Kay McFadden / Times staff columnist
ABC movie 'Judas' is the anti-'Passion'

	BOB D'AMICO / ABC Johnathon Schaech plays the title character in the accessible and well-acted "Judas," at 9 tonight on ABC.
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Even before it airs, the ABC movie "Judas" invites an irresistible question: If God were one of us, would he choose such a time slot?

On tonight at 9 (KOMO-TV), this fine little film is carefully sequestered from all audience-sensitive dates: Passover, Easter, February sweeps and April 15, which celebrates tax collection and is not exactly irrelevant to the events of 2,000 years ago.

It's difficult to imagine a King of Heaven — or Hollywood — choosing to fly so far below the radar with a program actually worth promoting.

But these are the times that try entertainment executives' souls, and I don't just mean the Lasting Temptation of Reality TV.

As demonstrated by CBS' "The Reagans," Mel Gibson's "Passion" and President Bush's 9-11 campaign ads, audience polarization has become a pandemic threatening reasonable response. Extremism is banishing the friable middle ground from civic life.

Meanwhile, people in positions of political and cultural influence are too stoppered up by greed and fright to change the discourse. Christ would have blamed the money lenders and in an election year, he would be right.

So hear this, ABC: You should have done better by "Judas." It is the antithesis of intemperate rabble-rousing and worthier than competing swill like NBC's "Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie's Angels."

	SHANE HARVEY / NBC "Angels," from left, Trisha Helfer, Lauren Stamile and Christina Chambers star in "Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie's Angels."

Written by the meticulous Tom Fontana ("Oz," "Homicide," "St. Elsewhere"), "Judas" binds the wounds that secular and religious — not to mention Christian and Jewish — groups have inflicted on each other of late. It is the anti-"Passion" in that regard.

Even better, "Judas" is vastly accessible. This is not code for dumbed-down; you still must come to the TV set with rudimentary knowledge of the New and Old Testaments, which is to say much of what's influenced modern Western civilization.

The trick Fontana has up his sleeve is a classic in show business. Pick an interesting villain and sift a well-known story through his or her perspective. It worked just last month for Charlize Theron, who got an Oscar for her serial-killer role in "Monster."

"Judas" goes one up. The film makes Judas Iscariot more relatable, and his friendship with Jesus helps normalize that man's mythic proportions. This is a good approach whether you think Christ was just a troublemaking peasant or God's chosen.

The two co-stars help a great deal. Johnathon Schaech, who dazzled in the TV biopic "Houdini" a few seasons ago, has found another deep performance as a troubled, mercurial Jewish son trying to satisfy parental ambition.

Judas, we learn, was just a child when he saw his father crucified for political activism. His mother expects great things of him; although just a wine seller, the grown Judas dreams of overthrowing the Romans rather than waiting for a Messiah to free his people.

"Since the day they've arrived, they've done nothing but exploit us," he fumes, placing blame on Caesar's minions in a foreshadowing of events to come.

This is neatly understandable. Judas would have felt right at home in the company of those trying to craft a post-World War II Israel in opposition to orthodox theologians.

Enter Jesus Christ. Actor Jonathan Scarfe has a Matt Damon-esque appeal whose surface innocence belies hard experience, and he gives Jesus a personality that is simultaneously laid-back and unrelenting: the steel soul in a velvet robe.

His spiritualism and Judas' worldliness are bound to clash. After seeing Christ cure a cripple, Judas' first reaction is that this is a great way to raise funds for trips.

"How much do you think we should charge for miracles?" he asks a stunned group of fellow Apostles.

It's doubtful 18- to 34-year-old males will watch this movie. If they do, though, they'll discover echoes of a "Fight Club" relationship at the heart of a historical epic.

The material for "Judas" is drawn from religious and scholarly sources.

While the script obviously takes liberties with intimate dialogue among its characters, the famous scenes — Christ's Sermon on the Mount, Judas' betrayal at Gethsemane — adhere to traditional interpretation.

This becomes especially important regarding the continuing issue of culpability for Jesus' crucifixion.

In "Judas," nearly everyone is to blame. This is no tactical retreat. Rather, it is a plausible and well-researched version of how a corrupt Jewish priest influencing the mob colluded with Roman representatives intent on preserving their careers.

Those who find that chain of events improbable may want to consider how so much of the present-day world has ineptly landed in chaos and butchery, from Haiti to Uganda to Iraq.

"Judas" has an admirable supporting cast that does its bit for making The Word flesh. Bob Gunton's scheming Caiaphas and Tim Matheson's alternately witty and frantic Pontius Pilate are particular delights.

Occasionally, the movie can be a little too down-to-earth. For reasons best-known to the producers, some of the Apostles talk, and occasionally behave, like characters in a Monty Python skit.

The film is well-directed and well-paced. The presentation of miracles is straightforward and unapologetic yet not embellished with hokey lighting, angelic hosts, etc. The physical crucifixion makes us flinch without stooping to prolonged gruesome effect.

In the end, "Judas" illustrates the importance of faith — whether placed in individuals, institutions or ideologies. Absent it, people meet a fate like that of the title character.

But Christ's fate shows why we should respect the beliefs of others. That is the vanishing attribute in a contentious society whose members no longer seem able to witness another point of view without banning or destroying it.

NBC jiggles

Lucky CBS. If it wants to do an oldies show, it's got "The Honeymooners," "I Love Lucy," "All in the Family" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."

Not-so-lucky NBC. At 9 tonight, it's got "Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie's Angels" (KING-TV).

Actually, ABC had "Charlie's Angels," which rates a mere blip on the nostalgia meter. Yes, there was the hairdo and the famous poster. But the program itself?

Recognizing the paucity of series material (and lack of archival access), NBC has taken a light-hearted behind-the-scenes approach that mostly adds up to two hours of worshipping Aaron Spelling's genius in creating "Jiggle TV."

There's a bit about Farrah Fawcett-Majors becoming the surprise star instead of that pushy feminist Kate Jackson, then leaving after one season to save her marriage to Lee Majors (oops). Poor Jaclyn Smith has little to do, just like on the original show.

The actors are OK, given these are lines that require no rehearsal. The soundtrack is fun. There are many moments involving audience share and deal-making.

That's a little too inside for average viewers, especially for those who think they're going to see some jiggles. Not on network TV this year, bub.

Kay McFadden: kmcfadden@seattletimes.com

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