Most movies based on books of the bible take ridiculous liberties with the actual text, I want to recommend one that doesn’t – The Book of Daniel, now available to stream on Netflix. While the story of Daniel is told in the imagined setting of a story telling session with Cyrus, Croesus (who became an adviser to Cyrus after his defeat) and Daniel, it exactly follows the text of the first six chapters of Daniel, and is all the better for it. Please note that the movie does not deal at all with Daniel’s visions in chapters 7 through 12 so there are no eschatological problems to deal with. The movie is entirely appropriate for children, but younger children (under 6) unfamiliar with the story may get bored.
A few Caveats and Easter Eggs: While the movie has several excellent actors – Lance Henriksen and Andrew Bongiorno in particular, there is still the lingering problem of cheesiness that still dogs most religious movies and a few other minor issues that are either Hollywood clean-up – the families of the governors and satraps don’t get fed to the lions – or semi humorous – why does young Daniel have an English accent and old Daniel have a New York accent? As for Easter Eggs to watch for:
1) Who does the Golden Image created by Nebuchadnezzar look like?
2) What does the central building in Babylon look like?
Send me a message if you have the answers!
0 Comments