'The Chosen'

I haven't watched The Chosen primarily because I'm a bit cynical about films that intend to send a message. (Samuel Goldwyn supposedly said, "If You Have a Message, Send It by Western Union.") Perhaps I should reconsider. Kevin Williamson writes "The Chosen Is ‘Message’ Entertainment Done Right":

There isn’t any way to make a series about the life and career of Jesus that keeps religion at arm’s length (it would be a mistake even to try, I think) but what The Chosen gets right is that what it communicates is a Christian sensibility rather than dogma, theology, or other subjects best left to formal religious instruction per se. It begins with a Jesus and a Jesus movement that are distinctly Jewish and distinctly more than Jewish, a Jesus and an emerging faith that often do not solve followers’ here-and-now problems but instead add significantly to them, putting them at odds with political power, civic and religious authorities, their own friends and families, their own material and social self-interests. Set aside the religious significance of that for the moment and appreciate that this is why The Chosen works as drama rather than as evangelism or apologetics. The Chosen is in fact at its best when it is at its least sentimental and its least comforting. And at its best, The Chosen is very good. (more)

Kevin D. Williamson, "‘The Chosen’ Is ‘Message’ Entertainment Done Right," The Dispatch, Sept. 13, 2023.