There’s a horde of people ready to be outraged by The Carpenter’s Son, the new horror film depicting the childhood of Jesus Christ and starring Nicolas Cage as Joseph.

And while it is ominous, uncomfortable and frightening in parts, it’s also moving, deep and not at all the movie that they think it is.

Based on the apocryphal gospels of early Christians, as explained at the start of the film, The Carpenter’s Son depicts events in the early life of Jesus.

As something not officially covered in the Bible, it perhaps allows writer-director Lofty Nathan more freedom to explore the reality of what – historically – this could have looked like.

Here, Jesus is called the Boy (Noah Jupe), who lives with the Mother (FKA twigs) and the Carpenter (Cage): names are neither used nor necessary.

They

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