Preaching to the converted

MORGADO. Unusually photogenic Jesus in “Son of God.”

First off, we’d like to make it clear that the Burnett couple should be praised for “daring” to come up with two religious productions, last year’s “The Bible” TV series and the current film, “Son of God.”

Conventional show biz logic has it that “spiritual stuff” is poison at the box office, but the Burnetts’ two productions have done well by way of viewership, so hooray for that.

On point of exceptional achievement, however, “Son of God” isn’t the definitive movie on Jesus Christ, because it tends to preach to the converted.

In other words, instead of coming up with an insightfully new take on its 2,000-year-old story, it is content to go through the usual, familiar “highlights.”

To be sure, the film has three relatively new contributions: First, its extensive use of digital and special effects visualizations to vividly actualize Christ’s miracles on the big screen. Second, the context that its storytelling provides, which stresses that the Israelites were under Roman rule, so Christ and his followers were rebels.

Finally, the character of Mary (Magdalene?) is elevated in terms of extent of exposure, perhaps not to an apostle, but definitely at least to a close-in disciple of Jesus.

The production scrupulously avoids the romantic adumbrations controversially propounded in such films as “The Da Vinci Code,” but its young Mary is given extraordinary underscoring, as Jesus films go.

On point of major weaknesses, it’s disappointing to see that coproducer Roma Downey has had the unabashed and unenlightened temerity to miscast herself as Jesus’ mother.

Her facial features look too “enhanced,” perhaps by cosmetic procedures, to come off as natural and “lived-in,” and she’s a shallow, obvious actress whose emotional scenes are not sufficiently felt and moving.

As for Diogo Morgado as Jesus Christ, viewers who prefer their Redeemer to also be beautifully photogenic will have their fill of his many beauty—but, like Downey, he falls short of deeply vivifying Christ’s exceptional virtue, wisdom and sacrificial love for mankind.