
User Score
0 votes
The Tegelse Passion Play, which is performed every five years, is about the last days of suffering of Jesus Christ. This tradition, in which almost the entire Limburg village in the Netherlands participates, goes back to 1931. It is also a tradition that is often accompanied by conflicts about texts, innovation and the design of the game. Because the Bible is serious business. In the shadow of the last Passion Plays unfold the passion stories of a few passion players who struggle with contemporary dilemmas such as abuse of power, domestic violence, homosexuality, migrants, equality, but also the suffering of Biblical themes such as betrayal, exclusion and misplaced pride.
Director
Status
Released
Original Language
EN

Jesus, a humble Judean carpenter beginning to see that he is the son of God, is drawn into revolutionary action against the Roman occupiers by Judas -- despite his protestations that love, not violence, is the path to salvation. The burden of being the savior of mankind torments Jesus throughout his life, leading him to doubt.

Erstwhile childhood friends, Judah Ben-Hur and Messala meet again as adults, this time with Roman officer Messala as conqueror and Judah as a wealthy, though conquered, Israelite. A slip of a brick during a Roman parade causes Judah to be sent off as a galley slave, his property confiscated and his mother and sister imprisoned. Years later, as a result of his determination to stay alive and his willingness to aid his Roman master, Judah returns to his homeland an exalted and wealthy Roman athlete. Unable to find his mother and sister, and believing them dead, he can think of nothing else than revenge against Messala.