From the standpoint of film-making, it's not bad.
But as a biography of the Jewish biblical prophet Jeremiah ... it's awful. It's really that bad.
Here's my breakdown:
STORY:
I know the Bible well, and that includes the book of Jeremiah. This "story" is so disconnected from that book.
Yes, even films like "The Ten Commandments" takes some creative liberty (sometimes too much), but at least
events are largely congruent between the Torah and the film (not exact, but close enough for the casual viewer).
But the story here is useless. Example, the whole lead up with Jeremiah never having a wife took about 1/3 of the film,
and it's not close to accurate. Yes, we could argue that Moses never had a thing going with an Egyptian princess,
but 1/3 of the film??? No, maybe take 5 minutes to show he remained unmarried, but this was absurd.
ACTING:
The acting was actually pretty good, though some character choices seemed weird, e.g. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar.
All the writers had to do was read the book of Daniel, as they'd get a vivid picture of Nebuchadnezzar ... a "bigger than life" narcissist
that had an impulsive temper and a capricious mind. (Hmm ... sounds a bit like someone with orange hair ... hmm ...)
TEMPO:
OK, but it splinters off too often to call the tempo cohesive.
CINEMATOGRAPHY:
I was impressed by the settings which gave a feel of that geography and setting in late 7th century BCE.
DIRECTING / WRITING:
There's a reason this feels like a "Made-for-TV" film - Winer is a TV hack (Ugh). He also wrote this ... (Oy Vey !!!)
Is it a good film? No. It stinks, like sulfur from the mines near Sodom.
Should you watch this once? No, please don't.
Rating: 3.0.
