ChristyLeskovar

I predict Emmys for best limited series, best actress (Emily Blunt), best actor (Chaske Spencer), maybe best supporting actor (Stephen Rea), writing, cinematography, and score. The story is poetically and artfully told. There is genius behind it. Horrible violence, and there is a lot of it, is off screen - you see the reaction of people hearing it, knowing it-or it is in silhouette or at a distance. There are good people to root for. Emily Blunt delivers a beautiful soliloquy about her baby, profound writing delivered by an exceptional actress. It is visually stunning, showcasing the expansiveness and vastness of the plains of the American West. The story unfolds delicately, and in the end left me with a sense of well being. Why? After all the badness, there is goodness--people making self-sacrificing decisions for others.

Streaming on Amazon.

There are not sufficient superlatives to say how fantastic this show is. It is so well done. This young director/screenwriter Dallas Jenkins is a genius! The pacing, the editing, the acting and especially the writing, are flawless, impeccable, especially the writing. The writers often use modern expressions, and it really works. I've seen this done in other period pieces where it is clunky and distracting. In The Chosen, it is perfect. It makes the story more relevant. When the Roman soldier says, "We have a situation," it works. Also, the use of humor is delightful. The Chosen Season 1 gives the backstory on Our Lord's disciples, namely the Apostles and Mary Magdalene, and also Nicodemus and the political peril he faced. The dialogue, the characters are so real. Granted much of it is fictional. We don't know anything about the interchange between Simon-Peter and his wife Eden. We don't know about the relationship between Nicodemus and his wife. We don't know about connections between those who were healed by Our Lord, but the connections depicted make sense and provide for smoother story telling. Everything in the show makes sense. The show is well researched, I thought of the novels by Taylor Caldwell about St. Paul and St. Luke. The cultural and physical attentions to detail are exquisite. It is clear that the writers have a deep and broad understanding of scripture and the historical context. The flashbacks to Old Testament times are brilliant. I am blown away by the talent of those who made this. It is a TV series, eight episodes. The pilot is a short called The Shepherds, about Christmas. Very powerful. Be sure to watch that too. The series was financed by crowdfunding. Season 2 is in the works. I am sending them money. We need more like this. You can watch it on the free app The Chosen. Download the app onto your smart TV. If that doesn't work on your TV, download the app onto your phone or tablet or laptop, connect that to your TV with an HDMI cable, and you can watch it on your TV. You can also watch it on YouTube. Or you can buy the DVDs.

Quite a movie-a simple story masterfully done that told a much larger story, and that was the tragic futility of the First World War. It is art rather than entertainment or history. Having done exhaustive research on the war for One Night in a Bad Inn, many visual details were familiar. I don't remember being so affected by a movie since the Passion of the Christ. I think seeing it on the big screen amplified the intensity. We saw it in XD. I also can't recall a movie in which the music was this effective in amplifying the drama; the music sweeps you into the scene. I found it remarkable that the leads were played by unknown actors while three A list actors played cameo roles. Though the director's grandfather was in the war and one of his stories was the inspiration for movie, the story line was fictional as were the characters. Telling the details of history was not the point of the film. Telling the broad truth of a war that was one the greatest tragedies in history was. I suggest sitting toward the back of the theater. The dialogue included R rated language that I can always do without. If you are familiar with the First World War, put all that out of your head. I was distracted thinking where are they, which battle, . . .? That's not the point. Just watch it. Having seen only one other best picture nominee, this definitely deserved to win.