Product Description

This powerful, epic film vividly portrays the last 48 hours of the life of Jesus Christ and challenges commonly held assumptions about him. With moving performances from Jean-Claude LaMarre (Malcolm X) and Debbi Morgan (Woman Thou Art Loosed), this stirring film is a triumph!

The first depiction of Jesus as a black man, Color Of The Cross is also the first to suggest that the Crucifixion could have been racially motivated. A compelling script and astounding interpretations of the Bible make this daring masterpiece an achievement not to be missed. With its inspiring, unconventional approach to an emotionally volatile issue, Color of the Cross presents a fresh perspective on the history of Christianity and delivers as moving a portrait of his life as has ever been put to film!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66137 in DVD
• Brand: GREEN,ADAM
• Released on: 2007-01-09
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .26 pounds
• Running time: 89 minutes

Amazon.com
Color of the Cross proffers an interesting idea: Jesus Christ was a man of color, and race played a significant part in the events that led to his crucifixion and the Biblical aftermath. Co-writer, director and star Jean-Claude La Marre plays Jesus in this Christian re-telling of the final hours and days of the Messiah, but his spin is certainly unique. La Marre's Christ is an object of worry and derision by Romans and Pharisees, both because the Judean population so fervently hopes for its emancipator, and because he might be a "dark-skinned Nazarene." This provocative element keeps Color of the Cross fairly interesting despite its low budget and La Marre's curious portrayal of Jesus as frequently petulant, a Messiah one can never please. There are some strong performances, including Jean-Pierre Parent as Thomas and Johann John Jean as Judas. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

I pray for a better and more in depth attempt
I am a black man in America. I saw "The Passion" by Mel Gibson. In the same respect I saw this movie by Jean-Claude LaMarre. I respected Jean-Claude ever since I first saw him playing a role in Malcom X. Yet, after this film I cannot help but feel saddened by his efforts. After all these years, is Jesus' death for the sins of mankind to be cheapened by the result of racial discrimination? The movie did not give an accurate portrayal of the events that led to the death of Jesus Christ. If anyone argues this point, I beg them to go read a Holy Bible.

One star is too much
Please don't waste any money on this film. The idea of the film is wonderful but it never delivers. Between the bad acting and the deviations from scripture you hardly recognize the story at all. The writer seems more interested in furthering his anti-Semitic cause then exploring race issues. If you don't know anything about history, scripture or not really interested in either then you might get something out of it, otherwise skip it. My only regret in that this movie bombed is that people may think that no one is interested in seeing biblical characters being portrayed as people of color when the truth is the movie is just bad.

Difficult to watch and lacking.
Readers, I tried to look at this with an open mind and objective perspective. I ignored the fact that the Jesus story was racially painted. I ignored some of the subpar acting and dialog. I ignored accuracy of events. In other words, I really expected and wanted to like this movie. However, it was very difficult to watch...even from an entertainment point of view (not that Jesus is supposed to be entertaining, but hopefully you readers know what I mean). The one accolade I can give is that the creator Jean-Claude LaMarre had the ambition to cast a mostly African-American cast.

Still, although I didn't expect a documentary, the problem with this movie is that it is a fundamentally lacking story of Jesus. They could have casted Korean, Latino, or other ethnic actors in it and tailored the story appropriately...but from all Biblical accounts it would still be lacking.

To put it bluntly, it wasn't even a good Jesus highlight film. It was very disjoint in parts, making it was difficult to watch. Even more disappointing was that this movie had all the potential to still tell the Jesus story of redemption and salvation, with an African-American cast to boot. But, after viewing this, one doesn't leave this movie with a better understanding of Jesus' purpose.

Hypothetically, even if the ethnic racism spin were true, this movie still didn't cover adequately who Jesus was and why He transcended race/ethinicity for all mankind. Not only that, but the true legacy of any Jesus story is what He did AFTER the crucifixion. Instead, this movie treats His death as the end of the story and ends with retrospectives of the Last Supper and other scenes.

Even writing this review is difficult because how can you say something bad about a Jesus story? So I write this only as a warning to those who are thinking about buying this. Buy it for your collection if you must, but PLEASE read the Bible for a fuller and more character developed story about Jesus.