By Jessilyn Lancaster
Actor Nicolas Cage will take on the biblical mantle of Joseph, the father of Jesus, in THE CARPENTER’S SON.
Cage joins FKA Twigs as Mary and Noah Jupe as Jesus in horror movie that follows the family in Jesus’ teenage years, an apparent reimagining of the apocryphal gospel of Thomas.
“A stopover in a small settlement unleashes growing chaos when a mysterious stranger (Isla Johnston) tries to entice young Jesus to abandon his devout father’s rules,” per the movie description. “With every pull of temptation, the boy is lured into a forbidden world, as a terrified Joseph realizes that a demonic power is at work. Violent, unnatural events inexplicably follow Jesus, and he begins to experience nightmarish visions of the future. Finally, he learns the fearsome truth about his new playmate, as well as the child’s real name: Satan.”
Thus far, the movie has been met with intense backlash.
Newsweek reported several Google reviews slammed the movie before its release:
Related: Nicolas Cage Fears AI Will ‘Steal My Body’
A Google review from user David Badin reads: “A disgusting attempt to defame and mock the Christian faith. The phrase most used in the Bible is ‘do not be afraid’- this false, twisted, horror is blasphemy and holds a very dark agenda.”
“This is blasphemy when I first saw this trailer I thought it’s going to be a normal Christian movie but when I rewatched the trailer I realized that this movie makes me want to barf,” another Google review read.
A third Google reviewer wrote: “disgusting, blasphemous, satanic potrayal of Jesus, Jesus is not the Devil, he isn’t evil, he doesn’t hurt his people, he would never do any of these things, te fact that Hollywood hasn’t learnt their lesson since the LA fires earlier thsi year proves how evil they are, because they know they wont make it to heaven and they want others to fall down with them.”
Satan’s temptation of Jesus has been addressed through cinema for years, with some movie adaptations holding faithful to the true biblical accounts such as THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST, while other adaptations, like THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST, embracing blasphemy.
With no true biblical account of Jesus teenage years, THE CARPENTER’S SON may prove troublesome for faith-filled believers, especially at a time when the majority of Americans report consuming Christian media at least once a week, according to a joint report from Barna and National Religious Broadcasters.
Even non-Christians are beginning to embrace faith-filled projects at the box office.
THE CHOSEN Creator Dallas Jenkins told the LA TIMES that 30-40% of its audience are not regular churchgoers or traditional believers.
“It is the greatest story ever told…but it’s always been on stained-glass windows, or statues,” Jenkins said. “There’s a formality to it, a rigidity to it. And what we keep hearing over and over from nonbelievers is, ‘Yeah, I’m not a Christian. I don’t go to church…But this is a great story, and I love seeing a Jesus that laughs with his friends at weddings and dances and tells jokes…and has a lot of the same human experiences that we do.’”
THE CHOSEN is not an anomaly, either. Wonder Project’s HOUSE OF DAVID will start it’s second season soon, SOUND OF FREEDOM proved to be an absolute box office juggernaut in 2023 and this year’s KING OF KINGS broke records previously held by 1998’s PRINCE OF EGYPT.
The renewed interest in Jesus’ life is happening off-screen, as well.
CBS News reports that America is seeing a surge in baptisms as people give their lives to Christ.
“We wanna see America experience the goodness kindness of Jesus and respond to the great commission in Matthew 28, which is to go into all the world to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them,” Pastor Mark Francey of Oceans Church told CBS. Francey and his church recently participated in Baptize America, which drew participation from more than 650 churches nationwide, with around 30,000 people baptized.
There’s also renewed interest in some of the older sects of Christianity, with celebrities like Kat Von D converting to Orthodox Christianity; Mark Wahlberg, HOUSE OF DAVID’s Michael Iskander and THE CHOSEN’s Jonathan Roumie embrace Catholicism, and THE CARPENTER’S SON director Lofty Nathan will draw on his Coptic Christian background for the new movie.
While drawing on the Christian faith may inspire the entertainment industry, the powers that be would do well to remember to hold to the truth of Scripture and not twist it for narrative, lest they blaspheme Christ.
Read Next: Nicolas Cage Slows Acting Career for Family: ‘What’s Important’
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
– Content: +2Share:
– Content: +1