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The Miracle Maker

THE MIRACLE-MAKER
Director: Derek Hayes
Certificate U, 91 minutes

More people flocked to the cinema to see The Miracle-Maker than Kenneth Branagh's Love's Labours Lost, when both films opened at the beginning of April. The feature-length screenplay portraying the life of Jesus, using state-of-the-art animation techniques. It was released on March 31 and is being shown at 100 cinemas around the country. The film is the work of the same award-winning team which brought Testament: the Animated Bible and Shakespeare: the Animated Tales to BBC TV.

The story is based on Luke's Gospel and told through the eyes of a child, Tamar, a name given to the daughter of Jairus. Derek Hayes, the executive director, stated: 'What Murray Watts (the screenwriter) has done . . . is to take an incident which is only a few paragraphs in one of the Gospels: the story of Jairus's daughter. He's actually given the daughter a name and made her a central character. Consequently Tamar is the first person we see and we follow her throughout the film, using her interaction with Jesus to tell his story.'

The film has been five years in the making, and takes the techniques of animation to the highest standards yet. A team of 250 people at Moscow's Christmas Films took over 12 months to film the 3D-model animation simultaneously on six sets. 2D animation is used for flashbacks and for the telling of parables. A list of well-known actors, which include Ralph Fiennes, Julie Christie and Richard E. Grant, provide voices for the characters. The music soundtrack is composed by Oscar winner, Anne Dudley.

While this is a secular film, the writer, the screenwriter, Murray Watts, is a Christian. He is also an excellent storyteller. His purpose was to tell the story of Jesus with the 'vision, clarity and perception of a child'.

The film is promoted by the Bible Society, which believes that it has the ability to make a powerful impact on the life and outreach of the church in the UK. They encouraged churches nationwide to make The Miracle Maker the centrepiece of their Easter programmes. Murray Watts claims that the film makes more of the resurrection than any other Jesus film.

A novel (£7.99) and an illustrated children's book (£5.99), both called The Miracle Maker are published by Hodder and Stoughton. 'How to use' leaflets are available for schools and churches, and workbooks will also be available for the eventual video and TV transmission. If the film is as faithful to Luke's Gospel as the makers claim, it could be a useful for outreach.

Further information on 0845 3030 005 or www.themiracleworker.com

Steve Edmunds