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Bloodline

Play trailer Poster for Bloodline Released May 9, 2008 1h 53m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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36% Tomatometer 11 Reviews 64% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
Filmmaker Bruce Burgess travels to France to find evidence that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene married and had children, thereby undermining Christian doctrine.

Critics Reviews

View All (11) Critics Reviews
Drew Toal Time Out Rated: 1/5 Nov 17, 2011 Full Review Rob Humanick Slant Magazine As purportedly nonfictional cinema, Bloodline poses an implicit dilemma to viewers and critics: How do we know if what we're watching is real? Rated: 2.5/4 May 10, 2008 Full Review Laura Kern New York Times The sensationalistic documentary Bloodline explores the supposition that there exists a lineage traceable to Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Rated: 2.5/5 May 9, 2008 Full Review Jennifer Merin About.com In his investigation of the legend that Jesus survived crucifixion, married Mary Magdalene and fathered children who married French royalty, British director Bruce Burgess claims to present new evidence--including the mummified body of Mary Magdalene. Rated: 2.5/5 Jun 27, 2009 Full Review Meg Jones Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Tedious. Rated: 1.5/4 Oct 10, 2008 Full Review Stan Hall Oregonian Bloodline is quite enjoyable -- just be sure to take it with a full shaker of salt. Jun 27, 2008 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member This has got to be the worst documentary I have ever seen. There's so many negative things I could say about this film, but I'll limit my criticisms to three: 1. What kind of secret society has a spokesman? 2. The members of the "priory" pretend to be leading the film maker and discoverer on some sort of hunt. They give the impression that they put the corpse of Mary Magdalene in a tomb for them to find. They also stage all sorts of shady activity to make you (and the film maker) believe that the Catholic Church is trying to scare them. In one scene, they are interviewing the spokesman for the priory and at the end of the interview, a guy supposedly approaches the spokesman and hands him a piece of paper. They ask him if he is in danger and he just stares at them. One of the most awkward moments of all time. 3. Question of the decade: if the priory has the corpse of Mary Magdalene, why don't they release this to the public? They can conduct tests on the corpse to determine how old it is etc. Instead, they resort to wild goose hunts to lead two nobody's to the corpse. It makes no sense. And the man that discovered the corpse, who now sells tours of Rennes-le-Chateau, seems like he doesn't want to even try and extract the corpse from the tomb. Anyone else in the world would be dying to get that corpse out of there. This should have been labeled a comedy because I laughed the entire time I watched it. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member Interesting treasure hunt, most probably set up by the P.S. A hoax in other words. That doesn't mean that the treasures found are not valuable ;) Fun to watch, perhaps a bit over-dramatic at times though. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Fascinating insight into the world behind the Da Vinci Code bloodline of Christ madness. Whether you take any of this, such as the discovery of a tomb in France purported to belong to Mary herself, seriously is not the point. 'Bloodline' provides ample food for thought regardless of your interest in religion or the possible existence of a descendant of Christ. Even if you hate it, 'Bloodline' will still provoke enough of a reaction to get you discussing what you have just witnessed with ardor. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Audience Member What a load of old Bollocks !!! Its shameful that Bruce Burgess, the director of this film sits looking into the camera with a straight face as he parades a string of charlatans and nutcases with their lies and half truths. We'll never know if Jesus and Mary Magdalene ran away to Paris for a dirty weekend but then again it makes as much sense as disappearing on a cloud to god knows where. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/12/23 Full Review Audience Member "Bloodline" is a documentary from the Cinema Libre Studio directed by Bruce Burgess that explores the popular belief that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and fled to France with their child by following clues left in churches. It sounds very "DaVinci Code" and according to IMDB was released in 2008, 2 years after the "DaVinci Code" movie, more than likely in response to the peak of interest in the subject raised by the book/movie. Bruce Burgess right away comes clean that the interest in the book is what propelled him to investigate the claims. He goes straight to the Louvre within the first few minutes and talks about the hidden messages in paintings and literature. The footage in the film has been taken from 2005 to 2006. Burgess speaks with a spokesman for the Priory of Sion that became a public organization in 1956 but could not give away all the answers. This man indicated that certain works of arts are coded to allow a journey to the truth but it is too dangerous to say outright on film. Another mysterious guy in a cafe walks up and hands the spokesman a card with writing on it after which he shut up. Is the Priory real or a hoax? If it were a hoax, it is unlike any other hoax in history making the documents and "proof" so difficult to come across hiding the materials in libraries and churches. By releasing information gradually over a great deal of time, it is a lot more likely to eventually become widely accepted. Tim Wallace-Murphy, an author on cracking codes speaks about Latin and anagrams and solving puzzles. He speaks of it as a game but asks the question, who is playing it? The claim is that Jesus did not come to die on the cross for the peoples' sins but to guide others to a path of a way of living and spirituality which would be a different version that would undermine the church's message for years. If a bloodline could be proved and came to light, many changes would take place. Some people the author met claiming to be from the bloodline were descended from Jersuleum, but it is unclear if they are direct from Jesus. Burgess does a lot of investigating into his subject's backgrounds for authenticity and some people refuse to go on camera and are instead audio recorded. He tracks down a Nicolas Haywood who claims not to be a Priory of Sion member though others are convinced that he is. Haywood does agree to go under the lights on camera and agrees for the record that there is a bloodline and there is evidence for it, but the series of items that prove the bloodline are kept together in secret that he will not divulge. He puts on an aura as the cigarette smoking man like in "The X-Files" and seems much more mysterious with the smoke whirling around. Suddenly Burgess' phones are apparently being bugged and he gets more involved in the story and it is hinted Burgess himself might be in danger too as well as people he is bringing into it. Haywood indicates that men who talk too much get poisoned, labeled as a cerebral hemorrhage including one person who dies before they can interview him. This is just the beginning! The drama makes it very exciting with more at stake and might make you feel like you are living the DaVinci Code story all over again but you have to ask how much of it is contrived and how much is real. It is presented in an amazing way with discoveries supposedly being made live on camera, but from another perspective it all potentially could have been planted. There wasn't anything in the film that it wasn't possible in manufacturing circumstances, but then again it could all be real depending on how much you want to buy into it. The filmmaker obviously comes to a point of belief and continues to relate it in commentary. Whether you believe is completely up to you, but it's an interesting ride to say the least either way. DVD Extras: First off, the trailer for "The Beautiful Truth" that automatically played to get to the main menu caught my attention right away because it was so off topic of this piece and plays on a common fear people have about their teeth and claims to expose the greatest mercury poisoning one could have might be from fillings in their mouth and ominously asks "How many fillings do you have?" For bonus features, there is an extended interview with Nicolas Haywood without being cut up like in the film. Absent of the music, it's a little less spooky but more informative and realistic. The deleted scenes are in low resolution video with the website address etched across the center and show footage of taking the chest to a museum, coded messages in a church, exploring a quarry and underground labyrinth, and more tomb footage. Director Bruce Burgess and Producer Rene Barnett have a commentary track for the film. After starting off talking about his red watch strap and the difficulties of looking pensive in the car while his cameraman attempted not to fall over, he admits that Haywood is the Bloodline version of Cancer Man from X-Files. They remark on how exciting some of their findings were and how some people were mysterious and withholding in their giving of information. Also the many warnings that Rene gave by phone are acknowledged but not explained. Many facts are just acknowledged but not expanded very much on. More fascinating are the images of scientific documents examining hair found at the tomb and the fact that they aren't afraid to put them on the DVD. If you get the chance, check out this movie's website. It has a really neat opening graphic and is very detailed with more information about the film including news, a blog, and a photo gallery. http://www.bloodline-themovie.com/ Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Audience Member I still don't know whether director Bruce Burgess was having his leg pulled by the Priory of Sion or not, but he seems genuinely sincere and freaked out as the unbelievable story unfolds. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Bloodline

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis Filmmaker Bruce Burgess travels to France to find evidence that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene married and had children, thereby undermining Christian doctrine.
Director
Bruce Burgess, Rene Barnett
Producer
Rene Barnett
Screenwriter
Bruce Burgess
Distributor
Cinema Libre Studio
Production Co
Bluebook Films
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 9, 2008, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Aug 11, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$62.2K
Runtime
1h 53m