As of the writing of this article, The Netflix Series is rated 40% on Rotten Tomatoes with Forbes writer Paul Tassi writing that “The biggest problem with Messiah is that outside of the somewhat interesting question of whether the central figure is real or fake, there is quite literally nothing else of value in the series. I did appreciate Mehdi Dehbi’s performance as would-be Jesus, asking the question of what Christ might look like if he showed up on earth as an Iranian supermodel.”
Personally, Netflix got something that would keep hooked through the 10 episodes. The biggest question of the series is whether Al-Masih is a true Messiah. The main character especially if you’re a Christian would not expect the Messiah to be of Arabic descent, is played by Mehdi Dehbi whose parents are from Tunisia, born and raised in Belgium.
The series starts off in Syria with Al-Masih charismatically, preaching and asking the people to be strong. A huge sandstorm covers the city of Damascus which ends the war by burying the militia group.
The movie seems to be about achieving World Peace, Al-Masih asks US President Young (Dermot Mulroney) to withdraw all US Troops from all around the world. Bringing to the question of the title, will withdrawing US forces bring peace to war-torn areas such as Syria, Iraq, Iran among other places? Well, we may never know!
Al-Masih is seen performing miracles which included what’s seen as resurrecting a kid who is shot, appearing in Texas at a church that miraculous stood despite a huge storm. A biblical scene similar to Jesus walking on water is also depicted with Al-Masih walking on water in DC.
All this is running parallel with a CIA agent investigating him on whether he is a true messiah or not and his true intention.
The series to me is quite timely with everything going on around the world, with what’s happening with the US, Iran, Syria and Iraq.
There’s a bit of uncertainty in the series and you may need to stick through the 10 episodes already available on Netflix to uncover the intentions of Michael Petroni as we wait for the second season.