Joseph

It’s the early days of world war II and the Polish battalion posted on the Baltic coast gets pounded by enemy gunfire, forcing them to retreat inland into the country. As the company travels through the countryside, they come across an old mansion and meets the head of the household, Joseph, a tall, statuesque, handsome elder with long hair and handlebar moustache. With Hitler’s SS hot on their heels, the fatigued company asks for food and accommodation for the night. James, a freelance journalist travelling with the company, covering the war, is intrigued by the mystique that surrounds Joseph. During that night, the resting soldiers have strange dreams and visions. When the enemy attacks the next day, fatally wounding a couple of soldiers, Joseph intervenes and cures them magically, by extracting their bullets and healing their wounds with his touch. This confuses the soldiers even more. While some see him as superhuman and even godly, some accuse him of being a quack. As the enemy continues to draw nearer and their shelling becomes more destructive, the Major in charge asks Joseph to leave the house with his people. Joseph asks his granddaughter Nora to leave with the others but refuses to leave the mansion himself. James soon learns the story of Joseph.

‘Joseph’ is a Feature-length script from Writer Ian Davies. ‘Joseph’ takes us back to the very early days of the War, to tell the story of a strange happening that befell a company of polish survivors from different units as they were retreating from enemy attack, tasked with preventing the German advance on Warsaw. A well-crafted screenplay, Davies takes his own sweet time building up the characters and the plot for his striking reveal. Leaving traces and clues peppered throughout the early stages of his narration, he prepares us for the supernatural element that is to be introduced later. An engaging drama complete with many parallel tracks dealing with friendship, romance, love and camaraderie, Davies never allows us to take our eyes off Joseph or his superhuman abilities, lest we miss something magical. The slow build-up to the climax pays off in what promises to be a visual treat on screen, of the non-human cavalry of Joseph charging the German battle tanks.

‘Joseph’ is a war movie, a fantasy, a thriller and more, all rolled into a perfect presentation peppered with the potential for some very captivating computer graphic imagery. There is also something in here for those interested in theology and the book of Enoch.