Apostle Peter and the Last Supper Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Apostle Peter and the Last Supper Blu-ray Movie Review

Questioning faith.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 16, 2012

Hundreds of millions of Christians worldwide recently celebrated Easter, and many of them spent Holy Week recounting the events that led up to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. In events and holy days like Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, Jesus’ last remaining hours on this Earth are revisited and (hopefully, anyway) made relevant for contemporary worshipers. Usually playing out in some of these observances are remembrances of some of Jesus’ interactions with his disciples, notably in and around the Last Supper. What’s so interesting about many of these observances is how they tend to focus on Judas’ betrayal of Jesus, while at the same time they can often gloss over another betrayal: that of Simon Peter, who denied Christ three times after Jesus had been arrested and was facing execution. Many devout Christians tend to dismiss Peter’s actions as relatively minor, born out of fear and ultimately redeemed and forgiven. But others may rightfully question whether Peter’s actions were more akin to Judas’ than many would want to consider. After all, wasn’t it really just a matter of degree? Yes, Judas’ actions actually led to Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion, but Peter’s actions did nothing to save Jesus, and in fact some would argue that Peter’s actions were all about saving Peter. This is all highly speculative, of course, and it points out the fact that even believers have precious little information about any of the disciples, their lives and what, beyond their belief in Jesus as the Messiah, motivated them. We get one or two line descriptions of some of the apostles in the Gospels and other books of the New Testament, and a few ancillary historical documents along the way, but, as with Jesus himself, much is left to the individual imaginations of readers to fill in the blanks. The 2012 film Apostle Peter and The Last Supper attempts to do some of that blank filling, providing a nice late career role for the always reliable Robert Loggia, who here portrays the elderly Peter, arrested and jailed by Nero, who is awaiting his own crucifixion and looks back on his time with Jesus at the urging of a Roman centurion. While the film is hampered by what must have been a small budget, keeping it from ever achieving anything approaching an epic sweep, it’s a heartfelt, intimate look at one of the core group of believers who surrounded Jesus and were the first witnesses to the Christian faith.

Like many films aimed at a Christian audience, Apostle Peter and the Last Supper assumes the viewer is already more or less clued into the basic storyline and more or less ready to be involved in a dramatic recreation of what has heretofore been left largely to their imaginations. In the case of this film, we get an elderly Peter (Loggia) brought into his prison cell, where a curious Roman guard named Martinian (Laurence Fuller) begins questioning him about his background and faith. Martinian’s questioning only becomes more acute when his wife, tipping toward the Christian side of things anyway, shows up at the jail and importunes her husband to get more information about Jesus’ last days. Martinian’s efforts are hampered by the boorish behavior of his fellow guard, Processus (David Kallaway), a kind of “dumb jock” type who also just might be interested in this newfangled religion that Peter is talking about.

Apostle Peter and the Last Supper certainly won’t surprise any believers, or in fact any non-believers, as it treads a decidedly predictable tale of testimony and redemption. But the film is surprisingly affecting, even if it sometimes stumbles upon (ahem) The Way. Some of the Biblical elements here are transposed from their original settings, which may lead some orthodox types to be frustrated, and there’s also a kind of colloquial aspect to the film that posits Jesus as kind of a “surfer dude” redeemer and the apostles as dunderheaded fools who argue amongst themselves as to which one of them is Jesus’ favorite. (At least the dunderheaded apostle bits are somewhat accurate, as any reader of the Gospels knows. The disciples were not exactly models of insightful understanding on either mundane or metaphysical levels.)

The film is rather small scale, probably necessitated by a miniscule budget, which means there’s some undeniably fake looking CGI and a production which basically spans just a handful of sets, most of them minimally dressed. But the writing here (by the film’s director Gabriel Sabloff in conjunction with Timothy Ratajczak) does a good job in delineating the various characters, and in providing a largely believable arc for Martinian, who bears the bulk of the film’s dramatic scope. (The writers do seem to want their little piece of The Passion of the Christ, as they introduce a Satanic minion who taunts Peter in his jail cell.) Loggia provides the needed gravitas that keeps Apostle Peter and the Last Supper from feeling like a 700 Club Movie of the Week, and the rest of the supporting cast does good work, albeit work that is consistently contemporary in tone, far removed from the sort of distant ethos of Biblical epics from the fifties and sixties.

Apostle Peter and the Last Supper does manage to impart some valuable moments about forgiveness and redemption, while also making the plight of Peter’s journey with his own faith something that modern day believers can relate to and empathize with. Despite a less than “cast of thousands” budget, Apostle Peter and the Last Supper manages to deliver a heartfelt message that should be appreciated by Christians in and out of the Easter season.

Apostle Peter and the Last Supper Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Apostle Peter and the Last Supper is presented on Blu-ray courtesty of Pure Flix Entertainment with an MPEG-2 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. As with Pure Flix's recent release of Jerusalem Countdown, this small Christian-oriented label seems to be testing the Blu-ray waters with an older codec. The good news is that Apostle Peter and the Last Supper actually looks impressively sharp and well detailed, perhaps because the bulk of the film plays out in a series of midrange and close- up shots, where fine detail can be exploited most effectively. Colors, while often muted, are accurate looking and decently saturated, and while the CGI elements aren't exactly blockbuster, they also look sharp and clear. The outdoor footage is noticeably softer in comparison to the set bound scenes, though it's still at decent levels of sharpness and clarity.

Apostle Peter and the Last Supper Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Again, as with Pure Flix's Jerusalem Countdown, Apostle Peter and the Last Supper is granted only a lossy standard Dolby Digital 5.1 audio option, but since this film is so relatively quiet and introspective, few will probably have major complaints about this lack of lossless audio. The great bulk of the film plays out in smaller dialogue scenes, without a lot of opportunity for impressive surround activity, though there is some nice immersion in some of the flashback scenes, including those where Jesus leads the apostles through a variety of outdoor environments. Fidelity is just fine within the constraints of a Dolby environment, and the film's understated score also sounds excellent in this rendering.

Apostle Peter and the Last Supper Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Behind the Scenes (HD; 20:32) starts out with Bruce Marchiano (Jesus) joking around with the producers about who Jesus' favorite apostle is. Interviews with several cast and crew (including Robert Loggia) follow, along with snippets from the film. Loggia, who is 81, seems to be a bit hard pressed to really comment fully on the proceedings, and there's one kind of funny moment where he's attempting to sum up Peter's life and says, "Well. . .he tried."


• Deleted Scenes (HD; 11:05) gives a bit more back story to some of the disciples as well as depicting some of the Bible stories like Pentecost.


• Audio Commentary features David A.R. White and Gabe Sobloff, later joined by Robert Loggia. This is a somewhat fitful commentary, with long stretches of silence, but there's some good information here about the filming as well as some of the other actors involved. Loggia is once again kind of understated, struggling to find a lot to say, answering Sobloff's questions with one or two word answers. Loggia was evidently on this shoot for only two days, and zoomed through thirty pages of dialogue in that short amount of time.

Apostle Peter and the Last Supper Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Believers will already be primed to enjoy Apostle Peter and the Last Supper, and this film is obviously geared toward an audience that is probably going to overlook its flaws to be able to absorb its worthwhile message of redemption and forgiveness. While the film is hampered by a lack of epic sweep and a performance style that is too contemporary for its own good, overall Apostle Peter and the Last Supper rises above its shortcomings to provide some good, heartfelt messaging that will certainly resonate with anyone who has questioned their faith. Loggia is low key and understated, but quite impressive in what may well be one of the last roles in his long and storied career. While those without a particular interest in Christianity will probably have little interest in this offering, Christians should easily enjoy this film, which despite not being a state of the art Blu-ray features well above average video and decent audio, as well as some okay supplements. Recommended.