I won't be seeing Son of God the movie.
The film spans from Jesus' humble birth through his teachings, crucifixion and ultimate resurrection
http://www.imdb.com/...
This film is produced by Roma Downey and her husband, Mark Burnett.
It is just astounding to me that in 2014, despite all the research to the contrary, this couple is still hellbent on perpetuating the myth of Jesus the white man.
Diego Morgado plays the role of Jesus:
Jesus equals good, therefore, he must be white.
There is still some dispute about the exact location of Jesus' birth; but there is no controversy about the fact that he was born in the Middle East.
A Discovery special looking into what Jesus Christ, a Jewish man of 1st century Palestine, might have looked like is quite interesting, as the model that is presented of what Christ might have looked like resemble absolutely nothing like the popular images...
Snip
A reconstruction of what Jesus Christ might have looked like as a First century Semitic man of Palestine.
http://www.christculturenews.com/...
Whether or not we believe that this is a more historically accurate depiction of Jesus, it is indisputable that he would have had a lot more melanin than paintings claiming to be in His likeness have shown thus far.
On the other hand, what of the devil?
The Devil, as you all know, is evil...and therefore must be black. Right? In keeping with that theory, Roma, Mark and the crew searched for the devil and found the perfect match in Obama lookalike, Mohamen Mehdi Ouzaani.
I swear to you, I was cooking in the kitchen when I heard the preview being played on the tv. I glanced up and thought, "what is PBO doing in that film?" Was that coincidence that the "devil" so closely resembles our current president? That's a debate for another day. (And word is that the producers have edited out most of Mr. Ouzaani's performance because of the controversy surrounding his close resemblance to Mr. Obama.)
My major problem, however, has nothing to do with who Mr. Ouzaani resembles, or what he looks like as a man. I rather like his face...both the made up one and his real face. O, you hadn't heard? The fact is, Mr. Ouzaani doesn't really look like the black devil he portrayed. His skin was darkened so as to make him look more like the production team's idea of what the devil should look like.
Here is the real Mehdi Ouzaani:
My problem is with the inaccurate biblical portrayal of the major characters in this movie, so as to fit into society's construct of what constitutes good and evil.
The husband and wife production team claim the Bible as their authority. How does the Bible describe Satan?
In different parts of the Bible, the devil is described as a serpent, a dragon, or even as a roaring lion. He is also described as beautiful!
Ezekiel 28:12 is popularly believed to be referring to the devil:
“Son of man, sing this funeral song for the king of Tyre. Give him this message from the Sovereign Lord:
“You were the model of perfection,
full of wisdom and exquisite in beauty.
Nowhere does the Bible describe the devil as a scary black man...or a scary white man, for that matter.
Why then do filmmakers and writers continue to depict the devil as black?
James Poniewozik explains it this way:
That leads to a broader problem with the kind of storytelling History’s The Bible is doing. The Bible—the book, I mean—doesn’t tell us what Satan looks like, period. It doesn’t say he’s a shadowy guy in a hood. It doesn’t say he has red skin, a Vandyke and a pitchfork. It describes Satan, and Satan-like figures–variously and metaphorically. Sometimes a serpent, yes, but also a creature of light (or lightning), or a being perfect in beauty and covered in precious stones. “Even Satan,” says 2 Corinthians, “disguises himself as an angel of light.”
http://entertainment.time.com/...
One thing we know for sure, this stereotyping of black people as evil, scary thugs has been going on for centuries now. It will not change unless we - black people and white people, good people of every hue - push back against this and attack this notion wherever and whenever we see it. To do less is to continue to see heartbreaking videos such as the one below.
We should let Roma Downey and Mark Burnett know that they have every right to produce crappy movies to their heart content. Hollywood wants to produce your crap? Go right ahead and do your thing. But you do not have a right to distort history, or the Bible, and by so doing continue to do untold harm to an already beleaguered people.