Farce & Faith
PRAISE: TBOC is part comedy and satire. The story about Clarence living in A.D. 33 Jerusalem who looks to capitalize on the rise of Jesus Christ, by claiming to be a new Messiah sent by God, in an attempt to free himself of debt and start a life of glory for himself borrows a bit from the movies Barabbas and History of the World. The cast that was assembled for this movie is impressive LaKeith Stanfield, Omar Sy, RJ Cyler, Anna Diop, David Oyelowo, Micheal Ward, Alfre Woodard, Teyana Taylor, Caleb McLaughlin, and Eric Kofi-Abrefa and there are good performances from the cast.
I started to quickly recall the classic sword and sandal epics the movie nicely nods to. Clarence (LaKeith Stanfield) is a con man and a gambler but I'm glad they didn't make his character a coward. I thought his personal problems connected to his brother and his romance with Varinia all tied to trying to reach his goals in life were well played.
The infusion of modern day themes and terminology works here and there in the movie and it's also very funny at times.
I did appreciate the films messages about unwarranted hate and having strong faith.The dramatic moments in the film worked well for me and for the most part were actually moving.
PROBLEMS: The fact that Clarence is such a well known con man and his friends are also well known waters down a certain turning point in the movie. As the movie entered its last thirty minutes I could start to see how the movie just had to many ingredients in its pot making it boil over and what remained loses its flavor. The shift in tones became more obvious and jarring. Some things that occur in the latter part of the film should have been placed in the middle to give the movie more impact.
Side note:
Did I think the movie was blasphemous?
Not at all. There is no actual narrative from the Bible in the movie.The focus is on a man who lacks FAITH but seeks to find purpose. It's nothing that I have not seen before and done in animation,graphic novels and other satirical media.
Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½
