Jerusalem succeeds in two major ways - firstly, it manages to present the religious heritage of the city with incredible sensitivity and respect. It could have taken the faux-moral high ground of concluding that religion, and not land, is the cause of all war - and thus saved face. Instead, it considers its audience and gives screen time to the three great religions fairly and equally, not taking any one side. It is able to connect the three to a common ancestry through the clever and subtle marriage of archaeological digs and visual effects.
Its second success is in capturing the sounds, sights and smells of the ancient city with startling realism. None of the thousands of people featured in its majestic shots appear to be looking at the camera, yet are too real to be extras. You feel the experience of being there in person, peering into ancient rituals and customs from a perspective few get to see.
As a viewer, you are left not with a shallow materialistic mantra of "can't we all get along?", but of a sense of curiosity and wonder, and a desire to explore and research what the film describes as the "heart of the world".
Its second success is in capturing the sounds, sights and smells of the ancient city with startling realism. None of the thousands of people featured in its majestic shots appear to be looking at the camera, yet are too real to be extras. You feel the experience of being there in person, peering into ancient rituals and customs from a perspective few get to see.
As a viewer, you are left not with a shallow materialistic mantra of "can't we all get along?", but of a sense of curiosity and wonder, and a desire to explore and research what the film describes as the "heart of the world".