Event Details
Silver Cinema in Gananoque
Private showing of "King of Kings"
May 22 at 2:00pm
Contact Julie Price 613-382-4304 to reserve your spot.
Cost is $6
The King of Kings is a 2025 animated Christian film written and directed by Seong-ho Jang, loosely inspired by the children's book The Life of Our Lord by Charles Dickens. The film stars the voices of Kenneth Branagh, Uma Thurman, Mark Hamill, Pierce Brosnan, Roman Griffin Davis, Forest Whitaker, Ben Kingsley, and Oscar Isaac.
Charles Dickens attempts to perform a recital of A Christmas Carol before a theater audience, only to be constantly interrupted by his overly rambunctious son Walter, who very noisily acts out the exploits of King Arthur backstage with the aid of his rotund feline sidekick. The performance ruined, Dickens considers punishing the boy, but his wife Catherine suggests the writer instead try to lure Walter away from his obsession with the Round Table by offering him another story about a king even greater than Arthur: the "King of Kings", Jesus Christ. Walter doesn’t believe such a thing is possible but reluctantly agrees to give his father’s story a listen, but only with the caveat that he be allowed to abandon it once boredom sets in.
However, as the tale unfolds, Walter becomes so emotionally involved in the life of Jesus that he demands his father finish the story, no matter how upsetting it might get. As the story moves along, not only does Walter become invested in it, but he also starts to imagine he is part of it, with he and his cat Willa traveling side by side with Jesus and the disciples, and witnessing the various events in Christ's life: the Nativity, the Ministry, the Passion, and the Resurrection. He gradually comes to know and love Jesus. His father also explains him the meaning of Jesus' sacrifice by telling him the story of Adam and Eve and the original sin, but Walter has great difficulty accepting and understanding such an atrocious and unjust death.
Walter is saddened by Jesus' death, when suddenly, he finds himself sinking to the bottom of the sea, like the apostle Peter when he walked on water. Walter begs Jesus to save him. Jesus appears, hugs him tenderly, pulls him out of the water and takes his place underwater. He disappears, replaced by a huge empty cross.
Back on dry land, Walter contemplates this immense cross in front of him. He has experienced redemption and salvation from sin and death through Christ's sacrifice: he deeply understands Jesus' infinite love for him and is overwhelmed with love and gratitude. Then he witnesses the Resurrection and sees Jesus, alive, standing in front of him. Jesus smiles to him and slowly moves away towards the horizon, as the sun rises.
As Walter runs to tell his siblings the story, Dickens makes the decision to write down the life of Jesus for his children. Then these words of Jesus appear on the screen, taken from the Gospel of John: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
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