Die Bibel

How do you go about turning the Bible into an `epic miniseries'? How do you translate the greatest story ever told onto the small screen?The producers must have known what a mammoth task they were undertaking. The result is a cross between a children's illustrated bible and Gladiator. We are reminded that the Bible is not pretty. Blood and butchery combine awkwardly with beautifully-filmed lush backdrops, and for good measure, there's a wooden script and some camp overacting. Nevertheless, one can but marvel at the achievement of the film-makers and the unending power of the original texts.When selecting which parts of the Bible to use in 12 one-hour-long films, something had to give. Notable by their absence: the writing on the wall from the Old Testament, and from the life of Jesus: the presentation in the temple as a child and Jesus getting lost in the temple. The death of John the Baptist is mentioned though the circumstances behind it are somewhat glossed over.Despite the stirring music and rolling landscapes, this is not a watered-down nor bedtime-reading version. Sacrifice, war, and man's inhumanity to man are common themes. Nevertheless, many questions are thrown up: was Jesus destined to die? Was it as the result of Judas' betrayal or John the Baptist's publicity that things ended the way they did?Notable by their gigantic on-screen presence: Samson, in a particularly memorable performance, and Jesus himself: brown and Middle Eastern as a toddler, fair-skinned and somewhat clichéd as Christ himself, complete with an air of mystery, a foreign accent, and a mystical take on all things.The stories included from the Old Testament include the majority of what Abraham and Moses did for the Jews, and a powerful re-enactment of the sacrifice of Isaac, the destruction of Sodom, and the parting of the Red Sea, all skilfully handled. Also on the disc are stories from the time of Joshua, Samuel, Jeremiah, Saul, King David, Samson and Delilah, Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel and the lions. The New Testament presents a particularly repulsive Herod ordering the slaughter of the innocents, and Pontius Pilate is shown in a fairly bad light, as a ruthless thug with little sympathy shown in his character, and every inch the pantomime villain.Some of the in-your-face- violence means you need to be selective in which bits you show younger children though I doubt that many will feel that `The Bible' is too adult in its take on the world's most famous book (or collection of books). It is a colossal achievement, despite its unavoidable shortcomings, and a worthy five-star recipient. The Blu-Ray discs are rich in detail and colour.

You get ten three-quarter-hour episodes altogether. The first five zero in on some of the most famous characters in the Old Testament: Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Samson, Saul, Nathan, David, Daniel, Jeremiah, with glimpses too of Adam, Noah, Solomon. The second half of the series tells the New Testament story in much more comprehensive detail, going beyond the gospels to the narrative of Acts.The overall feel of the series is of something pretty well produced. The teleplays are reasonably competent, the cast (innocent of star names) much more convincing than is usual for biblical dramas, the Moroccan settings impressive, the CGI respectable. Highlights for me included robustly martial angels, the most memorable Pilate of my experience and, in the dominant role of Jesus, an actor notably successful in projecting kindness, tenderness, warmth. This is a Jesus into whose arms any child would unhesitatingly run for a hug.The reason I've withheld a fifth star is that throughout the series, but especially in the first half, the amount of violence is even more than I'd feared. It isn't as graphic as it could have been, and it's certainly justified by the scriptural source, but the sheer quantity of slashing, stabbing and throat-slitting that you have to sit through is to my mind a bit off-putting. I'd gladly have traded much of this battling for a deeper insight into Jewish theology - after all, it's Jewish faith, not Jewish wars, that give Judaism its claim on our attention.With this single caveat, I think that anyone considering buying this set would probably be pleased with their purchase. (The Blu-rays' picture and sound quality, by the way, is all that you'd expect from a new American TV series, i.e. entirely satisfactory)

This was an achievement to compact the essence of the Bible into such a package. I only have a few quibbles about this.1. I felt they could have continued and done the Book of Acts also.2. The Narration can be quite annoying and it always defaults to the American narration. If you want Robert Powell, one must manually choose it each time. I felt it would have been better had this narration been done with text on the screen as it comes across as being an imposition each times it blasts out.3. My biggest annoyance was that at the start of each episode, there was a review of the previous episode. Also, at the end of each one, they include a preview of the next episode. I can understand this for a TV broadcast, but for DVD home viewing, I felt that this was totally unnecessary. There should at least have been a menu option to disable this.So, I have dropped a star for these reasons.

Firstly I preordered this and it was due for release on the 26th of December ...but the estimated delivery time was the 24 th of December. It arrived on tho dot on the 24th of December at 10 in the morning just in time for Christmas ...so the service from Amazon once again was excellent! The series itself I love! The whole 10 hrs of series has a thread going through it and that is that it's about Gods love and you can't help but feel that the whole series is just building up to the story of Jesus where most of the focus is!....which I think is great! Sure there are a inaccuracies and things missing but also there are scenes that are on there that I've never seen before in a Bible or Jesus film that make up for any parts one may feel were missing ( jesus walking on water, " must be born again" scene, sacrificing the lambs during crucifixion scene, day of Pentecost scene etc ) Overall I love this and it isn't of course to be used as canon but it does stir up ones love for and desire to read the Bible and as such it's great. It has inaccuracies and omissions yes but it doesn't distort he bible or gospel message and so for me I loved it.