Watch The Young Messiah For Free

Very Cool!!!

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

This movie was stunning and very well done! The story is completely original, the visuals are beautiful and the performances are put together in a unique way. I thought the kid who played young Jesus was great! I have read the original source material by Anne Rice before and I thought they did excellent with the same formula. As a christian, this movie is a one of a kind viewing. Great job! 9/10

. . . then a Harry Potter movie broke out. All the elements of J.K. Rowling's Beloved Batch of children's stories are present in THE YOUNG MESSIAH flick, with the exception of Hogwarts School (perhaps the producers of this controversial flick are saving that for a possible sequel--when you grab a random name from History, and then invent 99% of your plot and dialogue, you theoretically can create a Never-Ending-Story, along the lines of the seemingly infinite but self-confessed fictional film franchises for James Bond and Star Trek). In the role of boy wizard Harry, a seven-year-old lad dubbed "Jesus" here amazes his peer group of fellow youngsters by transforming things and bringing critters or people to life, left and right. Filling the Muggle part of Harry's Cousin Dudley Dursley is a similarly husky bully named Eleazer. THE YOUNG MESSIAH's Hermione counterpart seems to be a winsome and doting female cousin to Jesus. Since you cannot have a Harry Potter without He Who Must Not Be Named (VOLDEMORT!), there's an unnamed character here that's omnipresent at THE YOUNG MESSIAH's elbow (SATAN!). One could go on, or you can see the picture for yourself.

How to make a period piece about Jesus. Jewish males have absurdly black beards and are all cock-sure in their self-righteousness. All the priests are Downton Abbey arrogant. Evil characters are dissolute or ludicrously effeminate. Roman soldiers are craggy tough guys with a five-day stubble, but open to the truth.When you have precisely zero historical information to go on, you make things up. Just as early map makers put imaginary lands in the blank places, people made up stories to fill in the long gap in Jesus' narrative. This film incorporates a couple of items from early pseudo-Gospels. The film opens with a seriously unsavory episode of Jesus being bullied. Jesus is a picture-perfect child with long wavy hair and a veddy British accent. The bully trips and falls and is killed, and Jesus is blamed, but brings him back to life again. The family decides it's time to leave their exile in Egypt and go home, and encounter a succession of vignettes to show just what a bad neighborhood Galilee was back then.The film gets better once it develops a focus. Like the far better "Risen," the film becomes something of a procedural. Herod junior has heard rumors of a wonder-working child and dispatches centurion Severus to find him. They got a good actor (Sean Bean) to play Severus, but Herod is a whiny, superstitious wimp. Severus and his troops clomp around Galilee, finally learn that Jesus and his family are on the way to the Temple (No, not the same visit as recorded in the gospels - Jesus is eight in the movie, not twelve). Jesus talks to a blind priest and in the process cures him. Severus sees this, realizes he's up against something beyond him, and lets the family go. He returns to Herod and reports that he killed the child (i.e., lies), pointing out that it was Herod's order.The other intertwined plot is that Jesus is just beginning to become aware that he's special, and Joseph stubbornly refuses to answer his questions. So Jesus looks first to the rabbi in Nazareth, then prods his family to take him to Jerusalem. Jesus is a typical eight year old, if you know any eight year olds who look 14, and have the theological knowledge of a rabbi and the diction and vocabulary of an English Lit professor. Did Jesus ever fall and skin his knee? Did he ever bang his thumb with a hammer, cut himself, measure something wrong or split a piece of wood in the carpenter shop? Because any sign that Jesus was ever less than omnipotent and omniscient is bound to rattle some people.

Despite some literary license taken with the Bible, the movie still offers great food for thought for considering what Jesus's developmental days might have been like...for Jesus and for all concerned in his presence.The acting is superb (far better than "Risen") with a beautiful Biblical backdrop. The director focuses often on facial close-ups and the actors respond with looks that offer more than words might describe.Sara Lazaro is perfect as Mary. Sean Bean outstanding as Severus. Adam Greaves-Neal carefully crafts a compelling young Jesus.Bible readers know Jesus' first recorded miracle didn't happen till much later and the Wise Men didn't appear right at Jesus' birth, but putting that aside (and the slip-on sandals...I don't think those were that popular then) the movie explores some complexities that might not always be considered when thinking of a young Jesus and overall succeeds in doing it in an uplifting, yet not hokey manner.