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03/26/2004 Entry: "5 Best films about Jesus"
1.The Gospel According to St Matthew Passolini, 1964
If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favour.
2. Jesus of Montreal, 1989
Beautiful in every way. The full horror of the crucifixion, and the cause of it are made clear without a gorefest. Sometimes funny, always compelling -- and ultimately life affirming.
3. The Miracle Maker, 2000
An animated masterpiece. Is this the only film that acknowledges the various genre within the Gospels? A courageous film with an all-star cast, accessible to children but challenging to adults.
4. The Life of Brian, 1979
OK, it isn't exactly about Jesus, but he does appear briefly twice and gets mentioned once. And Brian had obviously heard some of his parables.
5. errr... That's it. There just aren't 5 great films about Jesus. How sad is that?
Replies: 10 comments
Since nobody else is mentioned, I assume that this rating is according to you?
I should see if I can rent the first three from somewhere around here.
Posted by Swan @ 03/26/2004 06:16 PM GMT
Yes - I can't blame this on anyone else.
You won't regret seeing any of them.
Posted by Richard @ 03/26/2004 06:50 PM GMT
Have you seen "The Gospel of John" (2003, I think)?
Just curious whether you don't mention it because you haven't seen it, or because you don't think it's great.
Posted by Swan @ 03/26/2004 07:34 PM GMT
No Swan, I haven't seen that. Though no you mention it, I do recall hearing something about it. Assuming you've seen it, did you rate it?
Posted by Richard @ 03/26/2004 08:12 PM GMT
Yes, I did see "The Gospel of John". It's definitely worth seeing. Even though they stick to exactly the text of the Gospel of John (they only left out stuff like "He said:"), so there's no freedom in what dialog to do or how to arrange the scenes, etc., the performances are very natural and the narration fits in naturally.
It's a great way of "reading" the Gospel of John.
Check it out when you get a chance and let us know how it fits in your ranking (maybe there are 5 great films about Jesus after all :-) ).
The movie had only one flaw: In one scene, one of the blankets they use still has a tag on it (oops!). I feel like I'm the only one who's noticed that, since I haven't seen it mentioned in any review etc. I seem to get hung up on unimportant details sometimes...
Posted by Swan @ 03/26/2004 10:05 PM GMT
From a non-christian viewpoint, I would have to say that I was very impressed by The Last Temptation of Christ. Personally, I felt that it showed Jesus as a real person in a way that I have not witnessed in any other film.
Posted by Chris E @ 03/27/2004 04:49 PM GMT
From a non-christian viewpoint, I would have to say that I was very impressed by The Last Temptation of Christ. Personally, I felt that it showed Jesus as a real person in a way that I have not witnessed in any other film.
Posted by Chris E @ 03/27/2004 04:50 PM GMT
I haven't seen "The last Temptation..." in a long time, but my memory of it is not very positive. But I didn't think it was blasphemous in the way that is usually suggested.
Posted by Richard @ 03/27/2004 10:28 PM GMT
The Pasolini film, though it drags a little with so many sermons strung together, is probably my favorite.
Jesus of Nazareth is good too. But Life of Brian? Never saw it, but atheist friends loved it...too much...so assumed it was mockery parody of Christ.
Unbelievers: read the 4 gospels first, then critique any Jesus film. How about Bill Bright's The Jesus Film project? Too much showing the actor and saying "Accept Him into your heart" good intention, lousy execution.
Any films that gloriously portray, unlike ridiculous The Passion, His Resurrection and Ascension into His pre-incarnation home, Heaven?
Posted by seated in the heavenlies @ 03/27/2004 10:59 PM GMT
You missed out 'The Greatest Story Ever Told'. I know that's really your favourite, Richard...
I managed to get hold of a copy of 'The Gospel according to St.Matthew' (apparently, Passolini resented the 'St' being put into the english title) recently. And you're right, it really does stand out. There's nothing spectacular in the production and there's no flashy cinematography. What you get is a simple - a meek - Jesus and a crowd of truly rugged peasants wandering a dusty mediterranean countryside. It's as accurate as you can really get.
If you haven't seen it, as Richard says, do yourself a favour
Posted by Mike @ 03/29/2004 02:56 PM GMT
