From June 14 to 18, UCI Cinemas theaters will screen the first two episodes of the fourth season before their distribution on digital platforms
Rosario Tronnolone – Vatican City
“The chosen ones” (The Chosen), a television series divided into seven seasons that narrates the life of Jesus and his disciples, has become a global phenomenon over the years, with two hundred million viewers and eight hundred million individual episodes watched. Directed by American director Dallas Jenkins, already dubbed into fifty languages (it is the most translated television series in history), The Chosen Ones is produced thanks to free donations from viewers to the foundation Eat and See.
There are two main sets where the series is filmed: one in Utah, in Provo, near Salt Lake City, where the city of Jerusalem has been rebuilt, and another in Texas, in Midlothian, near Dallas, where Capernaum has been rebuilt, following the model of the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Along with illustrating episodes based on the Gospels, such as the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, or Jesus walking on water, or Salome’s dance, the series also tells stories that are the result of the creativity of the scriptwriters, stories that serve to create the experience lived by the characters that surround Jesus.
The fourth season
Compared to the first three seasons, which illustrated the mission of Jesus and outlined the relationships between the various characters, the fourth season promises to be more dramatic, as it will illustrate how opposition to the message of Christ turns violent on the part of those who begin to see their growing influence over the people as a threat to the established power.
The actor Alaa Safi, who plays the role of Simon the Zealot, and Giovanni Zappalà, international contact person for The Chosen for Italy, they held a press conference on Zoom in advance of the theatrical release of the first two episodes of the fourth series. Simon the Zealot is only mentioned a couple of times in the Scriptures. The scriptwriters imagined that he was the brother of the paralytic cured by Jesus. To prepare for the role, Safi said he researched the Zealot movement to understand their eagerness to protect the people against the hostility of the Romans and their fervent anticipation of the arrival of the liberating Messiah.
From strength to love
“It was enough for me to understand how important it was for my character to leave his house, to leave a paralyzed brother, to try to be useful. Then I focused on my practice of martial arts, because I too, as a child, experienced something similar: no both the need to leave my home, but to take refuge in a discipline that would allow me to strengthen myself, build my defenses and prepare myself for life. It was the martial arts that provided me with this discipline. the transition from believing in a life based solely on strength – and, therefore, actually on a form of fear, on a need for control to limit fear – to a new philosophy, based on love, acceptance, forgiveness and an attitude of trust towards life. It was an immediate intuition that helped me in the configuration of each scene of my character.”
Alaa Safi adds: «In the fourth season we enter a phase in which doubt settles in my character: everything that, following Jesus, he has believed until now, that is, that it is right to renounce weapons, trust in a force even greater than violence and fighting, everything that my character has renounced only for the love of Jesus, because Jesus asked him to, because he trusts Him and believes that He is the Messiah, returns now, in the moment of challenge, as a possible, or perhaps inevitable, alternative.
But what aspect of this series has made the public passionate about such a markedly religious story? Giovanni Zappalà recalled that we often forget that we live in a world and a time marked by the presence of Christ on earth: “History is divided into Before Christ and After Christ.”
The key to the success of “The Chosen” is to reveal the reasons why in Judea, more than two thousand years ago, a small group of men had such a strong impact on the history of humanity in such a short time. If told well, it is a story that cannot fail to arouse interest. Cinematography has often told the story of Christ and his disciples emphasizing the deity of Christ, the holiness of these men, portraying them as unattainable compared to us, who are weak and fragile.
On the other hand, “The Chosen” tells of a Jesus who is true God, but also true man, and describes the disciples as boys full of doubts, trying to decide what to do with their lives. It is interesting to understand the context of Judea two thousand years ago, where the Jewish people, subjected to Roman oppression, waited for a liberator, the Messiah; but they were waiting for a political liberator, and that is why the zealots were preparing a revolt based on force. Instead, Jesus comes and starts saying ‘love your enemy, forgive, turn the other cheek.’ Everything sounds like a revolution. And yet, after two thousand years, we are still talking about it.”
Sense of humor
“Every time I saw the story of Jesus in the cinema – adds Alaa Safi – it fascinated me. The message of Jesus is universal, and resonates through time, but the peculiarity of The Chosen is also the fact that it is a series and , therefore, allows the viewer to follow the characters for much longer, throughout a much longer narrative arc, and thus become attached to their stories. This aspect is linked to an intentionally accessible and modern language, with a strong meaning. of humor, which favors a stronger and easier identification. This identification is also the reason for its global success, because beyond the basic culture or religion in which we have grown up, we talk about universal, human values, in which we have grown up. that we all meet.”
And he added: «The choice, then, of telling the story from the point of view of the witnesses who knew Jesus, from the perspective of the disciples and the other people who surrounded him, allows the spectators to identify with at least one of the characters, and find yourself in the experience of at least one of them. We read it every day in the messages we receive: each one, with their personal story, has the possibility of relating to one of the characters. And very often the testimonies we receive also tell us that viewers have encountered the series at a very difficult moment in their lives. It is like a response to a need for something to hold on to to get out of a difficult moment, due to the loss of a loved one, for example. This also makes us very responsible and eager to do well.
It is wonderful for an artist to know that what he does is useful to other people, that his work stimulates a positive experience, in a relationship of communion with the public. For us it is good to know, and we will always work with great joy, a sense of responsibility and satisfaction.”
