Last days in the desert (Rodrigo Garcia, 2015): USA

Reviewed by Maxime de Rooij. Viewed at the AFI Fest 2015 in Hollywood.

I saw this awesome and impressive movie and after the movie I saw the director and two main actors. They told us something about the movie and there was an opportunity to ask questions. I really like it that the AFI festival does this so you learn more about the movie and know more about the story.

This wonderful movie is directed by Rodrigo Garcia. Jesus is played by Ewan Mcgregor. Jesus meets a family in the desert, the father is played by Ciaran Hinds, the mother is played by Ayelet Zurer and the son is played by Tye Sheridan. The demonic woman is played by Susan Gray.

In the movie we follow Jesus during the 40 days of prayer in the desert. He meets a family that lives in the desert. You see the nature of faith, doubt and the shifting bonds between fathers and sons. The son wants to go to the city but also wants to be a good son. The mother is dying. Jesus struggles with the devil over the fate of a family in crisis, setting a dramatic test for himself.

In the scene that they going to try to take a rock piece every emotion is coming up. The father is going down to cut the rock. He is tied with a rope to Jesus and his son but his son has a knife and wants to cut the rope. Then the father falls. They try to put him up the cliff. When he is almost on the cliff, his son and Jesus can’t hold him and you see the face of the son in anxiety to lose him, but the father died. Here you see the doubt and love for the father from the son. The son is going to build up his own life and Jesus makes a end to his trip. Jesus’ crucification is an interesting part.

In the end you see two tourists in the place where the family lived and where Jesus was. This was definitely a scene to realize that we can walk on places where a lot happened in the past. That was interesting.

The main character, Jesus, has long hair and wears brown/grey/white clothes, I think Jesus looked like this in real life too. There are not a lot of close ups, only from the sick mother. You see a lot of landscape in the shots and in the background. When the father falls down the cliff you hear a hard scary sound effect which makes it scary and intense. When Jesus gets crucified you see the sun in the background. It feels like god, his father, is there for him.

I know the stories from Jesus’ life but this time the story is different. It is a part of Jesus’ life story with another story during it. It is interesting to see. If you like to see Jesus’ life story and drama, love and faith then this is definitely a movie you would want to see.