The Cross and Bones (Canada, 2005, Director: Paul Carrière, 69 minutes): Drumheller is a town in the Alberta Badlands where a lot of dinosaur bones are buried. It’s also the site of an annual Passion Play put on by area churches. The director tries, somewhat clumsily, to get the sparks to fly between the “Creationists” and “Evolutionists” but it’s just not that interesting. The film is also burdened by cheesy voiceover narration and an even cheesier soundtrack. Worse, the fellow who plays Jesus in the Passion Play is a smarmy real-estate agent from Calgary. The only person I found remotely sympathetic in the whole film was the guy who plays Jesus’ understudy, who is the only Christian shown who is not constantly singing crappy worship songs, mugging for the camera or saying dumb things about science. He simply says he’s a human being with faults, too, that he doesn’t have it all figured out, but that he wants to learn “to love people like Jesus Christ did.” But he sort of gets lost behind all the freaks. Did I mention there were also bikers? No, well, it’s not like they really added much more to the mix. A disappointment, considering the extremely clever title.
(6/10)