Last Days in the Desert

Ewan McGregor is Jesus—and the Devil—in an imagined chapter from his 40 days of fasting and praying in the desert. On his way out of the wilderness, Jesus struggles with the Devil over the fate of a family in crisis, setting for himself a dramatic test.

Yeshua (the Hebrew pronunciation of Jesus) has been wandering the desert, fasting and praying, but he has not always been alone—the Devil has occasionally shown up to taunt him, appearing to Yeshua in his own guise. Now, in the last days of his trek, the holy man encounters a family: a 16-year-old boy, his 60-something father and his dying mother, who is in her 30s. Yeshua learns that the boy and the man are building a stone structure a few yards from the family tent and, once completed, the dwelling is to be the boy’s—his father has decreed that he will live nearby and carry on the family work. When Yeshua tells the boy that he is headed for Jerusalem, the youth confesses that he wants nothing more than to travel and experience the world, and begs to be taken along.

Yeshua is drawn to these people and offers to delay his journey and remain for a few days to help—the family agrees, only if his carpentry and masonry services are exchanged for shelter and water. Living and working side-by-side with them, Yeshua learns how the family came to be where they are and, what’s more, the struggles at play that will determine all three of their futures. Unfortunately, the Devil has also chosen to remain, and he wagers that the holy man will be unable to fix the situation to a favorable outcome.

Inching toward death, the mother wishes that the boy learn a trade and secure a better life. Eventually relenting, the father devises a plan to retrieve some of the valuable jasper stone he has spotted on the side of a cliff, several yards down from the peak, and use it to pay for the boy’s apprenticeship in the city. But when the three men attempt to collect the jasper, tragedy strikes, and the eventual resolution to the family’s dilemma is not what any of them had hoped.

Unable to offer anything more—the mother having refused Yeshua’s healing—he once again takes up his journey toward Jerusalem and his future.