When The Passion of the Christ came out in 2004, I was shocked that a movie portraying the story of Jesus would ever come out in theatres.
Not because it couldn’t be done, but because of how it was done.
You see, this was not your average Christian low-budget movie that usually had a limited release window in selected theatres, where you were lucky if your city happened to be selected to have viewings.
And even if your city did have those viewings, there would only be one or two theatres available to watch it.
And to make matters worse, of those one or two theatres, there would only be a few showtimes for only a few days a week.
Simply put: a limited budget meant limited cities, limited theatres, limited days, and limited showtimes.
So I was shocked to see that this was a full-blown release—not just nationwide, but worldwide.
I could tell they did not spare any expense in making this movie. Everything was amazing.
I remember being in that theatre. It was packed, and yet there was so much silence throughout the movie. Nobody saw the portrayal of Jesus being crucified in this way ever before. It drove the meaning so powerful people were stunned and shocked by what they witnessed.
When the movie ended, it was so quiet I could hear the shuffling of people’s feet walking down the steps as they left the theatre. Nobody said a single word.
It was at that moment I knew an incredible cinematic accomplishment had happened.
At the time, it broke the record as the highest-grossing R-rated film in North America—a record it would hold for 20 years.
It was a big deal at the time because so many attempts to portray any part of Jesus’ life in the realm of mainstream media had failed. Not only that, Faith based films in general missed the mark, sometimes in such embarrassing ways. It was painful to watch Christian movies because of how awkward and terrible the acting was.
Mainly, the two biggest stumbling blocks have always been a limited budget, which then leads to limited talent in the writing, producing, directing, and acting.
And to show how big of a deal that was, over 20 years have passed since that release, and nobody has done anything in the realm of theatrical releases that dares come even close to that success.
Sure, there have been a few decent movies like Risen in 2016 and Paul, Apostle of Christ in 2018 that had moderate successes at the box office, but nothing with the worldwide influence and box office records that The Passion has accomplished.
So now we turn to the realm of television.
There were, of course, some valiant attempts made with The Bible miniseries in 2013 and then a second miniseries called A.D. The Bible Continues in 2015.
Both were good, but once again, they did not seem to connect with audiences that translated into a smash success. They didn’t resonate with people in a way that made them want to read their Bible and learn more about Jesus.
But I think the one thing that was successful about those two series was that they showed future executive producers, writers, and directors that the “episodic series” format was the best direction to go moving forward. It showed that they were on to something with the episode format, because viewing habits were slowly shifting in that direction in general.
Because with these high end shows that you now see on streaming services instead of theatres, I am more convinced that the best type of visual storytelling belongs in an episodic format. And we are seeing more stories delivered that way in general because you simply cannot cram a great story into a 1.5- to 2-hour timeslot, or even into a trilogy of movies.
It just doesn’t allow scenes to breathe or give the opportunity to develop characters properly. It doesn’t give viewers the time to feel the intensity and emotion of the story.
And when you are dealing with stories of the Bible, let alone Jesus’ life and all the people involved in his life at the time, it’s clear you need a series.
Theatrical movies will always have their place in storytelling, but more and more, there is this shift in viewing habits where people are more invested in longer, drawn-out stories.
But it was in 2017 when a man by the name of Dallas Jenkins created a small pilot episode that he wrote and directed. It was based on the birth of Jesus.
Little did anyone realize that this small pilot episode, filmed on a small farm in Illinois, would generate over 15 million views.
This short film based on the birth of Jesus was now going to be the birth of a TV series that the world had never seen before.
Two years later, backed by thousands of crowdfunders with millions of dollars behind it, Season 1 of The Chosen was born.
I found it quite fitting that the miracle of Jesus’ birth was the pitch used to lead to a multi-season show, because all the challenges Dallas Jenkins and his team had to overcome for this show to even exist are, in and of themselves, a miracle. It’s way too long to get into here, but it is definitely worth reading about if you have the time.
So why am I talking about all of this?
Well, because for what a smashing success The Passion was for a theatrical faith-based movie, The Chosen has become the equivalent for a faith-based episodic series.
I would never dare compare the two because you really can’t to begin with. Their styles and formats are obviously different.
But I will say, for what the team behind The Chosen is trying to accomplish, it could—and very well will be—the gold standard of filmmaking and visual storytelling for the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
So why am I saying this now?
Well, we are now nearing 2027, and this show has just started to release its 6th season…and I have only started watching it now.
In fact, I watched the first 5 available seasons in less than 2 weeks.
I don’t know why all these years have passed without me watching this show. I knew it existed, and it was available for me to watch.
It may have been from the previous disappointments I have seen from Christian filmmakers that missed the mark more often than not. But I really don’t know.
In some ways, I feel like one of the last people in the World to have watched it. And I have reason to believe this because this show has broken the Guinness World Record for being the most translated and distributed show in the world. They want this show to be the most accessible in the world.
So while I don’t know why it took so long for me to watch it, what I do know is that I’m sure glad I finally did, and I couldn’t be more satisfied by what I have experienced.
So much so that I plan to do a video sharing my thoughts for every single episode.
Now, I know that this show has been analyzed and talked about beyond belief, so I am not going to add to that.
I am not going to debate its scriptural accuracy and talk about every single moment. None of that.
I am simply going to offer my own random thoughts on what I noticed in every episode. I am also going into this without reading or watching any interviews or commentary from any of the Production team.
So why am I doing this?
Because I believe The Chosen has accomplished something that has never been done before. It has used filmmaking in a way to expand our understanding of what we read in the Bible like never before.
It is speaking a language that the world can understand. It is showing Jesus to the world in a way that it can relate to. And to me, that is worth exploring.
I will talk about each episode from when it was chronologically released. Which means I will begin with the pilot episode that started it all, then work my way on to Season 1, Season 2, the Christmas Special, Season 3, 4, 5, 6, and ultimately its 7th and final season.
I have learned a lot from The Chosen so far, and I hope what I share will do the same for you, too.
