This original version titled ¨Inquire¨ (1987) treated the Resurrection as a mystery thriller , directed by Damiano Damiani ; being well starred by Keith Carradine as Tito Valerio , Harvey Keitel as Pontius Pilate and Phyllis Logan as Claudia Procula . A Roman Tribune is sent from Capri by emperor Tiberio to find out what happened to the missing body of Jesus . In 35 A.D. , an overconfident Roman tribune named Tito Valerio (Keith Carradine) is sent to a remote part of the empire called Palestine to on a bizarre investigation to discover the death and possible resurrection of a certain Jesus from Nazareth , only to attract the suspicion of the local governor Pontius Pilate (Harvey Keitel) . This is the thrilling tale of one man's quest to uncover the mystery of all mysteries and while an official cover-up is presumed . Sent to disprove the resurrection and on a spiritual quest , he discovers faith , love (to Phyllis Logan as Procula, Pontius's wife) and a revelation that could shatter the empire .
Interesting story treating the resurrection of Jesus Christ with intrigue , suspense , an adulterous love story and adding historical events . This 1987 picture was enjoyable , brooding , and gritty but sadly was definitively rather tiring as well as slow-moving and had a flop at box office . There appears several historic characters in brief acting as Tiberius , Maria mother of Jesus , Maria Magdalena and of course , Pontius Pilate . The screenplay deals with a timeless issue , being attractive and convincingly realized . The story from Suso Cecchi D'Amico and Ennio Flaiano even had an exclusive one-week theatrical engagement in Dallas , Texas . It's an acceptable treatment of the political and religious themes , convincingly developed and the intent of the director seems to be well handled , being ultimately both thought-provoking and agreeable . Casting is frankly good such as : Keith Carradine as hard-nosed investigator , Phyllis Logan as disillusioned wife and Harvey Keitel as cunning Pontius Pilatus ; both of them deliver some insightful dialogs . But Keith Carradine ultimately rises to the occasion , especially in the crucial last half-hour . Fine support cast such as Angelo Infanti , Georgia Slowe , Manuel De Blas , Sal Borghese and Lina Satri as Maria Di Magdala . It's an European co-production among various countries as Italy/Tunisia/Spain with marvelous outdoors from Tunisia . Evocative as well as atmospheric musical score by Riz Ortalani . Colorful and adequate cinematography by Franco Di Giacomo , the filming took place in Tunisia , including its deserts and villages . The motion picture was compellingly directed by Damiano Damiani and very skillfully written too . Damiano is an expert on all kind of genres as Drama (¨Arthur's island¨ , ¨The Most Beautiful Wife" , ¨The witch¨ , and ¨Empty canvas¨ based on the Alberto Moravia novel) , Terror (Amytiville 2 : the possession) , Spaghetti Western (¨Trinity is back again¨and the prestigious ¨A bullet for the General¨ with Klaus Kinski) . Damiani was specialized on crime-thriller-Subgenre or Italian cop thriller (¨Confessions of a Police captain¨ , ¨How to kill a judge¨, ¨The case is closed , forget it¨, "Goodbye e amen" , ¨Mafia¨, "I Am Afraid" and ¨Warning¨ starred by Martin Balsam) . This ¨The Inquiry¨ results to be its only film in historical genre .
The same story about a Roman tribune is sent to Palestine to investigate the death and possible resurrection of a certain Jesus from Nasareth had a new retelling also titled ¨Inquiry¨(2006) by Giulio Base starred Daniel Liotti , Dolph Lundgren , Monica Cruz , Anna Kanakis and Ornella Muti ; being conceived as both a theatrical film and a TV movie , the biggest weakness of the movie is the acting and being more commercial , more amusing and aimed for all kind of public as teens as adults . The picture has a Christian point of view that holds interest , while the 1987 adaptation had an offbeat and ambiguous resolution .
