The Second Coming (2003)

Christopher Eccleston plays Steven Baxter, a guy who once worked in a video rental store. One night, after a drink in a pub with his friends, he goes missing. 40 days later he turns up again, saying that he has spent the days in the wilderness and that he is the Son of God. His friends don't believe him, because Messiah wouldn't turn up in Manchester. However, Steve convinces them with 2 miracles. He asks the people to write the Third Testament - or face the Judgment Day.


At first I was confused why he called it The Third Testament. Had we have two already? I think he might mean 1)The Old Testament and 2) The New Testament. I myself always think those two as one, which cannot be separated one from the other. For people in Manchester, Steven Baxter is a down-to-earth man. He goes to the pub, drinks like them, and swears. His girlfriend, Judith, has a hard time to belief that Steven is the Son of God. She is the strongest character here. The devils, possessing some characters - like the guy who is dating Judith, the Chief Inspector, and one of the police officers, are trying to take Steven to their side.

The whole thing is rather odd to me. Steven speaks to the public and asks them to write the Third Testament in 5 days. He is then locked by the police (for his own safety) and mails from all over the world from every religion come to him. The previous 2 testaments were written by many people and canonized by the Church. Impossible that the 3rd should be from a single work. The ending is also strange, it seems the whole movie is written by people who don't like that God exist, and therefore it's strange that this subject was chosen. However, can we really get rid of God? It would have been a horrible world to live.