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Thursday, March 24, 2005
Jesus on film
From the early days of Hollywood, filmmakers have been trying to capture Christ on the big screen.
Here are the top 10 list of Jesus movies:
1.THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST (2004) After all the controversy and rigorous debate has subsided, Mel Gibson’s film will remain a force to be reckoned with. Moving and spiritual, the graphic movie depicts the last 12 hours of Jesus’ life. It stars Jim Caviezel as Jesus.
2.THE KING OF KINGS (1927) Cecil B. DeMille starts the Biblical ball rolling. Mary Magdalene gets mad at Judas for refusing to attend her orgy in this bloated epic, which features zebra races, dancing girls and a cast of thousands.
3.THE ROBE (1953) Co-starring with Victor Mature and Jean Simmons, Richard Burton plays a Roman tribune whose life changes after he wins Christ’s robe while gambling. The first motion picture shot in CinemaScope, it inaugurates a new era of sumptuous sword-and-sandal spectacles.
4.BEN-HUR (1959) Jesus has only a cameo in this landmark film, but it’s pivotal. William Wyler’s marathon epic, starring Charlton Heston as an enslaved Jew, made gore respectable, and set the template for Gladiator.
5.THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD (1965) An extravaganza of glorious kitsch. The star-studded cast includes Heston, John Wayne, Angela Lansbury, Sidney Poitier, Martin Landau, Claude Rains, Telly Savalas, Pat Boone -- and Max von Sydow as Jesus.
6.THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW (1964) With a cast of unprofessionals, and a ruthless Jesus who has no time for his mother, Pier Paulo Pasolini’s neo-realist masterpiece has a severe beauty.
7.JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (1973) Norman Jewison’s film of the Broadway rock opera revels in anachronism as it replays the last six days of Christ’s life through the eyes of a black Judas.
8.LIFE OF BRIAN (1979) The Monty Python farce about a man mistaken for the Messiah is the This Is Spinal Tap of Biblical epics. After seeing it, it’s hard to watch the serious ones with a straight face.
9.THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST (1988) Martin Scorsese’s controversial epic features a Peter Gabriel soundtrack, David Bowie as Pontius Pilate, and a hallucinating Christ who imagines having sex with Mary Magdalene.
10.JESUS OF MONTREAL (1989) In a brilliant modern parable from Quebec’s Denys Arcand, an actor cast as Jesus in a Passion play takes his role to heart with tragic consequences.
(March 24, 2005 issue)
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