Similar to such films as The Robe and Ben-Hur, The Final Inquiry-a 2006 Italian release-introduces the usual trope of a Roman who journeys to Jerusalem where he finds Jesus and ends up converting to Christianity. Here Daniel Liotti stars as Titus Valerius Taurus, a high-ranking Roman officer who is summoned by Emperor Tiberius (Max von Sydow) to conduct an "inquiry" into whether reports of the resurrection of a mysterious Jesus in the Roman province of Judea are true.
Accompanying Titus is his manservant, Brixos (Dolph Lundgren), a soldier captured during Titus' campaign against the "Barbarians" in Germania. Brixos provides the bulk of the fight scenes during the less than action-packed narrative.
Only one problem with this whole idea that Titus hooks up with various "Christians" when he arrives in Jerusalem. Emperor Tiberius definitively died in the year 37 CE. Most scholars agree that the earliest New Testament writings-the Epistles of Paul-date back to the 50s. The first definitive mention of Christians in Roman Sources wasn't until the 2nd Century.
So Titus "meet and greet" with an already formed Christian movement that early on seems like wish fulfillment on the part of the film's scenarists. Even more questionable than the timeline discrepancies are the treatment of the Jewish people in The Final Inquiry narrative.
In all these Christian Bible stories (including those found in the original source material of The New Testament) the Jewish characters who become Christians never seem very Jewish at all. This is probably because the Gospel writers knew little about Judaism and only had a superficial knowledge about what Jewish people were like.
Judaism was a highly regarded religion at the time this film purportedly took place so to suggest that Christianity was supplanting Judaism as an "improved version" proved to be a highly effective strategy in converting the target population: eager pagans who were attracted to the egalitarian Christian philosophy.
Unfortunately the Jewish characters here who fail to convert however are basically depicted as a venal lot. Right away they're shown stoning a woman to death on grounds of adultery. As others have pointed out here, the death penalty in Judaism was rare and anyone accused of breaking the law had to go before the Sanhedrin, in effect the Jewish judicial body at the time, where deliberations were never conducted as a "rush to judgment."
More accurate is the depiction of Pontius Pilate (Hristo Shopov) who is rightly depicted as a tyrant. In this scenario he's the one who attempts to quell rumors of Jesus' resurrection by paying thugs to fraudulently pawn off another man's corpse as the "Son of God." Later he organizes a plot to cast doubt on the resurrection story by suggesting that "miracles" are concocted through the use of drugs that induce a coma-like state.
The main plot has Titus falling in love with Tabitha (Monica Cruz), a Jewish-Christian who is severely beaten by (wouldn't you know it) her JEWISH father Nathan (F. Murray Abraham). In an ex post facto resurrection tale, it's Jesus' main disciple Peter who comes and prays for the now dead Tabitha and she's resurrected (everyone seems to be getting in on the resurrection action, not only Jesus!).
It's sad that the Jewish people always seem to be presented as the usual bogeymen in Early Christian literature as well as updated chronicles such as this--and their Jewish-Christian counterparts (including the now converted Titus in this case), a bunch of saints!
Nothing about The Final Inquiry is something we haven't seen before. I would not recommend this for even casual viewing.
Accompanying Titus is his manservant, Brixos (Dolph Lundgren), a soldier captured during Titus' campaign against the "Barbarians" in Germania. Brixos provides the bulk of the fight scenes during the less than action-packed narrative.
Only one problem with this whole idea that Titus hooks up with various "Christians" when he arrives in Jerusalem. Emperor Tiberius definitively died in the year 37 CE. Most scholars agree that the earliest New Testament writings-the Epistles of Paul-date back to the 50s. The first definitive mention of Christians in Roman Sources wasn't until the 2nd Century.
So Titus "meet and greet" with an already formed Christian movement that early on seems like wish fulfillment on the part of the film's scenarists. Even more questionable than the timeline discrepancies are the treatment of the Jewish people in The Final Inquiry narrative.
In all these Christian Bible stories (including those found in the original source material of The New Testament) the Jewish characters who become Christians never seem very Jewish at all. This is probably because the Gospel writers knew little about Judaism and only had a superficial knowledge about what Jewish people were like.
Judaism was a highly regarded religion at the time this film purportedly took place so to suggest that Christianity was supplanting Judaism as an "improved version" proved to be a highly effective strategy in converting the target population: eager pagans who were attracted to the egalitarian Christian philosophy.
Unfortunately the Jewish characters here who fail to convert however are basically depicted as a venal lot. Right away they're shown stoning a woman to death on grounds of adultery. As others have pointed out here, the death penalty in Judaism was rare and anyone accused of breaking the law had to go before the Sanhedrin, in effect the Jewish judicial body at the time, where deliberations were never conducted as a "rush to judgment."
More accurate is the depiction of Pontius Pilate (Hristo Shopov) who is rightly depicted as a tyrant. In this scenario he's the one who attempts to quell rumors of Jesus' resurrection by paying thugs to fraudulently pawn off another man's corpse as the "Son of God." Later he organizes a plot to cast doubt on the resurrection story by suggesting that "miracles" are concocted through the use of drugs that induce a coma-like state.
The main plot has Titus falling in love with Tabitha (Monica Cruz), a Jewish-Christian who is severely beaten by (wouldn't you know it) her JEWISH father Nathan (F. Murray Abraham). In an ex post facto resurrection tale, it's Jesus' main disciple Peter who comes and prays for the now dead Tabitha and she's resurrected (everyone seems to be getting in on the resurrection action, not only Jesus!).
It's sad that the Jewish people always seem to be presented as the usual bogeymen in Early Christian literature as well as updated chronicles such as this--and their Jewish-Christian counterparts (including the now converted Titus in this case), a bunch of saints!
Nothing about The Final Inquiry is something we haven't seen before. I would not recommend this for even casual viewing.