The Inquiry (2006) Review

 

During this holy month it is tradition to watch Biblical epics like Ben Hur (2016),  The Robe (1953), The Passion of the Christ (2004), Jesus of Nazareth (1977), and etc. Every once and a while I stumble upon one of these sword and sandals films I have never seen. One such film is The Inquiry (2006), which caught my attention because it features Max Von Sydow who played Jesus in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), and Hristo Shopov who played Pontius Pilate in The Passion of the Christ reprising his role as Pilate. The film opens with that supernatural techno strobing of flashing light typical of low budget films, in the stobbing is Jesus on the cross and the darkness that came after His death (Luke 23:44) and the earthquake (Matthew 27:50-56) not only happening in Jerusalwm, but on Island where Tiberius Cesar sees the darkness and feels the quake. A Roman commander name Titus Taurus in Germania experiances the same earthquake. Haunted by this phenomenon, Tiberius requests Taurus to investiagate the death of a teacher named Jesus of Nazaerath who is said to have raised from the dead and which fits the time of this phenomenon. Basically this is the film Risen (2016) and The Robe (1953) combined, an investigation into Resurrection and a forbidden romance which buds between Taurus and a Jewish girl named Tabitha. I will say that the names are easy to remeber, Tiberius, Titus Taurus, and Tabitha, as central characters. The action is actually rather well done in the fights for the budget, its no Gladiator, but superior to The Robe and those earlier Sword & Sandals epics. 

Now while I do like the characters, the setting, and they do a great job with sets they have and the acting is good overall, I have major spiritual issues with this film. The most offensive is that Saul (Paul the Apostle) and The High Priest of Jerusalem at Lazarus’ Tomb trap Taurus inside after giving him a drug wine that makes him seem dead for three to four days. They then go on about how this proves Lazarus and Jesus were not dead. This assertion is based on the lies of the Stolen Body hypothesis, but there is no historical evidence of toxin that could mimic death for 72hrs or more, a day yes as seen in Romeo and Juliet, but if you don’t drink water for three days you die anyway and Jesus was in tomb three days (Matthew 12:40, 1 Corinthians 15:4), so that does work to disprove the resurrections and besides Jesus had Romans guarding his Tomb (Matthew 27:66) and he was terribly flogged  (John 19:1-27), and pierced with a spear to verify He was dead at the cross, “Since it was the Day of Preparation, to prevent bodies from remaining on the cross on the Sabbath day (for that Sabbath day was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.  Therefore the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was dead already, they did not break His legs. However, one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. He who saw it has testified, and his testimony is true. He knows that he is telling the truth, that you may believe. For these things happened so that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken,”and again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they have pierced.” (John 19:31-37). There is no way Jesus could have faked His death, He was verified dead by Romans who had to make sure He was dead and guarded His tomb. The way the film spends much time on this attempt to attack the resurrection of Lazarus and our Lord Jesus, is telling. To be frank it seems the director slipped it in to sow seeds of doubt. The hypothesis the disciples stole Jesus’ body is a lie of the Pharisees that is even found in the gospel, meaning its an old lie, “While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. And after the chief priests had met with the elders and formed a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money and instructed them: “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’ If this report reaches the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the guards took the money and did as they were instructed. And this account has been circulated among the Jews to this very day,” (Matthew 28:11-15) and the truth is the Romans put a seal on Jesus’ tomb and guarded it, “So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard ” (Matthew 27:66). And Romans did not fail, it meant death. 

The next spiritual issue I have is when Taurus visits The Apostles in Galilee. Here he greets Mary with “Hail Mary,” which gives away that this is a Catholic film or appealing to catholics, the Mary in this film is creepy, she is mute, she had shifty eyes and eyebrows like the scythe of death; she seems more like a demon possessed woman or truly the false goddess Queen of Heaven Catholics worship: 

The real Mary was not mute, she sang (Luke 1:46-55), talked to the angel Gabriel (Luke 1:26-38), and knew she needed Jesus the Savior as much as us, “My soul magnifies the Lord, “.. my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:47). Now it is possible they left Mary lineless to show honor, they do this at first with Jesus in flashbacks, but then He speaks at the Raising of Lazarus flashback. So its odd Mary never says anything, just gives creepy looks. 

The next  issue I had with the film is that Emperor Tiberius at the end of the film decides to make Christianity the official religion of Rome and his nephew Caligula stops Him. That didn’t happen tell Emperor Constantine in 323-325 A.D.  This film is somewhere in 33-41 A.D., because Pontius Pilate is still Prefect of Judea. Which leads me to the other inaccuracy, Pilate pretends to not remember Jesus, “I have had many men crucified, many bear that name.” You are telling me Pilate wouldn’t remember someone claiming to be a King? And which a cult rose up called Christians? Of course the film indicates Pilate is playing ignorant for Roman intrigues, but what is offensive is that Pilate even attempted a hoax of finding Jesus’ body, using Gladiators to protect it, and nearly killing Taurus. Taurus inspects the body and finds the wounds are not consistent with real crucifixion. What is strange is tradition teaches Pilate became a Christian (see The Pilate Cycle, and Eusebius). How could a man who discuss Veritas (truth) with The Truth Himself not be effected? Besides the gospels affirm Pilate was doing all he could to save Jesus from death, “From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.” (John 19:12). Only Luke adds a game of intrigues with Herod Antipas (Luke 23:6-12), which may only have been Pilate wanting not to be guilty of Jesus’ blood, by passing Him off to Herod.   

Finally, Tabitha gets beaten to death by her father, another sign this director was obsessed with violence, for the movie opened with stoning of Tabitha’s mother, and has bloodshed throughout, including Taurus’ Slave’s death which seems like a copy of Boromir’s death in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). Taurus who is madly in love with Tabitha seeks out The Apostle Peter to heal Tabitha, Cephas says he cannot leave his flock for one, but does come later and raises her from dead. Now there is some confusion, Tabitha hints her name is nickname she got, indicating she is little girl Jesus’ raised from the dead, Jairus’ daughter, but that was Talitha, “He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”)” (Mark 5:41). Tabitha is who Peter raises from dead  like in this movie, “Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up.” (Acts 9:40). 

I am amazed this film got high rating on Dove Reviews (https://dove.org/review/6281-the-final-inquiry/) they even said the violence was only a 2 out of 10, really? You watch a woman get stoned at the beginning of the film, Tabitha clubbed to death by her father, and lots of sword fights with people stabbed, throats slit, and etc. Worse is the bad spiritual elements that make me unable to recommend this film, I suggest you stay away from this Inquiry like you would The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). It is a tool to sow doubt and distort the truth of the gospels. That is why adapting Scripture is a serious and dangerous affair, done wrong it does harm. Amen.