The Miracle Maker
Encyclopedia
The Miracle Maker is a stop motion
-animated film
about the life of Jesus Christ through the eyes of a young girl, Tamar, the daughter of the Biblical
Jairus
who is raised from death by Jesus (the daughter of Jairus is not named in the New Testament
.) Some clips of the film (especially when stories are being told) are animated cartoons instead of stop motion.
The film was directed by Derek Hayes and Stanislav Sokolov
. It stars the voice of Ralph Fiennes
as Jesus
. The cast also includes Emily Mortimer
, Julie Christie
, William Hurt
, Ken Stott
and Richard E. Grant
.
The film ends with Anne Dudley's
"Pie Jesu" for solo boy soprano and orchestra.
, Year 90 of the Roman Occupation." Jairus and his daughter Tamar are traveling through the city when they meet Cleopas
, a friend of Jairus's. The conversation between Jairus and Cleopas reveals that Tamar is sick with a recurring fever, and every time it returns it gets worse. Jairus visits the doctor to see what can be done, but all the doctor is able to give him is medicine that will ease Tamar's pain, not cure her. As Jairus and Tamar leave the city, Tamar witnesses Jesus
, who is one of the workers building a new synagogue, protect a deranged woman, Mary Magdalene
, from being attacked by the townspeople who do not want her around.
Jesus leaves the city as well, and goes to visit his mother, Mary
. While there, Mary recalls the time when Jesus ran away during a visit to Jerusalem as a young boy, and was found amazing the Elders
at the Temple
with his knowledge and insights about God
and the Scriptures.
After Jesus falls asleep, Mary also recalls his birth and the visit of the Wise Men.
After leaving his mother's house, Jesus travels to the Jordan River where John the Baptist
is baptizing people and preaching about the coming of the Savior. As soon as he sees Jesus, John declares that the Lamb of God
has arrived and falls to his knees. Although John believes he is unworthy to baptize Jesus, and that Jesus should baptize him, Jesus insists. John baptizes Jesus
, and a voice from Heaven
declares, "This is my beloved son." After his baptism, Jesus wanders out into the wilderness. The people gathered at the river ask where he is going, to which John replies, "There are battles which have to be fought alone."
Jesus wanders through the wilderness for quite some time, until he eventually collapses from exhaustion. Satan
tempts Jesus to turn a rock into a loaf of bread to satisfy his hunger, but Jesus quotes the Scriptures saying, "Man shall not live on bread alone." Jesus gets up and continues walking, and Satan tempts Jesus once again. Showing him a cheering crowd and a large gold statue of Jesus, Satan states that he will hand over all this power and glory if Jesus will worship him. Jesus once again quotes Scripture, saying, "You shall worship the Lord, your God, and no one else shall you serve." Satan tries to tempt Jesus once more, taking him to the Temple and telling him to throw himself from the roof. Satan quotes Scriptures, saying that the angels are commanded to take care of and protect Jesus, but Jesus still refuses, saying, "You shall not put your God to the test!" After this, Satan leaves Jesus alone.
Jesus goes on to choose his twelve apostles, whom he journeys with while healing people and performing various miracles. The film portrays the events of the gospels through Jesus' crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension into heaven.
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
-animated film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
about the life of Jesus Christ through the eyes of a young girl, Tamar, the daughter of the Biblical
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
Jairus
Daughter of Jairus
The record of the daughter of Jairus is a combination of miracles of Jesus in the Gospels .The story immediately follows the exorcism at Gerasa. Jairus, a patron of the synagogue, asks Jesus to heal his dying daughter. However, according to Matthew, his daughter is already dead, not dying...
who is raised from death by Jesus (the daughter of Jairus is not named in the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
.) Some clips of the film (especially when stories are being told) are animated cartoons instead of stop motion.
The film was directed by Derek Hayes and Stanislav Sokolov
Stanislav Sokolov
Stanislav Mihaylovich Sokolov is a Russian stop-motion animation director. He graduated from VGIK in 1971 and has since then worked with Studios Soyuzmultfilm, DEFA, Christmasfilms and S4C. He was awarded a number of prizes for his films, most notably an Emmy in 1992 for his contribution to The...
. It stars the voice of Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....
as Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
. The cast also includes Emily Mortimer
Emily Mortimer
Emily Kathleen A. Mortimer is an English actress. She began performing on stage, and has since appeared in several film and television roles, including Scream 3, Match Point, Lars and the Real Girl, and Shutter Island....
, Julie Christie
Julie Christie
Julie Frances Christie is a British actress. Born in British India to English parents, at the age of six Christie moved to England, where she attended boarding school....
, William Hurt
William Hurt
William McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...
, Ken Stott
Ken Stott
Kenneth Campbell "Ken" Stott is a Scottish actor, particularly known in the United Kingdom for his many roles in television.-Early life:...
and Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant is a Swaziland-born British actor, screenwriter and director. His most notable role came in the film Withnail and I. He holds dual British and Swazi citizenship.-Early life:...
.
The film ends with Anne Dudley's
Anne Dudley
Anne Dudley is an English composer and pop musician, and was the first BBC Concert Orchestra's Composer in Association in 2001. She has worked in both the classical and pop genres. She is perhaps best known, however, as one of the core members of the synthpop band Art of Noise and also as a film...
"Pie Jesu" for solo boy soprano and orchestra.
Plot
The film opens in "Sepphoris, Upper GalileeUpper Galilee
The Upper Galilee is a geographical-political term in use since the end of the Second Temple period, originally referring to a mountainous area overlapping the present northern Israel and southern Lebanon, its borders being the Litani river in the north, the Mediterranean Sea in the west, the Beit...
, Year 90 of the Roman Occupation." Jairus and his daughter Tamar are traveling through the city when they meet Cleopas
Cleopas
Cleopas was a figure of early Christianity, one of the two disciples who encountered Jesus during the Road to Emmaus appearance in the Gospel of ....
, a friend of Jairus's. The conversation between Jairus and Cleopas reveals that Tamar is sick with a recurring fever, and every time it returns it gets worse. Jairus visits the doctor to see what can be done, but all the doctor is able to give him is medicine that will ease Tamar's pain, not cure her. As Jairus and Tamar leave the city, Tamar witnesses Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
, who is one of the workers building a new synagogue, protect a deranged woman, Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...
, from being attacked by the townspeople who do not want her around.
Jesus leaves the city as well, and goes to visit his mother, Mary
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
. While there, Mary recalls the time when Jesus ran away during a visit to Jerusalem as a young boy, and was found amazing the Elders
Finding in the Temple
The Finding in the Temple, also called "Christ among the Doctors" or the Disputation , was an episode in the early life of Jesus depicted in the Gospel of Luke. It is the only event of the later childhood of Jesus mentioned in a gospel.The episode is only described in...
at the Temple
Temple in Jerusalem
The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures which were historically located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock. Historically, these successive temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of...
with his knowledge and insights about God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
and the Scriptures.
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
After Jesus falls asleep, Mary also recalls his birth and the visit of the Wise Men.
After leaving his mother's house, Jesus travels to the Jordan River where John the Baptist
John the Baptist
John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
is baptizing people and preaching about the coming of the Savior. As soon as he sees Jesus, John declares that the Lamb of God
Lamb of God
The title Lamb of God appears in the Gospel of John, with the exclamation of John the Baptist: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" in John 1:29 when he sees Jesus....
has arrived and falls to his knees. Although John believes he is unworthy to baptize Jesus, and that Jesus should baptize him, Jesus insists. John baptizes Jesus
Baptism of Jesus
The baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of Jesus Christ's public ministry. This event is recorded in the Canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. In John 1:29-33 rather than a direct narrative, the Baptist bears witness to the episode...
, and a voice from Heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
declares, "This is my beloved son." After his baptism, Jesus wanders out into the wilderness. The people gathered at the river ask where he is going, to which John replies, "There are battles which have to be fought alone."
Jesus wanders through the wilderness for quite some time, until he eventually collapses from exhaustion. Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
tempts Jesus to turn a rock into a loaf of bread to satisfy his hunger, but Jesus quotes the Scriptures saying, "Man shall not live on bread alone." Jesus gets up and continues walking, and Satan tempts Jesus once again. Showing him a cheering crowd and a large gold statue of Jesus, Satan states that he will hand over all this power and glory if Jesus will worship him. Jesus once again quotes Scripture, saying, "You shall worship the Lord, your God, and no one else shall you serve." Satan tries to tempt Jesus once more, taking him to the Temple and telling him to throw himself from the roof. Satan quotes Scriptures, saying that the angels are commanded to take care of and protect Jesus, but Jesus still refuses, saying, "You shall not put your God to the test!" After this, Satan leaves Jesus alone.
Jesus goes on to choose his twelve apostles, whom he journeys with while healing people and performing various miracles. The film portrays the events of the gospels through Jesus' crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension into heaven.