The Body (2001)

Dogma, Stigmata, The Third Miracle, and now, The Body. It seems that the Catholic church has replaced jihad warriors and found their place along with blind communists (that dear old evil empire) and nazi concentration camp officers as Hollywood new favorite villain. Get real! I mean, even the priests depicted in those pictures wear roman collars when most hip-clerics nowadays try to look as secular as they can: Is it possible to have a real, serious film about faith and church? This picture didn't even get megaplex treatment. I wouldn't be surprised to see "The Mummy III: Meeting Torquemada", where Brendan Fraser is joined by Antonio Banderas and Sinéad O'Connor to battle Imhotep and Pius XII, who forged an alliance to kill jews, feminists and other politically incorrect victims. If you really want to see a decent film on people's quest for the trascendental, look for "The Apostle", "Left Luggage", "Thérèse", "Il vangelo secondo Matteo" ... or go to Bluckbuster and rent "The Mission".

Fmovies: The Body is a boring movie that attempts to join the new trend of movies that tackle the issue of religion and the anti-christ, christ-related stories ..etc This movie fails greatly. The story is quite stupid and naive. A priest leaves to Jerusalem, on a secret mission, to investigate the discovery of a body, a discovery that threats the whole Christian faith. Banderas, in his worst movie to date, fails to deliver. What we get instead is: Stupid action scenes, a boring "love story" that doesn't fit in the movie, and whats even more sarcastic is that the movie attempts to send a Political message that "Religion has no Place in Politics". Well I have two advises. One: Let the cast of this movie watch "Stigmata". Two: "This Body has no place in my Movie Library". Plain Rubbish 0/10

The premise behind this movie, that we might find physical proof that Jesus never really rose from the dead, was a mind-blowing thought for me. This movie covered all of the angst one might feel if such a finding were to occur. Antonio Banderas is excellent as a priest-researcher sent by the Vatican to explore the findings...and possibly squelch their existence to save the future of the Church. Olivia Williams gives an outstanding performance as an Israeli archaeologist who thinks she may have uncovered the greatest find in the history of mankind. This movie has intrigue, action, and thought-provoking subject matter. A must-see for Christians and non-Christians alike.

The Body fmovies. This movie has a plus side and a minus side:

-On the plus side,the fear a priest encounters when he discovers that bones found in a Jerusalem' s grave by an archaeologist might be Jesus 's ones.So if Jesus is a man,it's a whole religion which falls down;one should note that ,for that matter ,the Muslims' and the Jews ' religions stand in little danger of bringing this about.Antonio Banderas is very convincing,I do not know if the actor is a believer,but we do believe the character he portrays is.

-On the minus side,when the movie becomes a thriller (complete with kidnapping,shootings and priest becoming a superhero),it peters out.One can admit the Jews want to keep the Vatican from getting the bones,but that part is not better than a Van Damme flick.

Watch this movie anyway cause it asks disturbing questions.

What ever sins the makers of this film may have purportrated with a misleading trailer and extraneous action scenes to attract an audience must be forgiven in light of the theme they have so clearly stated... "God Has No Place In Politics". If an artists duty is to hold up a mirror to mankind in order for him to see himself in a true light, than the filmakers have done their job well. One need only to turn on CNN to see what pawns lawmakers and religious leaders will sacrifice in order to further their earthly agendas. That Jerusalem is the pawn in "The Body", and in the nightly news makes this film even more relevant than it could have ever been intended to be by its creators. That it waxes and wanes between action, thriller, and serious drama can only be attributed to the hands of those willing to manipulate the price of a ticket out of our pockets. If that is the case, than so be it, because unlike most of the popcorn movies of today, the body has something to say. And flawed, or perfect, it says it loud and clear. From the terrorist bombings in the streets of Jerusalem, to Antonio Banderas' brave portrayal of a priest who loses his faith. "God Has No Place In Politics", a noble theme for a movie, and a warning for the years to come -- from Belfast to Jerusalem.

Well, an Israeli widow, Olivia Williams, uncovers a hidden tomb in Jerusalem, and there is some suggestion that it might be that of Christ. This causes a considerable stir in the Vatican because, after all, Christ's body shouldn't be there unless he was an ordinary man. So they send Father Antonio Banderas down there to investigate, telling him ahead of time, so that he doesn't misunderstand his mission, that "the body is not that of Christ."

Banderas and Williams form at first a kind of mismatched cop/buddy team, he instense and inhibited, she breezily outgoing and scientific. But they soon run into trouble that pulls them together in their goals. I admit I didn't understand all of the reasons why so many groups wanted to interfere with the investigation or to exploit the find for political purposes. The first trouble they run into is an orthodox Jewish sect whose members bombard them with rocks and steal an important artifact. Then there is the leader of a Palestinian group, the PLO, I mean the FLP, or rather the PDQ. He wants his henchmen to get their hands on the bones. I forget why but I'm sure the purpose is nefarious. You can tell because he's got a face on him like the assassin in Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much." And you can identify his thugs when you see them because they're all swarthier than everybody else. The head Israeli honcho in this business, Shrapnel, informs the Vatican that as soon as Jerusalem is recognized as the sole capital of a united country, the bones will be released. (I understood that.) This all leads to a final semi-violent confrontation between the PDQ leader and the priest, in which the latter is wounded and the former is blown to smithereens. Oh, that reminds me, there is some comic relief from a sloppy young Irish priest who is a computer hacker. The question of whose body it is, is resolved at the end, but nobody in the movie finds out about it, only the viewer. Father Banderas resigns his commission and decides to follow God in his own way. He writes a very nice letter to Williams, but the movie stops short of having them fall into each other's arms. Let's not disturb anybody by raising REAL problems. (Are we going to observe Shabbat? How are we going to raise the kids?)

The photography is okay, and it's an interesting exploration of modern Israel and the political and ethnic maelstrom that it is, while at the same time much less didactic than "Exodus," which might have been called "Zionism for Dummies." The acting is better than one might expect. Antonio Banderas has a sympatico appearance. He exudes sincerity in this part. And he's not a bad actor, the kind of ordinary man who engages us without being particularly glamorous, the way some European actors like Jean-Louis Trintignant or Jean Moreau do. Olivia Williams isn't quite as convincing but she is very sexy and appealing, and looks the part of a 30-ish practical-minded Israeli woman, worn but warm. She almost, but not quite, gives Banderas some chicken soup one night. The musical score sounds like it's from a stock library somewhere, from a file labeled "Suspense music." Shrapnel looks the part of the Israeli honcho too. He sounds uncannily like Paul Stewart.

This isn't a puzzle that I find particularly interesting, although I don't know why. Religious belief leads so regularly to violence and intrigue. But I don't really think that if a body were positivel