Reviews

There is nothing I enjoy more in a film than watching a good actor at work. I saw this movie years ago and recently watched it again and the same thing impresses me-- Gary Busey's performance as Tom Canboro. There is one line he says, with a gun in his face: "If you came to change my mind, you're too late" and he smiles in this amazing way. If you like character-driven stories (rather than pretty faces and special effects) you will enjoy this film.

Teens I watched the film with really responded to Nick Mancuso as the Antichrist, found him very creepy! It's good casting all around, actually; yet the message is not overshadowed by star-power (kudos to Busey for that).

This is a Christian film with a Christian message, delivered without a heavy hand; and the main character's spiritual process is 100% believable.

Richard Harris's moving performance is the centerpiece of this film, in which members of the early church, struggling for faith and reassurance in the face of violent persecution, are searching for John the Beloved, last of the living apostles, who is "hiding in plain sight" on the prison island of Patmos. However, don't ignore some very good performances by several of the others. The visions of John are depicted judiciously, considering the CGI available in 2000 and the budget (that is, they don't scream "made-for-TV"); the montages do not try to show every detail but give a general idea of the visions. To watch this is a good adjunct to reading Revelation, to remind one that these fantastic visions came to a real person in a very chaotic time.

As poor as my French is, I understood only about one-third of the dialog, and I still found this film enthralling. A heroic journey is undertaken by a group of young Masai warriors in an attempt to save their village from drought and death. They encounter dangers from nature and man along the way.

One of the most intriguing aspects to me is that there are surprising characteristics that emerge among the warriors, and the heroes are not who you might expect.

The film also has a highly authentic look to it. I have lived in Africa for several years and always cringe at the way village life is prettied- up in so many films; there is little of that here (but neither is it gratuitously gory).

I will definitely watch it again (hopefully with subtitles next time).