The Second Coming

This was a BBC-made short TV series starring Christopher Eccleston (the 9th Doctor on Doctor Who), available through Netflix as a longish movie. A video store clerk in Manchester realizes one day that he's the son of God. His long time friends are predictably skeptical. Then he does something to prove it. Public reaction is about what I would expect, in the best and worst of ways. I can't tell you more than that without spoiling the best things about it. I'll say this much; don't expect a happy ending, and do expect to have your religious views challenged.

Good acting performances all around, especially from Eccleston and the actress playing his best friend Judy. I can't believe it took me as long as it did to realize the significance of her name, which tells you how caught up in this story I was. Fascinating interpretation of the Devil, how he works and what he signifies. The script does a great job of taking a very big subject and emphasizing the human elements, making this the powerful story that the subject demands it should be.

I did not like the ending, but have to admit that it would be very difficult to find a satisfying end for this story. To me, it ultimately ended with a whopping plot hole and too optimistic in tone to fit what came before. Christian Netflix reviewers were very critical of the portrayal of the son of God, and apparently didn't read the whole description before renting the film. The ending does have a consistent point of view up to a point, and only slightly cops out when it would have been easier to cop out entirely with a more ambiguous ending.

Highly recommended if you have an open mind about the subject matter, even with the slightly disappointing ending.