The Miracle Maker (2000 Full Movie)

[Enrique Fats]

Theteachings of Jesus are spoken throughout. Jesus preaches and uses parables to encourage love, peace, kindness, humility, forgiveness, and belief in God and to motivate his followers to "build God's kingdom on earth."

As portrayed, Jesus is wise, gentle and strong, incorruptible, honest, brave, and loving toward all. Many of those whose lives he touches are able to change their lives and begin to follow his precepts. Set in the Holy Land, the animated characters reflect the geographical location and are an ethnically rich mixture of light-skinned and dark-skinned people.

Numerous intense scenes in which plotters plot, Jesus is in danger, and life is at stake. Violent scenes include a woman knocked to the ground as an official raises his whip to her; robbers bloodying a victim; and Jesus's crucifixion shot at careful angles -- he's bloodied, his hands are punctured, and he clearly suffers. Several very ill characters are near death. Jesus collapses from exhaustion. Flashback scenes using traditional animation show villains with scary faces and obvious evil intention. Offscreen deaths (John the Baptist, Lazarus) referenced.

Parents need to know that The Miracle Maker: The Story of Jesus is a European production, in English, that tells Jesus' story based on the New Testament Gospel of Luke using sophisticated stop-action puppets (Claymation) techniques. Jesus' teachings, the miracles he performed, his ultimate recognition as the son of God, and the brutal treatment he and his converts receive from the Romans are the film's focus. Violent scenes (the crucifixion, the whipping of "Mad" Mary) are handled with care; minimal blood and pain are shown. Illness, with some characters on the brink of death, and some references to off-camera deaths are an integral part of the story of Jesus as a healer. The puppets have a wide variety of skin tones -- light, dark, and darker -- which accurately reflects the racial makeup of the Holy Land during Jesus' lifetime. Over five years in the making and originally aired on television in Great Britain, the movie attracted a roster of major actors and actresses. Many of the concepts and the teachings, as well as the miracles performed, may require some explanation or discussion with younger kids. Even older ones will benefit from having some previous knowledge of the biblical events and religious precepts depicted in the movie. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.

THE MIRACLE MAKER: THE STORY OF JESUS opens with Jesus' journey to Galilee, where he preaches to its citizens, inspires them, performs miracles, and challenges the ongoing Roman occupation. The story stays basically true to the Gospel of Luke, as Christianity begins to flourish in the region. Classic events such as Lazarus rising, the exorcism of Mary Magdalene (portrayed here as "mad," not as a prostitute), the loaves and fishes, and healing the sick and dying are included, as are a number of fundamental parables that define and illustrate Jesus' teachings. As Jesus gathers his disciples and his congregation multiplies, various factions fear the consequences of such untraditional ideals and messages and begin a campaign to get rid of this professed Messiah. The Romans have the upper hand, and, with the help of Judas' betrayal, Jesus is taken captive, judged, and crucified, only to rise to complete his journey and lead his constituents into righteousness.

For young viewers, the film's complex themes, life-and-death situations, and climactic crucifixion scenes may be too intense. And, as an introduction to the teachings of Jesus and the precepts of Christianity, sharing with grown-ups is recommended even for older kids and tweens.

This production garnered an A-list of voice actors in principal roles, including Ralph Fiennes as Jesus, along with Julie Christie, Miranda Richardson, William Hurt, Alfred Molina, and Ian Holm as supporting players. The animation, painstakingly created over several years, is a stellar example of the stop-action genre. The filmmakers' intention of making this movie true to Luke's Gospel and family-friendly at the same time is obvious; leaving out the sexual nature of Mary Magdalene's transgressions and creating the character of Tamar, a young girl, as the centerpiece in Jesus's healing powers certainly will help those intentions. The integrating of traditional cell animation to depict past events and parables may be confusing to some; others will find that it enhances their experience.

Families can talk about which audiences the filmmakers were trying to reach with this film. Does the fact that they created the character of Tamar for this movie help answer this question? How does the girl's narration make the movie more relevant for young viewers?

How did you feel about seeing two kinds of animation in one movie? Did the addition of the 2-D (or traditional cell animation) for flashbacks and parables make the Claymation scenes seem more or less real? If your answer is "more real," can you explain why?

Look up the history of Claymation (or of stop-action or animation). Find out what it takes to create the puppets, their movements, their expressions, and their speech. Try to make one puppet out of clay or another molding material to get a sense of what the art entails.

But even the successes only tell part of the story. While health for wealthy and rising countries has been on a consistent upward trajectory for decades, other sectors of the globe continue to struggle under the burden of poverty and a host of persistent diseases, including HIV, dysentery, and tuberculosis.

In an excerpt from the Global Health course in the MBA for Executives program, Richard Skolnik, lecturer in public health at the School of Public Health, runs through some of the numbers to elucidate how the developing world continues to lag. He cites a figure to drive the point home: 7 million children under five die each year. "That's the equivalent of 2,000 777 [airplanes], or nearly six per day," he says. "If six 777s a day fell out of the sky filled with under-five children, I presume you'd be concerned."

Not only are child mortality numbers higher in poor areas, such as sub-Saharan Africa, but a larger proportion of deaths occur after the first year, due to mostly preventable causes. Skolnik prods students to think about how policy makers in developing countries should think about these numbers.

While developing countries tend to lag developed ones in terms of health, the gap can narrow rapidly under the right circumstances. During the last two decades of the 20th century, several East Asian countries experienced the largest increase in health in the shortest period of time in human history. The reason, Skolnik says, can be attributed to the East Asian economic miracle. This experience, he said, provides a kind of blueprint for those seeking to improve global health: "How you spend your money, in my view, is more important than how much you spend," he says. "If you develop rapidly and invest wisely, life expectancy can improve a lot."

Thanks for your hospitality. In a country that insists on producing more than one lawyer for every two engineers, this is an inspiring place to be, and audience to meet. I hope one day that ratio will move in favor of engineering; until it does, study hard. There's a lot riding on you.

Here in Indiana, as we'll demonstrate again ten days from now, we love things that go fast. Maybe some of you will be designing and building cars for a living soon; as a sucker for Corvettes, I hope a couple of you go to work on them.

But in America, fast is about more than hot cars. It's the essence of our national success. It's our edge on the rest of the world. And it's an edge, and an attitude, we have to constantly guard against losing.

Starting 58 days ago, the world was witness to -- to use properly a word that's getting worn out -- an awesome display of the achievement of which a free people is capable. The United States military swept away its enemies and its critics in less time than it takes to get a passport. Combining scientific supremacy with tactics based on mobility, quickness, and individual decision making, American units rocketed 350 miles to victory. Germany's conquest of France in 1940, which earned the label "lightning war," took twice that long.

Skeptics alleged that planning had been inadequate; that too few troops and too little equipment had been brought into position; that the campaign was moving too quickly to maintain supply lines, protect our soldiers from surprise attacks, or preclude a host of other risks, real or imagined.

On Day 2 of action in Iraq, an attack on a critical objective labeled Safwan Hill was cancelled at headquarters because a sandstorm grounded the helicopters. The Marines on the scene, being Marines, took the outpost anyway, surprising both the Iraqis and their own headquarters. The colonel in charge said "This isn't chess...It's like basketball...you run and adjust on the fly."

Gen. Douglas MacArthur once remarked that the history of defeat in warfare can be summed up in one phrase: "Too late." In Operation Iraqi Freedom, lateness was not a problem. One missile arrived through the window of a Presidential hideaway 44 minutes after the first intelligence report placing top Iraqis at the scene. I'm sure American justice arrived way too early in the eyes of the mass murderer who once ruled that country.

The same qualities that "shocked and awed" the world in Iraq have produced a different kind of national success. Despite a series of blows that would have crippled any other economy on earth, the American free enterprise system, through speed, agility, flexibility, and a high tolerance for risk and occasional failure, has remained the strongest anywhere.

At the moment, U.S. economic growth is too slow. The President and Congress are working on measures that might contribute to its acceleration. But short-term difficulty cannot blind us to the unique resilience of a national business system that has withstood an incredible string of shocks and continued to expand and excel.

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