Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Das Jesus Video" or " The Hunt for the Hidden Relic" or "Ancient Relic" is a German German-language movie that came out back in 2002, which means it has its 15th anniversary this year. It is based on a novel by Andreas Eschbach. The director is Sebastian Niemann and the writer is Martin Ritzenhoff and looking at other works from these two I must say I am almost a bit surprised that this film we have here did not become a huge failure as there are more than just a few projects in their bodies of work that are underwhelming to say the least and honestly when ProSieben makes a film about Jesus that runs for over three hours, then chances are it becomes a huge mess. So yes this was a small screen release, but it did not turn into a huge mess. But it also did not turn into a quality film by any means. If you look at the cast, you will not find too many known names here. Koeberlin is a bit of a poor man's Florian Lukas (not that Lukas is a great actor) and other than him the stunning Naike Rivelli is the female co-lead. Dietrich Hollinderbäumer is probably known to heute show audiences. Hans Diehl is August Diehl's father. Gode Benedix is kind of a nice presence, at least for me, even if he admittedly also played in quite a few bad films and you can probably count this one here as well into that category.Now about the film itself: There are some weaker acting performances with bad moments in here, but there is not one area where the film really sucks. But there is also not one area where it is really convincing. I already stated in the title that I feel the script is kinda bloated. The title of the film states that this is a film about time travel and thus about the possibility of making a video about Jesus Christ with actual footage and the latter is the absolute core plot in the film. But wait... isn't the fact that they may have succeeded with time traveling much more spectacular? Anyway, there are some moments here and there when the film digs into sucker territory, like the way they kill off one guy so that the female protagonist is single again and ready to mingle with the male protagonist. Anyway, with this subject I am not too surprised that the film received a great deal of attention (not with awards bodies, just audiences), but it is sadly at over 180 minutes not good enough, not focused enough, not concise enough to really live up to its potential. The ending is fine I think, though a bit melodramatic perhaps and I also liked some other scenes like the interrogation at the end of the first 90 minutes. As a whole, however, the negative is more frequent and I give this one a thumbs-down. Don't watch.

john-3645 good story with well developed characters. baddies were real bad, pre-dates the intrigue of the current religious stories. good action simple and dramatic with good twists and turns. A bit of a brain teaser and not completely predictable as some generally are. I should be available in the US even in German but it would be nice as to have some English. this is one of the few where you could get away with that as there asre several characters from various nationalities in the cast. If it ever remade re made please don't loose the good acting, good story and mystery for to much action, it does not need anything more. several of these actors need more exposure, i found them all believable.

candole This is my kind of amusement movie. A middle eastern location, intriguing mystery story and lots of running around exotic locations looking for lost-for-millenia hidden relics. Therefore it wouldn't be that hard to make this a good enough movie.You would think.Instead it turns out to be a POINTLESS film. The acting is OK and the locations fulfill the requirements of sandy exotica, but the rest...How does he suddenly get the idea that the skeleton could be a time traveler, five minutes into the film? How can any of the characters survive all these onslaughts of violence with nothing than the odd photogenic cut next to his eyebrow? If all these people are looking for him why does he walk around Jerusalem looking exactly the same as he normally does?The questions go on and on but it would spoil the plot of the movie, so i will stop. Enough to say that the why? you ask yourself at the beginning of the movie is still unanswered by the time the credits roll. From what you hear from the members of the board, the book sounds rather interesting, containing the elements that would have made this a great movie. Therefore the recommendation is pass the rental and go and buy the book.

rebeccajt How boring can an adventure thriller be? Watch the Jesus Video. A so called Event Movie of the year from ProSieben. There was no thrill in watching this film. Terrible actors, one boring chase after the other, which leads to no climax whatsoever. I haven't read the novel on which the film is based upon and now I don't want to - sorry. You can take almost any "Suspense" sequence and cut it out, and the movie doesn't get any worse or better.