The Body

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Michael N @RT05141949 Nov 7, 2026 The Body (2001), starring Antonio Banderas, Olivia Williams and Derek Jacobi, is a remarkably intelligent thriller that has not only stood the test of time but actually improved with age. Its greatest achievement lies in intertwining archaeology, religion and politics against the highly charged backdrop of Jerusalem at the turn of the millennium, without resorting to simplistic answers or moral certainties. Even the romance feels as fragile as real life, unfolding between a disillusioned Jewish widow who gradually lowers her defences in response to the vulnerability of a wide-eyed Catholic priest whose genuine faith is shaken by her discovery, catapulting him onto a collision course with the institution he is sworn to serve. As an archaeologist, I have some reservations about Williams's occasional Lara Croft tendencies when handling what may be the discovery of the millennium. But these are minor quibbles in a film that genuinely respects its audience's intelligence. See more

Jelisije J @jjosifovic Mar 5, 2025 A low budget, but engaging movie where the discovery of the possible body of Jesus Christ is found and the reality of the situation makes you think of how serious the movie plot really is. See more

Marc K @wtexram Feb 24, 2025 Good thought provoking story with fine actors. See more

Jul 8, 2020 It's a really stupid movie, it doesn't even know the facts well. It could have been so much better ... In one scene some Jewish people throw rocks at them and take the pot they found and she said the orthodox people don't leave her alone... WTF See more

May 18, 2013 "Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us." (Hebrews 6:17-18) Does the Church/a Christian believe this? Or in the machinations of fearful men and faithless superstition? See more

Mar 29, 2013 This film was a sad waste of a talented cast. I tend to consider a lot of things in my overall review but this film was bogged down by a weak script and a plot that was very poorly written. By the time that the credits roll, I was so incredibly frustrated with this film. The big thing about making a film like this is that the main character is undergoing a spiritual conflict. Even though there are political concerns in this film, the main conflict is man vs self and therefore the resolution of that conflict must be satisfactory to the viewer to make the film worth watching. The camera crew also did a very subpar job in this film. For goodness sakes, this is Jerusalem! I didn't feel much of the ancient mythos of the city. Instead, all I felt was that there were a bunch of people in a windy, sandy location that were trying to do an archeological dig without getting blown up by terrorists. The cinematography was sorely lacking. On a similar note, it is odd that the main characters are only really threatened at 2 points in the film and in both cases there is only a weak tie-in to the main moral conflicts of the film. I wanted these people to blatantly risk their lives for what they believe in but only at the end do they come close to this and the reasons why the character did it were both unclear and not very good. The soundtrack was one of the strengths of the film but I would have thought that they would have incorporated more of the Jewishness of the location into the score. Really, I think a lot of this film would have been better if they involved the fundamentalist Jews more and the Palestinians less. The film only had one "gotcha" moment and it was only minorly surprising and clever. I was hoping for a whole string of surprises but any Christian could have predicted most of what went on in this film. If you are going to delve deep into a sensitive, religious topic, you have to go deep and come up with some obscure and cool stuff. I'd point to the art scenes from The Da Vinci Code as examples of this being well-executed. SUMMARY: A film that had potential but weak writing and directing has removed any remorse that I might have felt for canning this one. NOT RECOMMENDED. See more

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The Body

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