Review of Last Days in the Desert (2016) by Bob B — 12 May 2016

Last Days in the Desert brings the fast pace of modern day cinema we're all familiar with to a screeching halt. Some folks may find it too abrupt for their taste, but that's exactly what the director was shooting for. Time to reflect. Time to listen. Time to put away our smartphones and just be in the moment.

LDITD may not be the intense roller coaster that The Passion of the Christ was, but it was indeed the best portrayal of Jesus, Yeshua as he's referred to in both films, I have ever seen. Producers of Christian based films often pull punches on how honest and human they choose to make Jesus appear - all for the sake of censoring Christians from anything other than some magical and crisp clean version of Jesus we for some reason think is the truth - but Rodrigo Garcia (Director) let all that go and chose to show us a stained and humble man full of his own weaknesses, struggles and fears.

Ewan McGreggor plays opposite himself as both Jesus and Satan. This is the first time I've seen such a directorial choice, but it makes perfect sense that Satan would come to Jesus as his mirror opposite just to mess with his head, which he continues to do throughout the film. But in this film, just like Jesus, the devil himself was also made into a man, a man who isn't just a single-dimensional personification of evil, but instead a relatable man. A man who looks at God's work for over "a million years" and he just doesn't get it. By the end of the film when Jesus finally leaves the desert, Satan chooses not to follow. And Jesus looks at him, like an annoying cockroach he'd simply gotten used to, and confirms "You're not coming?".