Summary
Summary
The story of the life of Jesus Christ.
The Film
This film has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I don’t remember the first time I saw it but the scenes from it are such a part of my psyche that I couldn’t possibly try to play this off as an unbiased review.
When I think of Herod slaughtering the young children of Bethlehem, the sequence from this movie is the first thing that comes to mind. When I think of John the Forerunner (Baptist), I think of Michael York (“Logan’s Run”) yelling in the desert. When I think of a young girl being told she will bear a child though no man has known her, I think of Olivia Hussey (“Romeo and Juliet”).
Obviously, I don’t frequently sit down to watch all 6 1.2 hours of this film but every few years I rewatch it and I know it frequently played on Network Television in the 80s and 90s same as “The Ten Commandments” and other Easter or Christmas religious films. So what makes me want to revisit a film whose material I already know, whose runtime is at the top end of what I am willing to invest in a movie, and is now over 50 years old? I mean, hasn’t a better film about Jesus been made since then?
Well, the short and simplistic answer is NO. A better film hasn’t been made, but that isn’t exactly why I watch this one. The first and simplest reason I like this version is that it is complete and respectful. There really aren’t many works that attempt to capture the heart of every Gospel story since to do so would take, hmmm…. 6 ½ hours. Most Jesus films consolidate scenes from his life into one, skip over sections of his life, or at least abridge his teachings to focus only on the known and palatable. “Jesus of Nazareth” attempts to wrap its arms around all of the material in the New Testament and even try to understand the historical context around the events related in the Bible. On top of that, it does so without cynicism, secular accommodation, or modern analogy. There are very few moments where I feel like the movie is taking too many liberties with the story or trying too hard to make the story work for non-religious audiences.
This respect is mirrored not just in the dialogue spoken, stories selected or neglected, and a score which reverberates with reverence. It is mirrored in the quality and scale of the production. Obviously, with a huge runtime like this the expense must have been considerable but add to that a cast that is second to none and production design that is amazing and you begin to realize that the person making this film, Franco Zeffirelli (“Romeo and Juliet,” 1968) was doing his best to treat the material with the gravity he felt it deserved.
The cast is simply outstanding. The list of cameos and main characters played by noteworthy actors is so remarkable that even into my late 30s, I am still realizing that certain characters were played by famous actors who I simply had not heard of yet such as Ian McShane playing Judas Iscariot decades before I would get to know him as Swearengine on “Deadwood.” These actors bring a believability to their roles that you simply do not find in most modern films made about Biblical events. The recent remake of “Ben Hur” is a great bad example of what happens when every character in your year 33 AD film looks like they could as easily be at home at a Hollywood soiree as on the streets of Jerusalem. You need actors with a dedication to authenticity that is hard to come by if you can’t inspire a huge cast to commit hard and trust that everyone is committing to that same degree. Luckily, with very few exceptions, the actors in “Jesus of Nazareth” do a remarkable job of disappearing into their roles and into the 1st century.
The production design in the film is another standout in “Jesus of Nazareth.” Costumes and buildings, boats and nets, the temple and Golgotha are all rendered so naturalistically that I hardly noticed them. This is in contrast to films set in a similar time period but which focus on style and splashy costumes and sets which have more in common with HBO’s “Rome,” STARZ “Spartacus,” or Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator,” all fine in their own right but certainly not erring on the side of authenticity.
The world Jesus (Robert Powell) lives in feels lived in. When Jesus is reading from the scroll of the scriptures you really get the sense that the scriptures have been read aloud in that room for years and years. Mary Magdalene (Anne Bancroft “The Graduate”) isn’t just some woman that is brought out to Jesus for adultery. We see her life of prostitution and how she is treated by the people around her long before they all turn on her and criticise her to Jesus’ face.
In short, the film treats these stories as if they aren’t just Sunday School stories being told void of context. This film assumes that all the people who come into Jesus’ life for one or two little stories in the scriptures were real people with full lives that were complex and varied as ours are.
This isn’t all to say that the film has no weaknesses. Certainly the length is a barrier to many but of you think of it as more akin to the lengthy mini-series projects of Fassbinder (“Berlin Alexanderplatz”) or a film event like “Roots.” Seen in that light, it’s a major accomplishment.
Another problem with the film is Robert Powell as Jesus. His performance is a little more otherworldly than I would prefer and his blue eyes certainly stand out as he plays a character that most likely would have had dark eyes. I forgive it that oversight though because I do think the eye color was a deliberate choice to make his face stand out amongst the crowd as having something special in it. I definitely don’t think it is offensive as certain other portrayals of Christ have been, complete with blonde hair or surfer dude accent.
Overall, the film is a stunning achievement that I think every Christian should watch at least once. If you are a parent, believer or not, you could do far worse than showing scenes or sequences from “Jesus of Nazareth” to help your kids understand what people believe about Jesus and why his actions and teachings had such an impact on our world.
Seriously, if you are a Christian and haven’t seen this film, check it out now on Amazon Prime Streaming. Watch each section after you read the Bible account or as the commemoration of each event comes up in the Church Calendar. I think you’ll find it will add a dimension to your engagement with the seasons of the church and will help begin the process of redeeming the time we spend on media by including Christ in that time.
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