Read the review. I found it to be a nice story line. The Apostle John, in this movie, is a prisoner that is enslaved by the Roman captors to work as a scribe. Only a select few on the Patmos prison island know of his real identity as the one remaining Apostle. And those few assist him in secreting out his epistles and visions to the Churches. If he is found out, Caesar has decreed that he be put to death.
This is the last in a series of Biblical films that were made in Italy to be shown on US TV. Abraham and Joseph were acceptable to American audiences. Some of us even knew these stories. Unfortunately those media aristocracy that chose what we may watch must have deemed this final installment too...uh... fantastic for the average American viewers. We couldn't possibly cope with the fact that there will be this ethereal place where God's judgment is carried out. After all, we are only conditioned to understand Hobbits, Wookies, Harry Potter, Darth Vader, the Force, flying Ninjas and the Wicked Witch of the West. The final judgment is...well just too final for American advertisers to put their money behind.
Since it was an Italian film, wouldn't you know there would be a very attractive raven haired Christian girl. Richard Harris plays John. The stories end is somewhat of a surprise. Probably not at all what actually happened. But hey this is Hollywood or in this case, Spaghettiwood. As Japanese Opera must have it's standardized format, so does American film media. And we viewers demand a happy ending with our popcorn.
What really touches this film off for me is the treatment that this film gives to John's visions. As many times as I've read through Revelations, I've never been able to envision in my big round noggin' the picture that John's words paint. This film makes it very real and does an excellent job of showing us that vision. The Lampstands, the Scroll with Seven Seals, The Horsemen, the Whore, the Wedding Feast of the Bride and Groom are all excellently depicted.
I give it two thumbpicks up.
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