by mr palmTime Magazine's Richard Corliss has posted his
Top 10 films about Jesus. Visit the link if you want to read short descriptions of the films.
Otherwise, if you want the list, here 'tis:
The King of Kings (1927)
The King of Kings (1961)
The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)
Godspell (1973)
Gospel Road (1973)
Jesus of Nazareth (1977)
Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
South Park: Fantastic Easter Special (2007)
Corliss didn't assign numerical rankings to the films. Maybe they're just lumped in no certain order. Maybe they go top to bottom, 1–10. I'd like to that they don't count down, like 10–1. I just don't see the
South Park guys putting out the finest movie about Jesus.
Of these, I've only seen
Jesus of Nazareth,
The Passion of the Christ, and some of
Life of Brian.
I watched the
Jesus of Nazareth miniseries several times growing up as it aired this time each year. I don't like graphic violence, so I put off watching
Passion until the DVD came out when I could safely FF through anything I needed to. I made it all the way without skipping anything. I think I stopped watching
Life of Brian when I felt like it was getting a little heretical. I'm sure I could watch it now without feeling offended, but I have little desire to.
How many of Corliss' Top 10 have you seen? What do you think about his list?
Comments (22)
Jesus of Nazareth has always been my favorite... but I saw The Last Temptation of Christ. It was great, if you only look at it as fiction.
I've seen the Passion and Life of Brian. I really want to see Last Temptation...
And Life of Brian actually wasn't any where near as heretical/offensive/whatever as I was led to believe. At least I wasn't that offended.
I really dont agree with his list.
I have seen
The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)
Jesus of Nazareth (1977)
Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Shabbat Shalom
Wow. How did they miss the best?
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR. The 2001 version starring Glenn Carter and Jerome Pradon.
Also, the list appears to be in chronological order.
The most authentic Jesus movie ever was Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ with Charleton Heston and Stephen Boyd. The movies listed above are pure dreck in comparison.
And don't get me started on Jesus Christ Superstar.
How on earth did an episode of South Park make it on here?
@TheGreatBout@xanga - speaking of that reminded me of Hero...Did you see that one?
@Kristenmomof3@xanga - I didn't. I've heard of it though.
Jesus Christ Superstar belongs on that list. St. Matthew and Life of Brian are both brilliant, in their unique ways.
@TheGreatBout@xanga @SirNickDon@xanga - Jesus Christ Superstar - Amen!
Good thing nobody reads your little "Time" magazine.
I've never seen any of these!
@Stephanie_J_B@xanga - You're not alone.
The Passion is just a snuff film.
I enjoyed Ben-Hur and Religulous.
I don't care if it's snuff or not - I like Passion. Ha.
Jesus Christ Superstar - the original 1973 version - belongs on that list.
@TheGreatBout@xanga - good catch. that's what i get for trying to whip together a post on my lunch break. :)
I've seen the Life of Brian and the Passion; I think that his list is indicative of the way that Hollywood and American culture has viewed Jesus over the course of several decades. You have movies that attempt to bring the pure truth of Jesus' message, but you also have the ones which parody the circumstances in which Jesus grow up, or even Him. Sort of like modern society
i took a Jesus in Film class and we watched all of these (plus many more). i, and everyone else in the class, agreed that The Last Temptation was best. none of the other film portrayals seem to stress that Jesus, in fact, had a choice. he could have had a wonderfully normal life, but he still chose to die. that's the importance of his sacrifice, not that he simply died.
I've seen Godspell, Jesus of Nazareth and The Passion of the Christ. I like Godspell because it was a fun yet powerful way to depict the gospel, Jesus of Nazareth (which I'm pretty sure is the one that has been translated a lot) because it's very straight forward and a toned down enough that children can see it without being traumetized, yet it shows a bit of what Christ suffered to give them an idea of what happened. The Passion, however, is my favorite because it shows the story of the crucifixion as real as it possibly can, and the power it's message has brings tears to my eyes.
I'm a bit surprised the Jesus Film didn't make the list. A bit pedestrian in its direction and cinematography, perhaps, but how many of the others have been translated into over a thousand different languages?
The really fun thing to do would be what Chesterton suggested in Everlasting Man (I think)-- set the story in India with Jesus under a different name as an oriental philosopher, then watch and snicker as all the people who hate Christianity so much start talking about how moving and meaningful that Indian guy's life and teaching was.