Swing Low

MOTE Week 25, 2025

This week, I was on holiday when I normally submit my prompts, so for this week on MOTE I bagged a spare: Swing low, sweet chariot…

—

This is not my usual film review. Normally I get to see the film at a special preview screening for film critics, or at the premiere. For “Elijah: Prophet of God” I was sent not to either of these, but instead to an unusual screening at Twickenham, the rugby stadium that is the home of English rugby.

The review of the UK premiere in Leicester Square appeared in these pages yesterday, so I can run quickly over the standard elements and focus on what made this particular screening unique.

This was the largest temporary cinema I have ever seen. There were 60,000 people present, using all the stands. The goalposts at each end had been taken down, and an oval of screens had been erected on the pitch. All of us could see the film on at least three screens at various angles, which was a little distracting at times. The sound was fed through the stadium PA system, which worked surprisingly well.

This was a reboot of the biblical epic, and at two-and-a-half hours had a length suitable to the genre. The basic plot will be familiar to anyone who had read 1 and 2 Kings recently, so I don’t need to worry too much about spoilers. It flows extremely well from one scene to the next. The special effects elements, found most obviously in the showdown with the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel, are extremely good and fit seamlessly into the action.

The actors, while relatively new to western viewers, are all very good. David Dahan showed enormous presence in the title role, claiming every scene he was in. Levi Friedman was suitably menacing in the role of King Ahab, while Lia Malka was thoroughly believable as the evil Jezebel.

The really special element of the viewing came at the end of the film. At the end of his ministry, Elijah is taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire. Over this scene the music played a rendition of the spiritual “Swing low, sweet chariot”. It was completely anachronistic, for this wasn’t composed until many centuries after the events portrayed in the film. For this showing this didn’t matter, for after the first verse, the refrain started to play, and the entire audience erupted into song, joining in. It was spine tingling.

As the end credits started to play, the rendition of “Swing low, sweet chariot” continued, and each time the refrain began, 60,000 voices joined in. It was much like a concert performance of Handel’s Messiah where during the Hallelujah Chorus everyone joins in on the refrain. The difference was primarily the volume, generated by many times more people than are in the audience of a concert.

In short, it was an experience that was not to be missed. However, I feel that for most films Twickenham as it was set up makes a very poor cinema. I suggest that it would be best that this be a one-off, or only repeated for special showings of this film.

—

I’m looking forwards to reading what everyone else comes up with.