Review: The Bible

My title is slightly misleading.  I'm not going to review the actual Bible; my ego isn't that inflated.  I also don't think it's a good idea to take on The Almighty and tell Him what parts of His book worked and what didn't work so well.

I'm talking about the History Channel's miniseries The Bible.  It's a five-part miniseries, and as of this writing three of the five parts have aired.  So far the series has been very impressive from a technical standpoint.  The cinematography, music, special effects, and overall production values are excellent.  The acting has been solid as well, which isn't easy when spouting off lines about God and spirituality.  Many religiously-based films I've seen in the past have come off somewhat hokey, in my opinion, when bringing in spirituality in the mix.  Here, the writing has been at least decent, and in many cases very mature.

The series so far has not been nearly as family-friendly as previous Biblical epics have been (The Passion of the Christ notwithstanding).  Most of the biblically-based films made to date have been about either the teachings of Jesus, or centered around a single character from the Bible.  Here, the story starts off with creation, and jumps forward in time periodically to cover some of the most well-known stories throughout the entire Bible.

Like I said, the special effects are first-rate.  Moses parting the Red Sea and leading the Jews to freedom from the Egyptians was one of the most exciting sequences so far.  Last night's episode featured Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being set afire by King Nebuchadnezzar, and the CGI fire was extremely well-done.  I don't know for certain what the budget for the miniseries is, but it has to be along the lines of what some major Hollywood productions have been.

I mentioned how this isn't as family-friendly as other previous Biblical productions have been.  The violence in this series is borderline R-rated, filled with copious amounts of blood, brutality, and whipping.  Since this is cable television, I'm not saying it's anything close to the whipping scene in The Passion of the Christ (I could only watch about half that scene before I finally had to tilt my head down and wait for it to end), but it's certainly a far cry from the traditional Jesus of Nazareth miniseries that shows up on television every Easter.

I should mention that I'd glad and grateful that A&E chose to include the violence in this series.  One thing that has always upset me about many Christians today is their aversion to violence, even in The Passion of the Christ.  I've found it to be quite hypocritical to talk about Jesus being whipped and beaten by the Romans, leading to his crucifixion to die for the sins of mankind, but turn right around and never want to watch the actual brutality.  I won't spend too much time on my soap box about this subject since that's better saved for another blog post, but I will say I hope Christians do tune in to this miniseries and realize the violent stories contained in the Bible aren't just fun stories to share and inspire others.

If there is a complaint I have about this series, I would have to say I'm disappointed at the omission of several important figures and stories from the Old Testament.  There were plenty of great stories included, such as Abraham, Moses, David, and Samson, but the likes of Job, Jonah, and Joseph were all notably missed.  I'm sure they were left out for time reasons, considering this is a 10-hour miniseries.  Had there been twice the amount of time than what was provided, those figures who were left out could have very likely been added back in.

Part three ended with Jesus recruiting Peter to aid him in his quest to become "fishers of men."  I have to assume part four will be all about Jesus and his teachings, leading up to his crucifixion and resurrection.  The final part will probably be about the Apostles and Paul's writings, concluding with what is projected to happen when the End Times arrive.

Overall I'm very happy with the production, and I'm thrilled it's gotten great ratings so far.  If you haven't checked it out yet, the episodes that have aired so far are likely available on demand, and each 2-hour episode flows by very quickly.  I'd highly recommend checking it out.