Review of A.D.

A.D. (1985)
10/10
A masterpiece which deserves more attention - the movie about the birth of christianity
27 February 2002
The team Anthony Burgess/Vincenzo Labella has after tremendous movies like "Jesus of Nazareth" and "Moses the Lawgiver" once again surpassed itself by retelling the story about the birth of christianity in such a fascinating and powerful way. Nothing compares to the profound "road to Emmaus-scene" which conveys the new hope in Christs resurrection in a very moving way. Dennis Quilley played Peter in accordance with Luke's descripion of him in the book of the acts. But the greatest performance was undoubtetly Philip Sayer as Paul who especially knew how to portray the change that took place in his character on the road to Damascus. Watching him in his role was seeing a vivid portrayal of what it means and takes to change from Saul to Paul. Nobody knows what Paul acctually looked like but everytime I hear the name Paul or think about this great apostle the image of Philip Sayer as Paul popes up in my mind - an astounding performance! The roman emperors Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero were depicted in a very impressive way. They even had some similarity with the real emperors busts which are still preserved. Apart from the wonderful spititual message this movie conveys it is as some other viewers already observed very accurate with historical details like f. e. Claudius who hid himself behind the curtain before he was hailed as Romes new emperor or Calebs mentioning of Pilates massacre among the samaritans that made him lose his position. Scenes like these were in absolute accordance with the historical records of the roman age. (A little flaw: baptisms were performed by immersion at that time) Not only the acting but also the music was first class! It couldn't have been better. I also wonder why this movie isn't available on DVD or at least on VHS.

To whom it may concern: Release it on DVD!
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