Director: Nathaniel Nose *Cast: Carl Weyant, Josh Perry, DJ Perry, Rance Howard, Taymour Ghazi. 2019. 115 minutes.
The movie takes its inspiration from the legend of Longinus, a blind Roman soldier who is believed to have been miraculously cured of blindness when he thrust the lance into the heart of Christ at the climax of the Crucifixion. The blind Longinus is retained in the Roman legion on account of his father’s influence. He is stricken with guilt and is almost suicidal after he is publicly named as ‘Christ slayer’ by his colleagues. He is confused about the event and its significance as he was actually bullied into thrusting the lance into Jesus’ side and then both taunted and revered for it. A deep moral and spiritual crisis engulfs the man. Unable to take it any longer, Longinus leaves Jerusalem for his home village, accompanied by his loyal servant Albus, in search of peace of mind. He leaves his job, his father and his sweetheart behind. The journey is haunted by his increasing awareness of the divinity of Christ who many acknowledge as having risen from death, but the authorities wish to suppress the truth. The two travelers are joined by a Stranger who is a consoling presence all along. The Stranger acts as a protector and spiritual guide to the two and when they reach the village, Longinus is received by his mother and other relatives. The climax of the story is when the Stranger takes Longinus into the river where he baptizes him and he miraculously regains his eye sight as he emerges from the water. But the Stranger is gone. Longinus now realizes that the stranger was indeed the Jesus whom he had slain and who is now risen. Longinus later joins the apostles and proclaims the Gospel in the Roman Empire, to be martyred and beatified by the church.
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