March 14, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Mauro Borrelli
Culture Representation: Taking place in the years 32 and 33 A.D., in Judaea (later known as Israel), the dramatic film “The Last Supper” features a predominantly white group of people (with a few Middle Eastern people) depicting the Christian story of Jesus Christ and his last days before he was crucified.
Culture Clash: Jesus Christ was betrayed by his apostle Judas Iscariot and crucified by Romans for saying that he was the Son of God.
Culture Audience: “The Last Supper” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching faith-based movies that are depictions of stories in the Christian Bible.
“The Last Supper” has some pacing issues, but the movie gives an adequately entertaining interpretation of this well-known Christian story. The movie’s performances are credible and not as cringeworthy as those in other low-budget faith-based movies. This film knows its target audience and does not deviate too far from the source material of the Christian Bible.
Directed by Mauro Borrelli (who co-wrote “The Last Supper” screenplay with John Collins), “The Last Supper” could have done the predictable narrative by having the story told from the perspective of Jesus Christ. Instead, the story is told from the perspective of Peter, one of Jesus’ apostles. Peter is the narrator of the movie, which delves a little more into the motives of Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed Jesus.
“The Last Supper” (which takes place in Judea, later known as Israel) begins in the year 32 A.D., near the Sea of Galilee, to show the Loaves and Fishes miracle, also known as the Feeding of the 5,000. In this scene a starving crowd of about 5,000 people have gathered near the sea to greet Jesus, who has a reputation as a miracle worker. Jesus (played by Jamie Ward) is able to turn five loaves of bread and two fish into enough fish and loaves of bread to feed the crowd and still have some left over. Jesus also performs another miracle by giving the ability to see to a blind boy.
Local leaders offer Jesus a chance to be “king among men.” Jesus turns down the offer by saying, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Judas (played by Robert Knepper), who is overly ambitious and craves power, is dismayed that Jesus has turned down this offer. Judas does not understand Jesus’ humility. By contrast, Peter (played by James Oliver Wheatley) is in constant awe and admiration of Jesus.
One year later, in 33 A.D., the Cleansing of the Temple happens, when Jesus is at the main temple in Jerusalem and gets angry when he sees that merchants have taken over the temple courtyard. Jesus thinks it’s disrespectful and sinful for people to buy and sell things in a sacred place of worship. He overturns the merchant tables and yells at the merchants: “My house is a house of prayer! And you have turned it into a den of thieves!”
As far as the merchants are concerned, this is vandalism by self-righteous hoodlum who thinks he’s the Messiah. Jesus has now made several enemies in Judea. Caiaphas (played by James Faulkner) is the High Priest of Israel and becomes the chief schemer to murder Jesus. Caiaphas attempts to bribe Judas to help with this assassination plot, but Judas refuses. Caiaphas keeps the offer open in case Judas changes his mind.
Throughout the movie, Judas is shown as being conflicted over whether or not to betray Jesus. This conflict is depicted as Satan (played by Ahmed Hammoud) appearing to Judas as a demon and as a snake while saying tempting words to Judas. These scenes are like something out of a fairly mild horror movie. They aren’t gory scenes, but they might be a little too intense for viewers under the age of 8.
“The Last Supper” also depicts the ongoing tensions between Jews and Romans during this time period. At the time that Jesus is alive, the Romans had control of Judea. The Romans would ultimately decide Jesus’ fate when he was arrested for claiming to be the Messiah.
The movie’s namesake scene of a fateful Passover dinner is a highlight of the movie. Jesus washes the feet of apostle John (played by Charlie MacGechan) as a sign of humility, in one of the more memorable scenes in the film. The movie does not show the crucifixion, but it has some scenes of Jesus being whipped. This violence is not too explicit, but it might be disturbing to some viewers.
One of the things that the movie could have done better is give personalities to the apostles who aren’t Peter, Judas and John. Peter is loyal but he has his flaws, and his loyalty will be test. Judas is brooding and morally conflicted. John is a fun-loving good guy.
The rest of Jesus’ 12 apostles are blank slates when it comes to their personalities in the movie. Andrew (played by Fredrik Wagner), James (played by Ottavio Taddei), Philip (played by Vincenzo Galluzzo), Bartholomew (played by Abdeslam Bouhssini), Thomas (played by Billy Rayner), Matthew (played by Youssef Ben Hayoun), James the Lesser (played by Youssef Tounzi), Thaddaeus (played by Yassin Aamir) and Simon the Zealot (played by Harry Anton) don’t say much in the movie, compared to Peter, Judas and John.
Jesus’ mother Mary (played by Mayssae El Halla) and Mary Magdalene (played by Nathalie Rapti Gomez), the reformed sex worker who becomes part of Jesus’ entourage, are also underdeveloped characters. All of the villains except for ruthless Caiaphas have vague or non-existent personalities. Pontius Pilate, the Roman official who presided over the trial of Jesus, is not in this movie.
Some of “The Last Supper” is dragged down by slow pacing. However, the performances—particularly Wheatley as Peter and Knepper as Judas—stand out as realistically human. Ward’s depiction of Jesus is satisfactory and very empathic. During scenes where Jesus gets tearfully emotional, people in the audience might feel the same way.
The cinematography, musical score and costume design for “The Last Supper” are admirable, considering the movie’s budget is lower than most cinematic versions of Biblical stories. Is this version of “The Last Supper” outstanding? No. But it’s not terrible either. It’s a solid option for anyone who is inclined to see this type of movie and doesn’t want to see disturbing scenes about Jesus’ crucifixion.
Pinnacle Peak Pictures released “The Last Supper” in select U.S. cinemas on March 14, 2025.
