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Review of Jesus (Patrick Williams)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you're nostalgic for the sweeping, epic style of music
for portrayals of Jesus Christ in the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Avoid it... if you expect either overwhelming, choral and organ treatment for the man or, conversely, intelligent use of historical instrumentation to give him an authentic musical representation.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Jesus: The Epic Mini-Series: (Patrick Williams)
Every few years, capitalist pigs use the story of Jesus Christ, the
supposed "lord and savior" of the long-abused Christian faith, to crank
out yet another cinematic telling of his aggrieved life. With organized
religion itself, as a concept, corrupted since its origins by fortune
seekers and hustlers eager to take advantage of the fears of the
simple-minded, it should come as no surprise that many films about the
most famous religious figure in the history of the planet are marketed
with the same unforgiving zeal. Produced by Five Mile River Films with a
$26 million budget and airing over four hours on the CBS network on May
14th, 1999, Jesus: The Epic Mini-Series (or, as more usually
titled, Jesus) was eventually acquired by Trimark and pushed in
what the company referred to as "one of its largest ad campaigns ever
for a home video release." Even before its inevitable and rich journey
through Christian distribution channels, the series was a sweeps winner
for CBS, featuring all the large-scale production elements that led, in
this case, to an Emmy nomination for "Outstanding Miniseries" (and one
for make-up as well). The network broadcast of Jesus: The Epic
Mini-Series was in high definition, only a minor miracle at the
time, and stirred up a fuss about the film's commemoration of the
(historically questionable) 2000th birthday of the gracious,
whore-loving man himself. A private screening was even held at the
Vatican with a (reportedly) partially lucid Pope John Paul II and the
lead actors in attendance. In other words, the religious fervor
surrounding this film thrust it into the news for a short while. That
was until, of course, yet another remake of the story of Christ would
get the superstitious sorts all hyped up to frenzied, explosively
orgasmic levels a few years later, courtesy of Mel Gibson and the same
dauntless Christian distribution channels.
Not only did Christ spawn an unintended religion in his name, but it would be interesting to know what the supposed son of God thinks of all the music inspired by his name. For centuries, there have been classical and concert works, often orchestral and liturgical with choral masses and operatic vocalizations. And then came the films and their scores, ranging from similarly conceived, majestic tributes from the Golden Age to mostly more of the same in the Digital Age. It seems as though composers, when faced with this kind of scoring assignment, can't help but get wrapped up in their own personal faith and produce overwrought scores that glorify a man who didn't actually seek such a momentous identity. Nestled neatly in the middle of this history of pomp and melodrama is Patrick Williams' score for Jesus: The Epic Mini-Series. Williams was a regular collaborator with the film's director, Roger Young, and had three decades of song arrangements and obscure scores to his name (yielding Emmy and Grammy wins, as well as an Oscar nomination). Both Williams and Young decided to explicitly distance themselves from the more typical approach to religious scoring, avoiding the "grandiose chorus and organ in cathedral" method and instead providing the film with a more humble musical atmosphere. Somewhere along the line, however, that intent derailed, and the show inevitably was served with flourishing orchestral melodrama during every commercial break and repetitive orchestral statements of a noble and heroic theme that even annoyed a critic or two. The scope is likely the key to this circumstance, for no matter how much Williams wished to restrain himself in generating an awe-inspiring tone for the event, he still managed to write and record a score that attempts to qualify Jesus as indeed the son of God. Thus, you ultimately hear a score very familiar in grand style to the religious epic scores of Alfred Newman and others from the Golden Age. While Williams does indeed avoid many of the cliches of the genre, he makes some curious choices that cause Jesus: The Epic Mini-Series to lose appeal. First, his conservative instrumentation is predictable and disappointing. If you compare this score to John Debney's The Passion of the Christ and Jeff Danna's The Gospel of John, both major efforts along the same lines in the subsequent five years, Williams' score obviously avoids the overbearing style of the former. It also, however, ignores the historical accuracy of the latter. Because it takes a conservative middle road, Jesus: The Epic Mini-Series is a relatively unengaging representation of the topic. The title theme is an all-encompassing, accessible, and easily recognizable melody performed by trumpet in the majority of cues. Another weakness of the score is Williams' lack of variation or development of this theme, with the same lonely trumpet solos appearing all too often when Jesus makes his wisdom known. Traditional string layers offer drama in between, and the more interesting parts of the work include timpani-pounding rhythms of power in "Zealots" and "Taken to Pilate." The most elegant cue is "Temple, The Early Days," which mingles operatic female vocals into the trumpet theme. In "Main Title," "Zealots," and "Satan," Williams addresses the element of temptation with slight synthetic dissonance. On the whole, the score works. It serves its purpose. But the topic has been handled so many interesting ways in film scores that this one is anonymous by comparison. The duo label combination of Angel and Sparrow Records (how appropriately named!) pushed this score album, as well as a song compilation, with great enthusiasm. The song album contains "inspirational" tunes in addition to two tracks from Williams' score. One other track on both albums is Andrew Lloyd Webber's original "Pie Jesu" from Requiem, performed by Sarah Brightman. In sum, the score accomplishes what it needs to, and as standalone music it is consistently enjoyable. It isn't, however, worth trying to walk on water to obtain. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 50:15
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes a note about the score and production, but no picture of the
big guy himself.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Jesus are Copyright © 2000, Angel Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 3/28/00 and last updated 7/6/08. If you're offended by this review, just remember that the Christian organizations attacked Filmtracks first. Not vice versa. |
