Martin Scorsese's film adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis' controversial 1951 novel of the same name contains the central thesis that Jesus, while free from sin, was still subject to every form of temptation that humans face, including fear, doubt, depression, reluctance and lust.

Originally conceived in 1945 by young businessman and Campus Crusade for Christ founder Bill Bright who wanted to privately finance a film about the life of Jesus Christ that was entertaining, biblically accurate, and which could be translated into non-English languages, this film is based very closely on the Gospel of Luke with most of the film's dialogue coming from there.

This six-hour-plus long miniseries which has aired regularly on network television most Easters since the early 1980s is so thorough that the first hour is devoted solely to the story of Christ's birth.