Paul, Apostle of Christ (2018)

Directed by: Andrew Hyatt | 108 minutes | drama, history | Actors: Jim Caviezel, James Faulkner, Olivier Martinez, Joanne Whalley, John Lynch, Yorgos Karamihos, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Alessandro Sperduti, Alexandra Vino, Manuel Cauchi, Noah Huntley, Kenneth Spiteri, Anthony Edridge, André Agius, John-Paul Pace Erica Muscat

Religion should connect people and offer comfort. Believing in a powerful supreme being and drawing support from the fact that every human being has a plan drawn up by an entity greater than humanity itself is a belief in life. Besides a way of life, religion is also big business. In America, for example, Christian movies and music are produced continuously. There is even a movement of Christian death metal! So there is certainly a market for religious entertainment. Well, entertainment is a big word. You don’t watch a movie like ‘The Passion of the Christ’ for pleasure. That film showed the agony (read: torture) of Christ in the bloodiest detail. ‘Paul, Apostle of Christ’ does not go that far, but this is certainly not easy.

‘Paul, Apostle of Christ’ revolves around Paul, later also known as Saul of Tarsus. When he is held by Nero in Rome, he is visited by Lucas who risks his life. Nero plans to execute the Christians. While Paul awaits his execution, Luke writes a book about the so-called way and the birth of what will later become the church. Meanwhile, Paul is severely tortured and tormented by his past crimes.

The ‘problem’ with Bible films is that they are difficult to follow without prior knowledge. The characters are not featured, because the film expects the viewer what the background of these people is. For the layman, the characters remain rather flat. That also applies to ‘Paul, Apostle of Christ’. That doesn’t mean this is a bad movie, though. On the contrary. A lot of time and money has clearly been spent on this production. The costumes look good, the sets look very nice and the special effects are also perfectly fine. The acting isn’t bad, but the suffocating atmosphere is hard to digest.

This religious film is very heavy and loaded. The cast’s play is heavy and there is no room for air. The subject is quite intense for believers, so is the atmosphere. Infidels will have to take ramblingly explained characters for granted and withstand bombast. If you believe in Paulus then this is definitely recommended, because this neat film looks slick and was made with respect for the source material.