I’ve read a lot of Christmas books, and some of my favorites are
inspired by Matthew 25, the chapter of the Bible that includes the
account of the separation of the sheep and the goats, with the sheep
being rewarded for clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, welcoming the
stranger and tending to the sick, for “whatever you did for one of the
least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Earlier this year, I
was surprised to realize that I’d never read perhaps the most famous of
the stories in this vein: Henry Van Dyke’s The Story of the Other Wise Man.
I made that discovery after reading my friend Beth’s
review of the film adaptation. Conveniently, we actually happened to
have a copy of the book, so I read it, but I didn’t get around to
watching The Fourth Wise Man, directed by Michael Ray Rhodes,
until this week, when I once again devoted the top slots in my Netflix
queue to Christmas movies.
It’s a reverent, no-frills
made-for-TV film that features Martin Sheen in the role of Artaban, the
wise man who spends the second half of his life searching for the King
whose birth was heralded by the night sky. Though he is the central
character, Tom Fontana’s screenplay shifts the focus away from him
somewhat by introducing a new character, Orontes, a slave pressed into
the sage’s service by his father Abgarus (Ralph Bellamy) and promised
freedom at the end of his journey, which he fervently hopes will be a
short one. Adding Orontes changes the flavor of the story significantly,
providing a constant foil for the selfless, determined Artaban and
allowing for the gradual development of another kind of hero.
The book’s tone is uniformly serious, but Orontes adds a comical touch
to the film. Alan Arkin really has the whining down in this part;
Orontes may be a faithful servant, but he rarely agrees with his
master’s ideas. He reminds me of Sancho Panza, resolutely trekking along
with a delusional Don Quixote. Artaban shows, thanks to Sheen’s
heartfelt performance, and Orontes tells, writing sarcastic letters to
Abgarus. His speech sounds more contemporary than that of the other
characters, accentuating his role as the voice of the skeptical
everyman. For Artaban’s quest, and his deviations from it, are not
rational. But they are good.
Sheen and Arkin perform
wonderfully together and also have the opportunity to act alongside
their children, Charlie Sheen and Ramon Estevez and Adam Arkin, in brief
scenes. More prominent are Eileen Brennan as Judith, the bedraggled
leader of a leper colony, and Lance Kerwin as Passhur, her blind son. In
the book, Van Dyke merely indicates that Artaban spent many years among
the disenfranchised; he covers this section of his life in a couple of
pages, whereas it takes up half the movie, allowing us to see first-hand
some of the godly work of this man who always arrives just a little too
late to see the King but never entirely gives up hope of finding Him.
Lovely Sydney Penny is also affecting as Shameir, the young teenaged
daughter of Artaban’s onetime colleague.
The movie is very
low-budget, seeming to use as few props as it can get away with and
featuring some not-so-special effects and very obvious pauses for
commercial breaks. Fontana takes more liberties with the Biblical
framework, actually inserting Artaban and Orontes into the scene of
Peter’s denial. He also adds a scene, mostly for comic purposes but also
to emphasize Orontes’ lack of devotion to the quest at that stage, that
has the servant attempting to fool his master into believing that he
has found the young Messiah. This may bother purists, but such scenes
work well for fleshing the movie out a bit. I’d almost call this more of
an Easter movie than Christmas, but during either season, The Fourth Wise Man is a moving tale of faith and compassion.
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