This is a Christian tv-movie

Soon after I started watching this film I had to re-check to make sure it's the same movie that got the rating of eight (8) from the imdb-voters – it was so bad. I felt like watching an episode of Touched by an Angel from the 90's.

But as a Christian, I liked the simple story.

From early on I picked up on John Oldman's furtive glances that were a little too obvious at times..

When John started claiming that he was Jesus my interpretation of the story began to form. It seems the character of Dan had the same suspicion; there is a scene where Dan holds in his hands what seems to be a copy of the Holy Bible, opened up at the middle part, and he asks John: "Do you have a destination in life?", to which John does not answer, and then Dan says: "Never mind, I won't ask.".

At the middle part of the Bible is the Book of Job where Lord asks Satan: "Where have you come from?", and Satan answers: "From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it."

Dan is playing with the thought of John Oldman being Satan, but he can't be sure – Dan is some sort of agnostic after all. I had the same intuition from early on; at this point I thought that if the story is going to end with someone dying of natural causes, then it is certain that John is Satan who has come to collect his own. We now know, of course, that this is what happened at the end to Will, around whom the story had begun to revolve. Will had just lost his wife and was in a fragile state psychologically and spiritually.

There was a hint that Art, too, was toying with the idea of John being Satan when he asked: "Wouldn't Sacre du Printemps be more appropriate?" when John put Beethoven's symphony to play in the background. Stravinsky's Sacre du Printemps is widely considered satanic in theme, and Art, being a sophisticated man, would know that.

In front of the fireplace, lights switched off, John not only denies the creation, but also said something like: "..I never spoke of the divine, except for human goodness on earth".

Humans are not good, humans are wicked. But the listeners are mesmerized by John's story. Harry actually says to John at some point: "Here we are, trapped by your story..".

Next there is John and Edith's "argument" in which Edith finally asks timidly: "Were you (Jesus)?" and John says: "If I said no would you ever be sure?". Edith breaks into tears as her faith crumbles. It turned out her faith was shallow to begin with – she quickly believed Satan's lies (literally). At this moment lights are suddenly switched on by Will, and we are shown John's horrified facial expression.

Near the end of the movie, when John is talking with Sandy in front of the house John raises his voice as he mentions his past name from 60 years back; this leads to Will being shocked and ultimately getting a heart attack and dying. John wanted Will to hear the name "John Partie" (or however it's spelled).

There is a short scene where Dan is driving home and he stops by the side of the road when an ambulance is rushing down the road to John's house. He doesn't seem to be surprised by it – it's like it was something he expected. He searches the archaeological piece of stone from his front pocket and examines it, falling into deep thought.

John Oldman was Satan Lucifer, the father of lies. His name was a pun – not in the obvious way though, but as an antinome of Jesus Christ, who is called "the new man" in the Bible. Adam, the fallen man, whom Jesus actually called Satan, is called "the old man".

At the very end of the movie another antinomy of God is expressed when Sandy asks John: "You never saw your own child die?" to which John replies: "No." He switches off the lights from the house and leaves Sandy in the dark. Sandy decides to follow John.

An interesting movie undeniably.

Anyways, The Man from Earth must be the only Christian movie rated highly by the imdb users :D