The End of Saint-Paul - Analysing the Last Scene from Paul, Apostle of Christ - The Most Heart-Breaking and Moving End Scene of All Post-2010 Cinema Ever

Well this or the end scene of Robert the Bruce

The End Days of the Messenger to the Romans…

We arrive now at the final scene in the movie Paul, Apostle of Christ. One of my favourite movies in recent memory and one that portrays Christianity in a positive light. One that has thus far portrayed one of the greatest Christians in human history in the utmost positive light.

The figure of St-Paul whom I first began to write about some time ago, mostly in relation to this movie is a giant of history. The Messenger to the Romans. The Saint of Europe. The tragic figure who sought out redemption and achieved it in his final days, was an impossibly inspiring figure.

In this regard the movie of Paul, Apostle of Christ does not fail. The movie is in all honesty one of the most beautiful to come out of the 2010s, and doesn’t tackle the last days of Paul stupidly but with humanity, respect and most especially sincerely and intelligently.

There aren’t enough good things to say about this movie, as one tends to discover new things to love about it with every viewing. It is a movie that is almost incomparable. It is truly a great cinematic experience.

The scene starts with the reading of Paul’s last epistle to St-Timothy; “To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
So do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me, His prisoner. Instead, join me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. He has saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted us in Christ Jesus before time began. And now He has revealed this grace through the appearing of our Saviour, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel, to which I was appointed as a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher.
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David, as proclaimed by my gospel, for which I suffer to the extent of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God cannot be chained!
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

This is as best as I can determine most of the parts that they took. Naturally they abridged the whole of the letter which is quite long, and very beautiful. I understand they wanted to keep it abridged, though I think that they cut out some really beautiful stuff, and concerns that the good Saint had.

That being said the over-all effect is quite good.

The actor does a good job in particular with the last part.

The Word Unchain’d!

This is a part of the Epistle I really do like. The idea being that the Word of God cannot be bound, or denied or constrained. Why? Because the Word is God, in the form of Christ Jesus.

The other factor about it, is that the cat’s out of the bag as the idiom goes. Once the Gospel was let loose, once Man knew God in the manner which He wished, there was no bounding it back, no rewinding things to before that moment and that time.

The fact of the matter is that there could be no going back to before Christ, and there really can’t be. Even to-day much as some might champion paganism, or atheism and new age orthodoxies there can be no repealing what was done. Just as there can be no denying what has happened. The fact of the matter is that after Christ’s death humanity would never be the same.

The most affected Continent of course has been Europe which could be thought of before Him as simply the Roman Empire and those lands not yet within her thrall. After Him one must dub Europe by another name; Christendom. And now we call her; Europe.

Yet try as people might to deny it there’s a slow yet steady stream back to the Church, back to the ideas of old, to the pre-Marxist version of the Faith. Young men longing for meaning, in the midst of a spiritual crisis are streaming back into the Churches. In France for example there’s tens of thousands of adult Baptisms taking place every year amongst the native stock.

This is good and while some will point to the fact that there’s approximately 70 million Francs, it starts in the countryside and with a few thousand. Same rules apply to Spain, to Germany, to Finland and elsewhere.

Faith is returning as the Word is Unbound and Unchained. Europe was made all the more beautiful once Christianity settled and embedded itself into the souls and hearts of the people of Europe. Europe though cannot fully be Europe though it must be said until Remigration, until tradition and until love for oneself and each other returns to her. Once these things have been embraced once more as they were in the days before the Revolutions, all will be well again.

Paul changed the world with his Gospel. Alexander might well have conquered the world with his sword, but the Apostles did so with their Words. Could there be a more glorious, more astounding conquest than this?

The world of to-day is what it is precisely because of the Faith and goodness of men like St-Paul. He gave hope as did the unchained word of the Gospel.

This should be a lesson to all; Faith can change the world. It already has.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith…

Beautiful words.

They succinctly point out the fact that Paul while he was being ‘poured out’ was doing something that takes the utmost courage; pushing forward the Faith, speaking the Truth and attempting to reach out to people. It is for this that he was slain.

Paul was a man who lived fully and completely and had little malice in him. He was a man who in the movie seeks to redeem, heal and forgive his own jailer, attempts to provide him with wisdom just before he goes to his execution.

When he arrives on the beach it is evident that he is strangely… relieved. His body is broken, damaged beyond repair and he can barely walk properly. The torments of his time in prison have left their mark upon him.

The Roman Mauritius of course greets him, grabs his arm and nods respectfully. He clearly doesn’t want to do it but understands he must and that this is strangely enough what Paul himself wants.

As to Luke… in this scene it is his visible distress that’s one of the factors that’s so heart-wrenching as he shakes, weeps and clings to Paul. The old man whispers to him, conveying some last wisdom and likely reminding him to write things down even as he comforts the man who is like his son.

The sad thing is that this will not be some miraculous happy ending for Luke. Because after Paul’s gone Luke will go on to preach the Gospel, only to end up hung from a tree many decades later after the death of Paul. But his Gospel and memory of his service to Paul will live on long after he is dead, so that in a manner of speaking Luke lives on still in this Fallen World.

It happens therefore that he has little he could do save limp forward to his own death. One of the details that’s so fascinating about this scene is how gently the Centurion guides Paul’s head to the slab of stone. There’s no rough handling, no pushing and no bullying him into place. It’s not necessary. Paul will not resist.

He places his head down of his own volition, his narration murmurs to the audience; ‘Grace be with you all’ which is likely something this great man would have thought or murmured in his last moments and then the sword swings.

Next scene shows Paul in the after-life where he’s to his relief greeted and received in full honour by his former victims. His sins are forgiven and he is among the Saved.

Then he turns about to find Jesus approaching him full of light.

This… is a moving scene. The trouble though is that it could been better, it could have been brighter (with regards to the Jesus scene) as it is too muted and yet there’s a mesmerising quality to it.

The quietness of the end is perfect in a way and far more fitting than loudness, than trumpets or even some exclamation of the glory of God. As to this movie, it is one of the greatest faith-based films ever shot and doesn’t get the respect it deserves.