In celebration of the first episode of the second season of The Chosen being released on Easter Sunday, I am publishing my review of it again. If you haven’t seen the first season, well, what are you waiting for? Do yourself a favor, and binge watch this wonderful show. No need for a “cheesy-Christian-content” alert. This show is the real deal.
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It’s always a good day when a film adaptation of a book you love comes out in theaters and the film does it justice (though, of course, the book is always better). Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter come to mind. But, oh, the disappointment when you’ve waited with anticipation for your favorite book to be transported onto the screen, only to be frustrated with plot changes, glaring omissions, or subpar production. I will not mention any names.
So imagine my delight when I was introduced to a new binge-able film adaptation of the Bible that is not only true to the book, but a joy to watch. For months, The Chosen kept popping up on my Facebook feed, and for months, I’d scroll quickly past it, fearing yet another installment of cheesy Christian content. Thank you, Angela Adams, for proving me wrong!
The Chosen is a multi-episodic series on the life of Christ, told through the experiences of the people who were closest to him. It is the brain child of film maker Dallas Jenkins, who was inspired with the ground breaking idea of creating a multi-season episodic project that would delve deeply into the Gospel. What makes The Chosen unusual is that rather than connecting with Netflix or Pureflix or some other streaming service, Jenkins worked with the folks from the platform VidAngel, who decided to crowdfund the project and distribute it in the form of an app. Turns out, The Chosen became the largest crowdfunding project in history, garnering over eleven million dollars from thousands of contributors. According to the ticker counter on the app, at the writing of this review a year ago the number of views was at 8.7 million. Today it is at 90,011,677 views and counting!
What’s so appealing about The Chosen is its high quality, originality, and excellent use of license. Jenkins imaginatively fills in unreported details from the gospels, creating subplots and story arcs that in no way compromise the true telling of gospel events. It seems the writers of the show took phrases like, “as they were walking along the road,” or, “there was a wedding at Cana,” or, “as Jesus passed on from there,” or, “we were working all night,” conceptualized what those incidental details may have looked like, and wove them quite believably into the story. Because the show is multi-episodic, the creators are able to take their time in the telling. Characters like Simon, Andrew, Mary Magdalene, Matthew, and Nicodemus are fully explored and developed. Halfway into the first season, I realized I actually felt affection for the characters, and because of the organically human portrayal of each player and the excellent performances of the actors, I was able to experience great empathy for them all.
Of course, central to The Chosen’s telling of the Gospels is the character of Jesus. It is clear from the writers’ interpretation of Christ and from that of Jonathan Roumie, who so aptly portrays him, Christ’s hypostatic union, his full humanity and full divinity, is profoundly understood. Absent of pious stage drama, grave affect, or sublime countenance, Roumie’s Jesus is a very warm, very funny, patient, confident, and focused human, who cuts himself when he works, has to labor to a sweat in order to build a fire, becomes silly with children, dances at the wedding, and banters with his friends, all without detracting from the portrayal of his intense compassion and love, divinity and authority, and direct connection to the Father. The only other depiction of Christ that came even close to this was in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. But because The Passion was a single episodic film, and focused solely on Christ’s suffering, Gibson’s Christ could not be so comprehensively developed.
I am plugging this project because excellence in Christian media has been sorely lacking. Dallas Jenkins and his team have succeeded in filling the void of exceptional Christian programming, and of true and believable dramatic representation of the Gospel stories. Furthermore, I am plugging this project because I think The Chosen will be an important player in the spread of the Gospel worldwide, and I am eager for its completion, which the Jenkins team says will include at least six seasons. The first season can be purchased on DVD, or is available to be streamed from The Chosen app, which can be downloaded for free from the App Store or Google Play.
**Update**: The first season is available on YouTube. The second season premieres on Easter Sunday, April 4, at 8 pm ET, on The Chosen app.
I do not remember a time when a piece of film moved me as much as The Chosen has. I am waiting with great anticipation for the release of the second season, and for the world to experience a most excellent portrayal of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.