Connect09 is upon us and across the Sydney Diocese Christians will be seeking to connect friends and family with the world’s only true Lord and Saviour.
In a year when many will be reconsidering the character of Jesus, it is worth taking some time to consider the characteristics they may have picked up from the big screen’s most famous messiahs.
All films based on the Gospels tend to fight against twin forces found in the character of Jesus himself. He is both fully God and fully man, a fact theologians and film-makers alike have struggled to convey. Movies struggle to show a saviour who is fundamentally God, and so fundamentally different from us, while at the same time introduce us to a man who is similarly human, and so bring him near to us. The measure of any production is how well it deals with both sides of the character of Christ.
Below is a list of the top Jesus films of all time, summaries of their take on the messiah, as well as links to more indepth reviews…
King of Kings, 1961
Gentle Jesus
King of Kings remains the bench-mark in many respects for large-scale retellings of the life of Jesus. It clearly demonstrates everything that can go right and wrong with visual reproduction of the Gospel story. The Middle East is populated with beautiful, pale-skinned American actors and actresses with Jeffrey Hunter the original blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jesus.
The Greatest Story Ever Told, 1965
Mystic Jesus
In this dreary production the Jesus played by Max Von Sydow is so different from those who surrounds him that he is almost alien, and his pronouncements so super-spiritual that they are almost of no earthly use.
Jesus of Nazareth, 1977
Iconic Jesus
This six-hour mini-series is so thorough that the first hour is devoted solely to the story of Christ’s birth. Robert Powell’s protrayal of Jesus is almost identical to that of the Jesus portrayed in European art, yet ironically it is also probably the most historically inaccurate.
Jesus, 1979
Bible reading Jesus
Originally conceived in 1945 by Campus Crusade founder Bill Bright, this film is based very closely on the Gospel of Luke with most of the film’s dialogue coming from there. Brian Deacon, as Jesus, speaks every sentence calmly and with a certain gravitas that makes it sound like he is trying to read the Bible aloud in church.
The Life of Brian, 1979
Irrelevant Jesus
Jesus is only a bit-player in this irreverent Monty Python comedy about a well meaning Jew mistaken as the Messiah. But the film has a serious purpose: exposing the sort of religion that could ‘produce’ the messiah we have today. Brian’s accidental elevation to messianic status demonstrates that a historical figure is not beyond being manipulated by social and political forces.
The Last Temptation of Christ, 1988
Tempted Jesus
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.
Matthew, 1993
Smiley Jesus
The Visual Bible was on e fo the fist modern productions to embrace the humanity of Jesus. Gone were the declaratory statements and the somber, unearthly looks. Instead the viewer is presented with the Bruce Marchiano Jesus who seems incapable of talking to anyone without embracing them.
The Gospel of John, 2003
Cerebral Jesus
Probably the greatest concerns with this production relate to the Gospel itself - there are, after all, some books that just might not work as films. However this Visual Bible presentation Jesus by Henry Ian Cusick is probably one of the best cinematic presentations available today.
The Passion of the Christ, 2004
Suffering Jesus
All four Gospel narratives are used as source material to bring to the screen Christ’s passion - the physical, spiritual and mental suffering of Jesus in to the hours prior to his execution. The explicit detailed violence risks elevating Jesus’ physical suffering to such a level that James Caviezel’s spiritual suffering pales in comparison.
