Director Rodrigo Garcia Talks Last Days in the Desert

Director Rodrigo Garcia is not a particularly religious guy. He jokingly refers to himself as a “secular Catholic,” having grown up in Mexico and Spain where Catholicism was an integral part of the culture. But he says, “You don’t have to be Catholic to be intrigued by the life of Jesus.”

Garcia is so intrigued with Jesus that he wrote and directed a whole movie about Him. Last Days in the Desert, screening in a handful of select cities May 12 and 13, is, in the words of the film’s Executive Producer Erik Lokkesmoe, an “imagined chapter in Scripture,” taking place at the tail end of Jesus’s 40-day period of fasting and temptation in the wilderness. On His way back to civilization, He meets and stays with a family—father, mother, child—and works to help them solve what appears to be an impossible dilemma.

“I think that Jesus went to look for something in the desert, [and He found it],” Garcia says. “But not all. Not all. He didn’t find in the desert other human beings.” He suggests that Jesus needed to not only spend that time in prayer and fasting and temptation to begin his ministry, but to spend time helping other people. Jesus’ whole ministry, after all, was about helping the hurting people in his midst in myriad ways. For Garcia, it makes sense that he’d embark on that path before ever leaving the wilderness.

“I refer to it as the adolescence of Jesus,” Garcia says. This was a period where He grew into the religious leader He was meant to be.

Last Days is difficult to pigeonhole. Given the subject matter, it’s tempting to lump this film in with faith-based movies like Risen or The Young Messiah. But the movie is a challenging and, at times, a troubling one, with a stark, dreamy feel more akin to The Seventh Seal than God’s Not Dead. Starring Ewan McGregor (as both Jesus and Satan) and featuring the cinematography of Emmanuel Lubezki (a three-time Oscar winner for his work in Gravity, Birdman and The Revenant), Last Days gives viewers a stark sense of grandeur that fits beautifully with the desert landscape and the work Jesus is doing within it.

“This is a particular hybrid between an arthouse movie and a religious movie,” Garcia said. “I set out to do neither.”

And while he hopes that it might appeal to “people from both sides of the aisle, as it were,” the vision of Last Days feels deeply personal. This does not pretend to be a four-quadrant blockbuster. It is a spiritual rumination of sorts, wherein the audience is invited to consider, along with Garcia, the character of Christ.

Garcia’s Jesus in Last Days is, unquestionably, the Son of God. He considers himself as such. Satan, wrapped in Jesus’ own visage, acknowledges it, too. And when Satan suggests that God had other children, as well, Jesus flatly denies it. “No,” he says. “There is only me.”

But in many ways, Jesus feels very mortal here. His is not omniscient, and he even asks Satan questions about the future at times. He works no miracles. In many respects, Last Days’ Jesus is an uncertain Savior, still figuring out how to most effectively be the Messiah His Father expects. While most other depictions of Christ lean into His Divinity, Last Days concentrates on His humanity.

That was by design, according to Garcia. “It’s the only side I can talk about,” he says. Despite the best efforts of filmmakers, he insists that God cannot truly be comprehended or portrayed on screen. We have no conception of that oversized reality. “That is why I do not have miracles [in Last Days],” he says. And even when Jesus appears as though he’s about to perform one, the subject of it pushes Jesus away.

In part  because of the movie’s very human depiction of Jesus—so unfamiliar from what we see in most Christian flicks—Garcia and Lokkesmoe both admit that Last Days won’t appeal to every Christian moviegoer. But the film, while provocative, isn’t irreverent. It’s a great catalyst for conversation, even for those who might struggle with some of Garcia’s interpretations.

“So many Christians have responded positively to the very human figure of Jesus in the movie,” Garcia says.

Last Days in the Desert will premiere in about 16 cities tomorrow and will officially open in select theaters across the country this Friday. I’ll unpack a bit more about the movie  in the days to come. For more information on the movie or to see if there’s a screening near you, check out the movie’s website.