Joshua (2002/I)

Director:

Jon Purdy

Writers (WGA):

Joseph F. Girzone (novel)
Brad Mirman (screenplay) ...

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Hope has a name...

Plot:

"Joshua" tells the story of a possible second coming of Christ to a small U.S. town.

Plot Keywords:

Vatican | Stranger | Church | Pope | Priest

Cast

Tony Goldwyn	...	Joshua
F. Murray Abraham	...	Father Tardone
Kurt Fuller	...	Father Pat Hayes
Stacy Edwards	...	Maggie
Giancarlo Giannini	...	The Pope
Eddie Bo Smith Jr.	...	Theo
Michael Guido	...	Aaron
Matt Zeigler	...	Kevin
Colleen Camp	...	Joan Casey
Marc Grapey	...	Steve Casey (as Mark Grapey)
Rich Komenich	...	Ray Persini
Dale Calandra	...	Leo Persini
Cedric Young	...	Charlie
Tim Grimm	...	Bishop Anderson
Jordan Allen	...	Michael Reed

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:G

Filming Locations:

Chicago Studio City - 5660 W. Taylor Street, Austin, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Crusader Entertainment

Trivia:

The band that appears at the "worship service" is the contemporary Christian group Third Day.

Goofs:

Continuity: When talking with Father Turdone in the back room, Father Pat takes off his outer robe twice.

Quotes:

Joshua: Sometimes you have to tear something down in order to build it back up."

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Film Geek (2005)

Soundtrack:

Everyday Heroes

Nice Story For Believers & Unbelievers

Now here is an honest-to-goodness Christian movie, based on the best-selling book in the mid '90s by Fr. Joseph Girzone. This parable, I would think, would be a lot more effective evangelizing film than The Passion Of The Christ, only because this is so much more pleasant to watch. But it is no watered-down version, either. While Mel Gibson's film shows Christ's love in the incredibly- painful sacrifice he made, this movie shows the nature of His love in ordinary, everyday life with ordinary people.

This is a not a Second Coming story, rather just what Jesus might be like if he re-appeared and mingled with human beings today, in this case in a small southern town in the United States.

Here, "Joshua" (Tony Goldwyn) is pictured helping a diverse group of townspeople, ministering to them individually and helping them to come together as a community. He isn't arrogant or pushy about it; he just leads by example. A sub-plot involves his influence with two local priests: an older skeptical pharisee-like cleric (F. Murray Abraham) and his younger and personable assistant (Kurt Fuller).

It's nicely done, with good production values and some solid acting. It's not too heavy-handed for the unbelievers while at the same inspiring to believers. As one of the latter, this movie just made me feel good all the way through. This kind of movie isn't just unusual.....it's downright rare.