Jesus Movie Ideas--Anyone?

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If you want to make a movie about Jesus, what ideas would you implement?
 
I don’t know the first thing about making movies, but the idea that pops into head is to have a story line about Jesus teaching ministry, his passion, death, and resurrection, AND to have a concurrent modern story line where Jesus is making a difference in people’s lives–you know, Maynard? where the ancient, historical Jesus appears in modern clothing and is helping the blind, the sick, the lonely, the person who has just been mugged, etc. and who in a couple places has eye-to-eye contact with stock brokers and bankers who are cheating poor people and immigrants out of their God-given dignity and rights.

That would be interesting and instructive – JESUS IS ALIVE AND AMONG US TODAY.
 
I would emphasize how Jesus fit into the covenant promises God made to his people and his fulfilling those covenants which made it possible for his Gospel to be extended to the whole world. So many focus on his miracles and/or his words outside their historical and biblical context. I haven’t seen every film ever made about Jesus life and mission, so maybe someone has done one with that in mind. But that’s what I would do.
 
Della said:
I would emphasize how Jesus fit into the covenant promises God made to his people and his fulfilling those covenants which made it possible for his Gospel to be extended to the whole world. So many focus on his miracles and/or his words outside their historical and biblical context. I haven’t seen every film ever made about Jesus life and mission, so maybe someone has done one with that in mind. But that’s what I would do.
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I mean, what details would you insert into the movie, like the clothing, the depiction of Jesus and other characters. et cetera?
 
Personally, I find most Jesus movies to be beyond boring.

I’ve often thought that if one wanted to make a decent movie about Jesus they should go about it in the same way as in Ben Hur, where there is a central story of an individual whose life is affected by Jesus who is in the background. We don’t need to see Jesus doing His thing but the effects of His teachings and His life. I’ve always thought it most powerful in Ben Hur when Judah, Miriam and Tizra seek out the “young rabbi” to cure their leprosy, only to have Judah abandon his mother and sister to follow Jesus to His passion. And yet, Jesus still healed Miriam and Tizra from the cross.

Anyway, that’s my 2 cents.
 
I know that it would have to be largely fictitious (and that might be unwise) but a movie on the first 30 years of Jesus life would be interesting. The Holy family fleeing from Herod’s assassins, parenting a child who is God, sinless and really does know everything! 🙂
 
JB_Brother_4446 said:
I mean, what details would you insert into the movie, like the clothing, the depiction of Jesus and other characters. et cetera?
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I don’t think anyone can improve on what’s already been done in those areas. It might be interesting to see a version with everyone in modern dress but with the mores and sensibilities of the times–just to update it a bit for the young people. AFAIK no one has yet taken that approach.
 
Della said:
I don’t think anyone can improve on what’s already been done in those areas. It might be interesting to see a version with everyone in modern dress but with the mores and sensibilities of the times–just to update it a bit for the young people. AFAIK no one has yet taken that approach.
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I don’t think that would work.

Our world has been so “salted” by Him that a modern world in which HE had not yet appeared would be unrecognizable. That was the failing of such pictures as the Judas Project:. He is transposed into a modern world that is indistinguishable from our own, which would not be the case.

ICXC NIKA
 
You have a lot of reading to do if you want to make anything believable.

You really have four choices- a story about Jesus in the context of 1) the world of his followers- poor Jewish folks and Zealots and folks turned off by the Roman and Jewish Temple corruption, 2) from the perspective of the Temple hierarchy and their world and how Jesus threatens to upend it, 3) the perspective of Herod Antipas, the grandson of Herod the Great, trying to hang onto power and satisfy the peasants, the Temple priests, and the Romans, or 4) the Romans having to deal with all three groups and keep the area peaceful in the face of an aggressive Parthian Empire and Nabotea.

For all the scenarios above I would get into John Hagan’s stuff.

But, yes, Jesus as a miracle worker and semi-divine would be very boring. Heroes without a tragic flaw are always boring.

Those times were actually extremely interesting and consequential even if Jesus would not have existed.
 
Although HE had no tragic flaws, HE would have done a lot of soul-searching, and I think that aspect of HIM could be built on. And no, I do not mean the female-relationship question.

ICXC NIKA
 
steve53 said:
You have a lot of reading to do if you want to make anything believable.

You really have four choices- a story about Jesus in the context of 1) the world of his followers- poor Jewish folks and Zealots and folks turned off by the Roman and Jewish Temple corruption, 2) from the perspective of the Temple hierarchy and their world and how Jesus threatens to upend it, 3) the perspective of Herod Antipas, the grandson of Herod the Great, trying to hang onto power and satisfy the peasants, the Temple priests, and the Romans, or 4) the Romans having to deal with all three groups and keep the area peaceful in the face of an aggressive Parthian Empire and Nabotea.

For all the scenarios above I would get into John Hagan’s stuff.

But, yes, Jesus as a miracle worker and semi-divine would be very boring. Heroes without a tragic flaw are always boring.

Those times were actually extremely interesting and consequential even if Jesus would not have existed.
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I’m responding to the words I bolded. 🙂 Jesus is far from boring as a central character. He doesn’t have to have a “tragic flaw” to be exciting. His is a tragic story without his having to be a sinner. His is the story of the divine reaching out in love only to be rejected (by his own people as well as the ruling Romans), tortured, and killed. His friends deserting him–people who had walked with him, listened to him, seen his power and yet ran away when he was betrayed and arrested. The reasons why they did, when friends of a mere earthly “good guy” wouldn’t have is the crux of the tragedy in Jesus’ story. The main character doesn’t need to be flawed in order to elicit our sympathy and love. He only needs to be more loving, more giving, more wonderful than anyone who ever lived but still be crucified because the witness of his life stirred up jealousy, envy, fear of losing power, fear of being killed, greed, etc. in his fellow men.
 
JB_Brother_4446 said:
If you want to make a movie about Jesus, what ideas would you implement?
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There are many movies on Jesus already; some better than others. I would be interested in the human relationship aspect He had with His mother and Apostles.
 
Della said:
I don’t think anyone can improve on what’s already been done in those areas. It might be interesting to see a version with everyone in modern dress but with the mores and sensibilities of the times–just to update it a bit for the young people. AFAIK no one has yet taken that approach.
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There are a lot of aspects that can be improved, you know, like the minor, trivial stuff.
 
JB_Brother_4446 said:
There are a lot of aspects that can be improved, you know, like the minor, trivial stuff.
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Filmmaking is a difficult career. Long hours of boredom while shots are being set up, getting the light just right, camera angles, costumes, make-up, stressful situations, and so on. Getting all the trivial things right isn’t usually top of the list on a filmmaker’s mind. He leaves that to his costumers and set designers, who are supposed to research the time and place in which the story takes place. From what I’ve seen they get things right most of the time, unless it’s an amateur production with cheapo sets and costumes, which I have also seen, but not by Hollywood level productions.
 
Della said:
I don’t think anyone can improve on what’s already been done in those areas. It might be interesting to see a version with everyone in modern dress but with the mores and sensibilities of the times–just to update it a bit for the young people. AFAIK no one has yet taken that approach.
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There are a lot of aspects that can be improved, you know, like the minor, trivial stuff.
 
Josephus reports that members of the Essenes were known to live past the century mark. And this is 2000 years ago.
 
steve53 said:
Josephus reports that members of the Essenes were known to live past the century mark. And this is 2000 years ago.
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All generations have centennials; but life expectancy was something else entirely.

ICXC NIKA
 
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