Another contribution from the fast-growing faith-based film-making industry, this dramatisation of Jesus’s final meal and the events leading up to it is as basic as it gets. That said, it’s perfectly serviceable for what it was no doubt intended to be: something religious families can slap on TV for the teens while the grownups get the holiday banquet ready. As dehydrated theology goes, it contains all the basic New Testament theological nutrients – including the miracle of the loaves and fishes, Jesus’s dispute with Jerusalem’s rabbinate, his invention of the Eucharistic sacrament at the titular supper, the betrayals by Judas and Peter – and then bing-bang-bong, the crucifixion and resurrection are briskly run through by the time the bread rolls are out of the oven.
Naturally, there’s no question here that our man Jesus (played by Jamie Ward) is anything other than the son of God and therefore the Messiah. But viewers living in more secular families or even ones with other faiths might find this not only a useful primer on Christianity but also a respectful reminder of how Jesus was first and foremost a Jew, and that the Last Supper was a celebration of Passover with its own rituals and sacred meanings.
