''Incident in Judaea'' is a British film made by

Paul Bryers Paul Bryers (born 1 August 1955 in Liverpool) is a British film director, screenwriter and fiction author. Biography Paul Bryers studied Modern history, politics and economy at the University of Southampton. Later he joined the Daily Mirror’ ...

, based on the novel ''

The Master and Margarita ''The Master and Margarita'' (russian: Мастер и Маргарита) is a novel by Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ( rus, links=no, Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ɐf ...

'' by the Soviet author

Mikhail Bulgakov Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ( rus, links=no, Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ɐfɐˈnasʲjɪvʲɪtɕ bʊlˈɡakəf; – 10 March 1940) was a Soviet writer, medical doctor, and playwright active in the fir ...

. The film only tells the biblical parts of the novel though. It was broadcast by the British

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

on 31 March 1991.

Background

Author and director

wrote and directed many factually-based dramas for television, radio and theatre and adapted and directed films by outstanding playwrights such as

Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), ''Death of a Salesman'' ( ...

and

. His TV-film ''Incident in Judaea'' was the first real drama Paul Bryers ever directed and it's still one of the best experiences he's had as a director. Bryers got a budget of £230,000, which was not much, but he could work with star actors like

John Woodvine John Woodvine (born 21 July 1929) is an English actor who has appeared in more than 70 theatre productions, as well as a similar number of television and film roles. Early life Woodvine was born in Tyne Dock, South Shields, Tyne & Wear, Englan ...

Lee Montague Lee Montague (born Leonard Goldberg; 16 October 1927) is an English actor noted for his roles in film and television, usually playing tough guys. Montague was a student of the Old Vic School. Montague's film credits include ''The Camp on Bloo ...

and

Mark Rylance Sir David Mark Rylance Waters (born 18 January 1960) is a British actor, playwright and theatre director. He is known for his roles on stage and screen having received numerous awards including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Laurenc ...

Story

In the novel ''

'' by the Russian author

, on which the film is based, three story lines are interwoven: a satirical story line in which

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...

, called Woland here, goes to the city of

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

in the 1930s to deal in hilarious manner with the corrupt lucky ones, bureaucrats and profiteers from the

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

era, a second one describing the internal struggle fought by

Pontius Pilate Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of J ...

before, during and after the conviction and execution of Yeshua Ha Nozri (Jesus from Nazareth), and a third one telling the story of the love between the master, an unnamed writer in Moscow during the 1930s and his beloved Margarita, which goes to the extreme to save her master. The master has written a novel about Pontius Pilate, and is addressed by the authorities because this was an issue which in the officially atheistic

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

was taboo.

Differences from the novel

The film ''Incident in Judaea'' only tells the biblical story of the novel: the story of

and Yeshua Ha Nozri (Jesus from Nazareth), but follows faithfully the story and the dialogues. The film starts with the first paragraph of Chapter 2 of the novel: ''"In a white cloak with blood-red lining, with the shuffling gait of a cavalryman, early in the morning of the fourteenth day of the spring month of Nisan, there came out to the covered colonnade between the two wings of the palace of Herod the Great' the procurator of Judaea, Pontius Pilate"''.

Cast

*Yeshua Ha-Nozri:

*Pontius Pilate:

*Marcus Ratslayer: Jonathon McKenna *Matthew Levi: Frank Baker *Aphranius: Jim Carter *Judas from Kiriath: Jason Carter *Joseph Kaifa:

*Niza:

Rosalind Bennett Rosalind Sophia Bennett (born 13 May 1963) is an English stage and television actress. Rosalind was born in Rochdale, Lancashire, and trained at The Drama Centre, she went on to a number of stage, television and screen roles. Her film appearan ...

Soundtrack

Original music score by

Debbie Wiseman Debbie Wiseman, OBE (born 10 May 1963) is a British composer for film and television, known also as a conductor and a radio and television presenter. Biography Wiseman was born in London. She studied at Trinity College of Music Junior Depar ...

Other screen adaptations of ''The Master and Margarita''

* Charlotte Waligòra - Le maître et Marguerite - 2017 (film) *Giovanni Brancale - Il Maestro e Margherita - 2008 (film) *

Vladimir Bortko Vladimir Vladimirovich Bortko (russian: Владимир Владимирович Бортко; born 7 May 1946) is a Russian film director, screenwriter, producer and politician. He was a member of the State Duma between 2011 and 2021, and was aw ...

- Master i Margarita - 2005 (TV series) *Ibolya Fekete - A Mester és Margarita - 2005 (film) *Sergey Desnitsky - Master i Margarita - 1996 (film) *

Yuri Kara Yuri Viktorovich Kara (Russian: Юрий Викторович Кара), born on 12 November 1954 in Stalino, is a Russian film director, screenwriter and producer. Biography Yuri Kara was born on 12 November 1954 in the Stalino, which is now c ...

- Master i Margarita - 1994 (film) *

- Incident in Judea - 1991 (TV-film) *Oldřich Daněk - Pilát Pontský, onoho dne - 1991 (film) *Andras Szirtes - Forradalom Után - 1990 (film) *Aleksandr Dzekun - Master i Margarita - 1989 (TV series) *Vladimir Vasilyev and Boris Yermolaev - Fuete - 1986 (film) * Aleksandar Petrović -

Il Maestro e Margherita ''The Master and Margarita'' (russian: Мастер и Маргарита) is a novel by Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov, written in the Soviet Union between 1928 and 1940 during Stalin's regime. A censored version, with several chapters cut by ...

- 1972 (film) *

Andrzej Wajda Andrzej Witold Wajda (; 6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016) was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of the ...

Pilate and Others Pilate and Others (german: Pilatus und andere - Ein Film für Karfreitag) is a 1972 German drama film directed by Andrzej Wajda, based on the 1967 novel ''The Master and Margarita'' by the Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov, although it focuses on the ...

- 1972 (TV-film) *

Seppo Wallin Seppo is a masculine given name of Finnish origin. It has two distinct origins; Seppo is a character in the Kalevala, whose name is derived from the Finnish word ''seppä'', meaning smith, and the name is also a diminutive for Sebastian in Finland ...

- Pilatus - 1970 (TV-film) ;To be expected: *Logos Film Company - The Master and Margarita - 2018 (film) *

Katariina Lillqvist Katariina (Finnish; ''Katarina'' in Swedish) is a district in the Uittamo-Skanssi ward of the city of Turku, in Finland. It is located in the south of the city, and is mainly a low-density residential suburb. There is also a nature reserve in th ...

- Mistr a Markétka - 2013 (animation film) * Nikolai Lebedev - Master i Margarita - 2019 (film)

Sources

External links

*
''Incident in Judea'' on the Master & Margarita website
{{The Master and Margarita British television films Films based on The Master and Margarita Portrayals of Jesus on television Cultural depictions of Judas Iscariot Cultural depictions of Pontius Pilate 1991 films