The new film ‘The Carpenter’s Son’, starring actor Nicholas Cage as Joseph, the father of Jesus, has been panned by critics, receiving a 36% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Directed by Lofty Nathan and billed as a ‘horror flick, the film is adapted not from the bible, but from the apocrypha, especially the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, which depicts the life of Jesus growing up and discovering his supernatural powers.
The Metracritic summary reads
A remote village in Roman-era Egypt explodes into spiritual warfare when a carpenter, his wife and their child are targeted by supernatural forces in The Carpenter’s Son. Joseph, Mary and their teenage son Jesus have lived for years under threat, clinging to their faith and traditions. But a stopover in a small settlement unleashes growing chaos when a mysterious stranger tries to entice young Jesus to abandon his devout father’s rules.
With every pull of temptation, the boy is lured into a forbidden world, as a terrified Joseph realizes that a demonic power is at work. Violent, unnatural events inexplicably follow Jesus, and he begins to experience nightmarish visions of the future. Finally, he learns the fearsome truth about his new playmate, as well as the child’s real name: Satan.
It is Rated R for R (Brief Nudity|Strong/Bloody Violent Content)
To give a sense of what we’re dealing with, a review from The Wrap explains:
The film begins with the birth of Jesus, and follows Joseph and Mary as they escape Herod’s mass murder of all the young children in Bethlehem. It’s freaky stuff, and genuinely terrifying. Years later, Joseph and his family are still on the run. He’s turned into a stern, paranoid taskmaster. He’s constantly afraid of attracting attention and is obsessed with his son’s moral upbringing. Jesus is a young teenager, and like all young teenagers, he’s knee-deep in a rebellious phase and hanging out with the local troublemaker, in this case an androgynous goth kid who is obviously Satan (Isla Johnston).
Satan tempts Jesus with fun illicit acts like touching lepers and playing with wooden snakes. (Whee!) Joseph will have none of that, and throws Jesus in a wooden cage so he think about what he’s done. It’s tempting to say Joseph shouldn’t throw stones, since he’s making his money by carving false idols, but this is a prequel and “shouldn’t throw stones” hasn’t been invented yet.
