a story that is thin as paper. So when you get outside the family drama it can be rather dull. The beautiful cinematography by Lubezski can carry one through a few scenes but not too many. There are some scenes where we watch McGregor just pace around the rocky terrain for long periods of time. And it left me longing for something, anything to happen.This movie may not be the religious experience some people are looking for but it's really a breath of fresh air in a genre that had little going for it. It seems to have a keen grasp on the story it's adapting and does so with no shortage of grace. It offers excellent performances, beautiful visuals, an insightful story, and characters that you can actually get invested in. If it weren't for the thin plotting and some dull sequences this would truly be an excellent film. But considering all it does right it's definitely worth a watch.

The concept of doing a movie about Christ's 40 days in the Desert is very intriguing. The idea of His trials and tribulations being tempted by Satan and battling his destiny as the Savior of the world would fascinate any Christian audience. The character of Jesus the Man and not Jesus the Son of God is present. The audience is not witnessed to any miracles or sermons. Instead, we see Jesus the young Rabbi and Carpenter and instead of making grand speeches, we see a soft spoken Man trying to be a family psychologist as he tries to help a family He meets while in the Desert. This is very different from your average movie about Jesus Christ. As he tries to deal with being the Son of God he comes across a Father and Son that have troubles of their own. Jesus tries to help in more ways than one and this takes up about 80% of the movie. The movie has many odd moments including a few times when Satan messes with Jesus throughout the Desert. Although this is an interesting concept and I enjoyed the originality of the movie, I feel it falls short. The movie should have been all about the Desert and how it impacted Jesus. We really don't see a difference in Jesus or any character development by the end of the movie. The relationship between Jesus and Satan was also weird. They go from being Enemies, which is obvious, to almost sympathetic friends. Their relationship could have used some more time to focus on. Finally, my biggest gripe with the movie is the ending. I felt the last ten minutes should have been cut entirely. We witness the Crucifixion and the Burial, but not the Resurrection. This decision by the Director, along with having the modern day scene at the very end, is up for debate. Why he decided to include this needs to be questioned and defended. My only opinion on showcasing this is whether or not it is needed for the story line. After all, this is about Jesus in the Desert, nothing else. I felt the ending took away from the plot of what Jesus was doing for those 40 days and why it is important to the overall Character. I feel the movie failed to show us that. Granted we can make parallels between Jesus and God and the Father and Son characters. Still, from what transpires between the characters, is anything learned from their decisions? Overall, Jesus becomes more and more a side character as the Family takes center stage. If the theme of loyalty is the overall message from the movie, the question remains, is it obvious?