'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Lotfy Nathan’s film, The Carpenter's Son, is a psychological horror and coming-of-age story that explores the undocumented early life of Jesus Christ. The film's main plot is centered around The Carpenter (Nicolas Cage), The Mother (FKA twigs), and The Boy (Noah Jupe), who are living in desperate hiding in Roman-era Egypt.
The plot revolves around The Boy's troubled teenage years as he struggles with an intense existential crisis: realizing he holds terrifying supernatural powers and a destiny beyond his comprehension. This awakening leads to a volatile relationship with his strict, devout father, The Carpenter.
The Carpenter's Son is not based on a historically verifiable true story, but is explicitly inspired by the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. It's a centuries-old religious text that was excluded from the New Testament canon because of its darker, often violent and morally dubious depictions of the young Jesus.
Trending
The Carpenter's Son is based on the Infancy Gospel of Thomas
The Carpenter's Son source material, The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, also known as the Paidika Iesou (Childhood Deeds of Jesus), is a second-century CE apocryphal text that narrates episodes from Jesus’s childhood, roughly between the ages of five and twelve.
The text has a series of short stories in which the young Jesus performs various miraculous acts, some benevolent and others destructive. Notable episodes include Jesus creating clay birds, cursing children who anger him, and causing the death of a teacher who reprimands him, followed by subsequent restorations to life.
This portrayal of a powerful yet immature child figure differs significantly from the canonical depictions of Jesus and has contributed to the text’s exclusion from the Christian scriptural canon.
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas was widely preached in some early Christian communities and reflects early attempts to bring together Jesus's human growth with his supernatural capabilities, despite being viewed by major Christian traditions as non-authoritative and theologically problematic.
Director Lotfy Nathan was inspired to use the horror genre for The Carpenter's Son by the harrowing and frightening subject matter of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. He noted that he intentionally avoided sticking too closely to most elements within the ancient apocryphal text. In an interview with the TIME magazine, he stated:
“A lot of the subject matter is pretty harrowing. A lot of the Bible is, in fact. That really inspired me to put a genre lean on it. It would be a lot more salacious. “I think it presents a much more petulant and less redeemable story.”
Nathan further explained that his initial interest in the project came from his father, who introduced him to the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. He was immediately struck by the text for two main reasons:
“He showed me this old copy of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas he had, and it just dawned on me immediately that this would be very compelling as a film. It’s kind of a missing piece in the timeline of the New Testament. You’re in this origin story phase of Jesus’ life. That, to me, was really the pull. I wasn’t aware of the apocrypha at the time.”
Stay tuned for more updates.
