"Jesus Light of the World": the whole story of Jesus, luminous, in cartoons
- From the Fall to the Ascension, with its miracles and parables: all in 90 minutes-
It's been 25 years since anyone told the entire story of Jesus in a cartoon movie.The last one was the beautiful The Man Who Did Miracles (from Icon Productions, Mel Gibson's production company), with plasticine figures and stop-motion techniques.
This week Jesús Luz del Mundo premieres in Spain, who manages to tell almost everything in 90 minutes: from the Fall of Man, to the miracles and parables of Jesus, the situation of oppression of the people, the Passion, the apparitions after the Resurrection and the Ascension.
Top quality dynamic drawing.
The drawing style, in two dimensions, is very dynamic and friendly, halfway between DreamWorks (The Prince of Egypt), and Disney. Its directors are Tom Bancroft and John J. Schafer Tom is twin brother and regular collaborator of Tony Bancroft, two legendary Disney artists (Tony, for example, was co-director of Disney's cartoon Mulán). Schafer stated in an interview that the film is "written with those who do not have a clear concept of Jesus or the Bible."
To be able to tell everything that has to be told in 90 minutes, filmmakers are clear that there will be neither songs (although there will be a magnificent soundtrack) nor will there be little animals with stories. They go straight to the Bible and its context.
The initial protagonist is the young John of Zebedee (Saint John the Evangelist), the youngest of the apostles, presented as a strong-willed teenager who gets into trouble. But after a third of the film, the absolute prominence is already acquired by Jesus, with his words and, above all, with his miracles.
Almost every phrase of a character, even if it is funny, has a lesson. To avoid falling into a succession of sermons, the film launches with taste and spectacularity to show us miracles and healings. The miracle of the storm stands out visually, reminiscent of the passage of the Red Sea in The Prince of Egypt.
There is no time to count Pentecost, but the Holy Spirit enjoys a luminous visual prominence in the baptism of Jesus (a winged being made of light that descends from the heavens) and in the Ascension (a light that comes down to dwell inside each disciple).
Jesus Light of the World begins with the quote of John 3:16 ("God loved the world so much that he gave his Only Son"). Next, we see the mother of the Zebedee children telling them about the Creation, the Fall and the promise of a Messiah, and the rumor of a strange story about stars and shepherds. But bad things happen on the street: some Romans arrest a father of a family of neighboring fishermen, Simon's father, who will later be Pedro.
The father of the Zebedees arrives stunned at the Ascension. Now he is willing to follow the Messiah. His son John guides him in a rhymed prayer of recognition of Jesus as Lord and Savior. The association that has funded the film is called The Salvation Poem, and wants to spread that rhyme, which its Spanish website offers like this: "Christ, you died on a cross / and you resurrected with power. / Forgive my sins today, / be my Lord and Savior. / Change me and make me again / and help me to be faithful to you."
The final sensation in the viewer is luminous, to have been involved in something very lively and important, something that continues and affects us, a story in which we can participate. Children will enjoy it, but it is not an only children's movie.