Movie Critique

Title: The Final Inquiry

Biblical films were made to deepen the faith of the Christian people and to convince the infidels to embrace the truth that Jesus Christ really exists. Good biblical films are hard to find. Most of them were made several decades ago. The Final Inquiry is an earnest Christian film that seems to be based on the story of Tabitha (Acts 9:36-42) in the Bible. The movie was directed by Giuleo Base. The director catches my interest to watch the full version of the movie it is because its title marks a big question to me on how it relates to the whole thought of the film. The movie started with a long shot to view the Roman Empire with the old emperor Tiberius (Max Von Sydow).The special effects represented by the lightning, the camera tricks and the artistic movement of the camera was applied to view the different scene in the movie. About the place of the scene and the costume they have was suited to the characters and culture of the people in ancient Rome and Jerusalem. The movie was very stimulating. The Actors and the leading character of the movie really get the interest of the viewers. Daniele Liotti a strong actor deserves the role of Titus Valerius Taurus for he possesses a character as a real warrior. Some viewers were expecting the total action and the art of fighting the way Titus presented in the scene. However the way they fight is very barbaric and not suited to the children. One thing that I like Titus is the way he value his friend behind the heart of a barbaric warrior. Titus was sent to Jerusalem by the order of the Roman emperor Tiberius to investigate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Titus travels towards Jerusalem with his body guard Dolph Lundgren wearing a heart of stone. He began his inquiry about his mission. While he goes on with his inquiry he discovers some events which make him puzzled. Titus met Tabitha the one who believe God who makes him fall in loved. As a part of his investigation he met Pontius Pilate and asks everything about his mission. He was deceived by Pontius Pilate. Pontius Pilate told him that Jesus was not resurrected however his body was stolen by his followers. Titus recovered the body of a man and examined it but he found out it was not the body of Jesus. In the other hand Pilate argued Titus and insists that the body they have examined was really Jesus who do not resurrect. Titus continued his mission until he was deceived for the second time. He met the men of Pilate also infidels and poisoned him which make him asleep for three days. His experience makes him conclude that the existence and the resurrection of Jesus are not true. Finally Titus as an infidel becomes a follower of Christ after he experience a miracle when Tabetha his love ones was save from death and rose again through the prayer of Simon Peter.

The title The Final Inquiry is suited to the thought of the whole film it is because every scene in the film was related to his mission just to investigate and to inquire every follower of Jesus if there was really resurrection happened in that place. Unfortunately his final inquiry was answered in a wrong way because it was manipulated by Pilate. Even Pilate deceive himself behind the truth, it is because he do not want that the people discover the miracle made by Jesus Christ. The film concludes and ended in the scene of the Jesus followers. Titus and Tabetha was close up in this scene portrays a happy relationship with their future baby. The director wanted to convince the viewer that the former Titus was converted from being a killer warrior to a faithful follower of the risen God. The best portion of the film is in the last fifteen minutes, when he takes measures to obtain the throne of Rome and puts into motion the first measures of oppression against the Christians. Shopov is a somewhat more caustic Pilate this time around, and events do tend to stray slightly from historical and scriptural representations, but it maintains a good pace and throws in many surprises along the way. I did not expect several events in particular to transpire and at all times I was concerned for the characters' welfare. It is not a wonderful film by any means but it's entertaining.

Prepared by: Grace Tuvilla