Jesus’ story gets laughable virtual reality treatment, and Venice critics reel
The acting is poor and the 360-degree, 4K technology is a work in progress, so that, rather than having the sense they are walking alongside Christ, the viewer feels like a static spectator
Even having Jesus as its central character could not save a virtual reality biblical epic from the bile of slightly nauseated critics at the Venice Film Festival.
Jesus VR, The Story of Christ is billed as the first feature-length film made for a virtual reality platform, allowing viewers to be present at both Jesus’ birth and crucifixion in a 90-minute account of the key events of the New Testament.
Headsets strapped on, critics at the world’s oldest film festival were given a taste of the film, which was shot in 360-degree 4K video, allowing viewers to see everything going on around them from all angles. The film was shown in a new VR Theatre on Venice’s Lido.
“We saw this not as much as a movie as a way to travel back in time,” says producer Alex Barder, from virtual-reality production firm VRWERX.
Shot on location in Matera, the Italian village where Mel Gibson’s violent drama The Passion of the Christ (2004) was filmed, the experience takes you through the defining moments of Christ’s life: his birth in a stable crib, his baptism, the last supper with his apostles and his death by crucifixion.
Except that the technology is still in the teething stages.
So rather than having the sense they are walking alongside Christ, the viewer’s perspective is that of being a spectator standing or sitting near the blandly portrayed prophet.