Written by Jennifer
March 05, 2009
"Is that the one where they wondered if they had found the tomb of Jesus, but by the time they thought they'd cracked the case, everyone else had decided they were assholes?"
I think The Lost Tomb Of Jesus was best synopsized by my mother:
"Is that the one where they wondered if they had found the tomb of Jesus, but by the time they thought they'd cracked the case, everyone else had decided they were assholes?"
Why yes, yes it is! And if that doesn't make you want to watch this documentary, I don't know what will.
In 1980, construction crews in Jerusalem unearthed a first-century tomb. It contained ten ossuaries labeled with the names Jesus son of Joseph, Maria, Mariamene (Mary Magdalene), Joseph, Matthew, and Judah son of Jesus. Nobody believed it could actually be the tomb of Jesus, so the ossuaries were warehoused and construction continued. High rise apartment buildings were built over the sites, and the whole episode was dismissed.
Twenty-five years later, filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici and a team of archaeologists returned to investigate. Their feature-length documentary attempts to prove that the tomb of Jesus was indeed uncovered in 1980, and meticulously presents every shred of evidence supporting this controversial claim. Much of the film amounts to a lot of spelling (translating each letter inscribed on the ossuaries into English), genealogical breakdowns, biblical reenactments, and some fancy statistical analysis. All signs point to this being the tomb of Jesus, yet no one seems to care. Either these archaeologists are a bunch of hacks, or the world is simply not ready to accept that such a monumental discovery could be made in such a mundane way.
The documentary does present a convincing argument, and after about half an hour, I was ready to throw up my hands and say, "Okay! You found the tomb of Jesus, I believe you!" Even so, it's hard to shake the feeling that what your watching is as bogus as the unveiling of Al Capone's vault. Remember the heart-thumping moments before the big reveal? What would Geraldo find inside? Gasp! It's empty. It seems as though the tomb of Jesus has been dismissed as swiftly as the vault, but why does it seem so real?
Whether you're convinced or not, The Lost Tomb of Jesus presents an intriguing theory that's worth our consideration. At 105 minutes, it becomes a bit redundant, but you can't say Jacobovici doesn't make his case. Even when the documentary ends, he furthers his argument in the extra features, which include an epilogue with producer James Cameron, expert interviews, the film's trailer, and a photo gallery.
