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May 13, 2016 · Last Days in the Desert. Yes, there is a new blue-eyed Jesus in town, the latest in a long line that includes Jeffrey Hunter (“King of Kings”), Max von Sydow (“The Greatest Story Ever Told”) and Willem Dafoe (“The Last Temptation of Christ”). In these days of heightened sensitivity to race when it comes to casting, some might take ...
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May 12, 2016 · Mr. McGregor’s Jesus is quick-witted, with a keen, worldly intelligence and curiosity and the impulse to make friends and help people. He has a childlike sense of wonder. Some of the fears...
- Stephen Holden
- Rodrigo García
76% Tomatometer 71 Reviews. 46% Audience Score 2,500+ Ratings. As he wanders in the desert, Jesus Christ (Ewan McGregor) tangles with Satan (also McGregor) for the souls of a nomad (Ciarán...
- (71)
- Rodrigo Garcia
- PG-13
- Ewan Mcgregor
- Tatooine it isn't, but Ewan McGregor is still trying to save a boy in the desert.
- Verdict
By Josh Lasser
Posted: May 5, 2016 9:58 pm
Forget Force ghosts and hearing dead Jedi, in the Rodrigo García written and directed Last Days in the Desert, Ewan McGregor has full on conversations with himself. Everyone's favorite young Obi-Wan Kenobi, McGregor plays dual (and dueling) roles that sometimes require him to be on screen with himself in the new movie. Specifically, he's Jesus (or Yeshua) and the Devil.
Although based on a Biblical figure and a moment in said figure's life—namely Jesus's 40 days in the desert—what happens in the film (Jesus spending some time with a family) doesn't appear in the Bible. This not-Biblical family is played by Ciarán Hinds, Tye Sheridan, and Ayelet Zurer and are referred to as The Father, The Boy, and The Mother, respectively. Jesus spends several days with the family, noting their dynamic and wondering if he can help them. Their issue, which is one of the film's main drawbacks, is that The Boy would like to go off to Jerusalem while The Father would rather he stay in the desert with the family.
As interesting as the concept of the film may be, this particular knot given to Jesus by García is supremely uninteresting mainly due to its genericness. It is, purposefully one assumes, a problem that is meant to be relatable to everyone watching—the child who wishes to go off to the city and find his way in life rather than staying in the country to be with his family. Even more relatable/generic—the family's communication skills aren't terribly good with The Mother, who is sick, tending to be the conduit for information passing between The Boy and The Father as the latter two do not talk. It isn't that they don't love each other—The Father very much loves his son, going so far as to build his son a house so that The Boy will stay (the family currently just has a small tent)—they just don't see eye-to-eye on what the future should hold for The Boy.
That is it. Few other details are given save that neither The Father nor The Mother has spent their entire lives in the desert. The audience watches Jesus as Jesus watches the dynamic and the Devil makes a bet with Jesus that there is no way for Jesus to find a solution to the family's problem that will make all three members happy. To try to alleviate the problem, Jesus offers the bland advice that The Father try to talk to his son.
Beautiful to look at, Last Days in the Desert still feels nearly as empty as the land Jesus is traversing. Neither is completely empty—the land features a fancy rock that might fetch some money at a market and a stream from which water can be obtained, while the film has a couple of worthwhile moments between Jesus and the Devil—but nor are they fu...
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 77% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 70 reviews, with an average rating of 6.69/10. The site's critics consensus reads, " Last Days in the Desert offers enough stately grandeur and spiritual exploration to offset an occasionally ambiguous narrative."
Jan 26, 2015 · Ewan McGregor is both good and evil in a film about Jesus' trip into the desert directed by Rodrigo Garcia. Read our Last Days in the Desert Review
MPAA Rating: PG-13 | Rating: ★★★★½ Release year: 2016 Genre: Adventure, Drama, Spiritual Director: Garcia. Last Days in the Desert confounds expectations. Which is perfect, because it’s a film about the person of Jesus Christ, a God-man who also embraced paradox, mystery, and frustrating the expectations of his followers.
