The streaming giant puts its name behind a film that claims Jesus was a Greek philosopher who studied with snake charmers.
Called Bible Conspiracies, the 67 minute movie is filled with assertions so outlandish and provocative as to seem purpose-built to offend adherents of the Bible. On second thought, perahps "annoy" is actually a better word than "offend" because there is so much nonsense in this film as to make it wholly unserious.
Here is a sampling: Jesus was not a Jew born in Bethlehem - a town that probably did not exist at the time anyway - but Greek philosopher Appolonius of Tyana who gained his wisdom from snake worshippers during a sojourn in Cashmere; Jesus wed Mary Magdalene and had children with her; Mary - the purported mother of Jesus - was a member of a Jewish cult of virgins; the Tower of Babel was built and then destroyed by aliens, et cetera, et cetera. And, yes, they mean the kind of aliens from outer space. Irony of ironies, this production comes from a company that calls itself Reality Films!
Beyond the risible silliness of the above proclamations, there is nothing to back them up, oblique statements like "it is believed" aside. The entire 67 minutes is guided by a disembodied voice, droning on in a British accent, with nary a soundbite or quotation from a live human being: not a single expert interview. And what of the Bible's assertions and prophecies? We are told, "none of them would stand up in court."
The writer and director of this "documentary" is one Philip Gardiner, who, according to his profile on IMDb, is quite prolific, having churned out 80-plus works, including titles like these: Alien Encounter at Loch Ness, American Mind Control: MK Ultra and A Werewolf in Slovenia to name but a few of the more compelling ones. With that sort of track record, it comes as little surprise he would take pot shots at the Bible and Christianity.
A bit unexpected, though, is that a company like Amazon would be a party to it by featuring this thing on its streaming platform. We at Christian Film Blog recognize the immense challenge it must be to fill such a bottomless pit with enough good content to attract and keep viewers. Carrying patently substandard work like Bible Conspiracies, however, seems a particularly poor way to go about it.