The Body

By SCOTT FOUNDAS

Antonio Banderas stars as a priest sent to examine the possible remains of Jesus Christ in "The Body."

An Avalanche Films release of an Avalanche Films and Helkon Media AG presentation, in association with Green Moon Prods., of a Diamant/Cohen production. (International sales: MDP Worldwide, L.A.) Produced by Rudy Cohen. Executive producers, Diane Sillan Isaacs, Werner Koenig, Mark Damon, Moshe Diamant.
Directed, written by Jonas McCord, based on the novel by Richard Ben Sapir.
 
Father Matt Gutierrez - Antonio Banderas
Sharon Golban - Olivia Williams
Moshe Cohen - John Shrapnel
Father Lavelle - Derek Jacobi
Father Walter Winstead - Jason Flemyng
Cardinal Pesci - John Wood
Nasir Hamid - Makhram J. Khoury
Monsignor - Vernon Dobtcheff
Dr. Sproul - Ian McNeice
Aby Yusef - Muhamed Bakri

 

At the start of writer-director Jonas McCord's "The Body," as a shaft of dusty sunlight peers inside an ancient tomb revealing the skeletal remains of what just might be the body of Jesus Christ, there's the promise that, at last, a mainstream film might confront the deep-set contradictions between scientific discovery and religious dogma. But by pic's haphazard finale -- in which said bones are jammed into a suitcase and tossed about amid gunfire and chaos -- "The Body" has shown its true colors as less a serious religious-themed film than a moth-eaten tapestry of foreign intrigue and badly miscast international stars to rival the Cannon Films productions of the 1980s. Despite a toplined Antonio Banderas, pic is all-but-bypassing a theatrical release on its way to video and pay TV anonymity.

There is some initial fascination to the matter-of-fact way in which McCord, adapting the novel by Richard Ben Sapir, depicts the discovery and subsequent authentication of his controversial corpse. Setting foot inside the tomb, which is discovered behind a small Jerusalem hardware store, Israeli archaeologist Sharon Golban (a rather unconvincing Olivia Williams) then stumbles into a hidden chamber containing a meticulously preserved skeleton. The wrists and ankles bear evidence of crucifixion. The skull is scarred by what might have been a crown of thorns.

The Vatican dispatches Father Matt Gutierrez (Banderas) to formulate an expert opinion, no matter that Gutierrez is no archaeologist. The Catholic Church -- depicted here in the same tiresomely bilious, conspiratorial tones as in the recent "Stigmata" and "Lost Souls" -- does not seek an honest evaluation of the situation so much as a rote dismissal of it.

Gutierrez is depicted as one of the last noble members of a corrupt institution. And, as word of the discovery begins to circulate, he and Sharon find themselves subject not only to the machinations of the Catholic Church, but to stoning by Orthodox Jews and blackmail schemes engineered by warring Israeli and Palestinian factions.

Though it could hardly arrive at a choicer moment, "The Body" misses a prime opportunity to make some kind of meaningful statement about the current unrest in the Middle East. More troubling, it fails to satisfactorily address Gutierrez's own inner struggle between his faith and the evidence before his very eyes.

What would the uncovering of Christ's body really mean to the church? To this man? Such inquiry stops squarely after the first reel or so, clearing the way for a windup series of lethargic, would-be thrills, in which the body itself becomes roughly as significant as a case full of cash or an elusive bit of microfilm.

McCord, who previously co-wrote the Harold Becker-directed "Malice," clutters his frames with religious symbols and regalia, but shows no authentic feel for space or locale. In addition to Williams, a number of Brits, including John Wood and Derek Jacobi (struggling with a phlegmatic accent in what is far from his finest onscreen hour) are awkwardly placed in Italian or Israeli roles. And frequent crowd scenes are among the most static and unmotivated in memory.

Despite craft contributions by such heavy-hitters as lenser Vilmos Zsigmond and production designer Allan Starski, pic's look is mostly flat and unspectacular, and at least half the dialogue is sloppily post-synched.

Camera (color, Panavision widescreen), Vilmos Zsigmond; editor, Alain Jakubowicz; music, Serge Colbert; production designer, Allan Starski; art directors, Nenad Pecur, Giora Porter; set decorators, William A. Cimino, Miguel Merkin; costume designer, Caroline Harris; sound (Dolby Digital), Yohai Moshe; supervising sound editor, Jonathan Bates; associate producers, Limor Diamant; assistant directors, Nick Heckstall-Smith, Itai Tamir; casting, Celestia Fox, Ilana Diamant. Reviewed at Raleigh Studios, L.A., April, 10, 2001. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 109 MIN.