Which Movie Based on the Life of Christ is Your Favourite?

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Feanaro:
Lastly, I have to say that I was a bit disappointed with the way Mary was portrayed in the Passion. The cut scenes were excellant but she barely cried during the whole process:confused: . The Mary in Jesus of Nazareth was far better in my opinion.
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I dunno. I’ve been so deeply dumbfounded by extreme sadness that I have not been able to cry.

I voted for The Passion.

Until then, Jesus of Nazareth was the best one out there. Though it always weirds me out when I see such a beautiful actor as Robert Powell acting as Jesus because Powell’s face is so beautiful not to mention Powell’s eyes as striking as they are happen to be blue. So, it lost the mirroring of reality thing for me since Hebrews don’t have blue eyes. At least, not the ones that I know.
 
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ByzCath:
Based on the question posed in the Title, the Passion of the Christ does not fit as it is not really the Life of Christ.QUOTE]

I must be misunderstanding what you might be thinking you’re conveying when you say “the Passion of the Christ does not fit as it is not really the Life of Christ.”

Um… whose life is it about, you think?

Or… perhaps (I’m guessing here) you are talking about Jesus’ life before the last 12 hours of it?

Just curious…

:rolleyes:
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Veronica Anne:
I must be misunderstanding what you might be thinking you’re conveying when you say “the Passion of the Christ does not fit as it is not really the Life of Christ.”

Um… whose life is it about, you think?

Or… perhaps (I’m guessing here) you are talking about Jesus’ life before the last 12 hours of it?

Just curious…

:rolleyes:
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You guess correctly. The story of a persons life contains more then just the end of it. The life of Christ, His teachings, His actions, are missing from the Passion of the Christ.
 
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ByzCath:
Shoshana (nice name),
I have shared this before but during the movie I suffered one of the worst migranes I have ever had. Since then tough I have been migrane free…
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Code:
Thank you for your kind remark. I have been to Eastern rite liturgies (Ukrainian) here quite a few times. I am still debating whether to go eastern also (I don’t mean airflights). We as romans have lost the mystery. While in Israel we enjoyed a Melkite rite. It was so HOLY!

As far as your experience during the movie, I also experienced the same thing. Please refer to my previous post…

Blessings,
Shoshana
 
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PilgrimJWT:
**Jesus, **with Jeremy Sisto playing Jesus, was a movie-length TV production which impressed me a lot. I taped it off TV to keep.
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Pilgrim,
Since you are the only one to mention this movie, what do you think of the way the relationship between Jesus and Mary, Lazarus’ sister was presented? I wanted to show this movie to my CCD class last year but had second thoughts…it seemed to me that it might give the students the idea of a romantic relationship between them:confused: Your thoughts or anyone else’s. Annunciata:)
 
Wow! I voted for The Passion of the Christ, but after reading everybody’s posts, I think I have to re-watch Jesus of Nazareth. I think, perhaps, that movie is better at depicting the majority of the life of Christ. However, if I had to pick out one particular aspect of Christ’s life, I’d have to say The Passion of the Christ beats out every other rendition of Christ’s passion. I just bought The Passion of the Christ. Because it is so moving, I’m not sure how often I will watch it - most probably during Holy Week - but it is something I knew I had to own. I also wonder if the impact will be less on the small screen. I guess I won’t know that until I watch it in my family room.

Thanks for the poll. I enjoyed reading the posts.
 
Wow, this is great! I am really pleased to see that so many others are like myself in their appreciation of the movie Jesus of Nazareth. Certainly this is my all time favorite.

I too have been very moved by the Passion of the Christ and I am thankful that Mel Gibson made the effort to make this movie. Our world needs more of Jesus and a whole lot less of everything else that is going on.

Thanks for the poll and all of the wonderful responses!

Let’s all remain faithful to the experience of our faith and having the greatest of all experiences in the Mass. I love both movies but neither of them could even come close to the experience of attending daily Mass!

God Bless!

Carl
 
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Annunciata:
Pilgrim,
Since you are the only one to mention this movie, what do you think of the way the relationship between Jesus and Mary, Lazarus’ sister was presented? I wanted to show this movie to my CCD class last year but had second thoughts…it seemed to me that it might give the students the idea of a romantic relationship between them:confused: Your thoughts or anyone else’s. Annunciata:)
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I did feel that there were several issues in this movie that were not really showing Christ as we believe more hollywood hype than anything else. I did not watch much of it after a few scenes you knew it came directly from Hollywood and not the Bible.
 
The Passion, hands down. It blows everything prior to it right out of the water. I’d also venture to say that it would be an extremely tough act to follow - if not impossible.

While *Jesus of Nazareth *is definitely a cut above the just plain awful 50s genre like The Greatest Story Ever Told, it still seems “stagey” or unrealistic to me and I’ve liked it less & less as time goes on. Maybe it’s because everyone looks & sounds like they stepped out of the Royal Shakespeare Company. I will admit that the production values are good, although Zeffirelli is always more than a little heavy-handed.

While *Ben-Hur *is also kind of cheesey, the Crucifixion scene is actually quite powerful.

Just my opinion, of course.
 
stellina said:
The Passion, hands down. It blows everything prior to it right out of the water. I’d also venture to say that it would be an extremely tough act to follow - if not impossible.

While *Jesus of Nazareth *is definitely a cut above the just plain awful 50s genre like The Greatest Story Ever Told, it still seems “stagey” or unrealistic to me and I’ve liked it less & less as time goes on. Maybe it’s because everyone looks & sounds like they stepped out of the Royal Shakespeare Company. I will admit that the production values are good, although Zeffirelli is always more than a little heavy-handed.

While *Ben-Hur *is also kind of cheesey, the Crucifixion scene is actually quite powerful.

Yes, these are my sentiments exactly.
I’d never watched Jesus of Nazareth, but after watching the Passion a few times, I rented out Jesus of Nazareth out of curiosity, and although I found the early scenes excellent (the Annunciation, Nativity, etc) after that I found Robert Powell very hammy and even creepy as the adult Jesus. The acting in the Passion, I feel, is just vastly superior, and no film will ever have the impact that film had on me. I found it a contemplative, mystical film. I now have it on video (haven’t got a DVD player) and I have to say it’s a bit of a disappointment on the small screen, but I’m glad I’ve got it and will watch it now and then.

Yes, I found the biblical scenes in Ben Hur very moving at the time I first watched it (as a pre-teen).
It’s interesting how God can use ANYTHING to grab our attention. though!!! Many years ago I’d left the Church for about 3 years, and I went to see Jesus Christ Superstar - and though I can hardly believe it now, it catapulted me back into the practice of my faith!:confused:
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ATeNumquam:
It’s interesting how God can use ANYTHING to grab our attention. though!!! Many years ago I’d left the Church for about 3 years, and I went to see Jesus Christ Superstar - and though I can hardly believe it now, it catapulted me back into the practice of my faith!:confused:
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Oh, we’re just a mutual admiration society today! 😉 While as an adult I learned that *Jesus Christ Superstar *is chock-full of bad theology, I do enjoy it from a musical standpoint. I’ve seen a few stage productions that did some very inspiring visual effects incorporating the Resurrection, which really isn’t part of the original - one that really stood out had the cross disappear under Christ’s body in the last scene and with some dazzling light effects made Him look like he was ascending, even though the actor never moved or left the cross. Also, if you take a close look at the final scene in the movie version, the empty cross is back-lit with the setting sun & at the foot, you can see a shepherd with his flock walking underneath - a bit of interesting symbolism, to say the least.

God is truly an artist because He can use anything for inspiration!
 
I have the original silent version of King Of Kings (1927) on DVD.
I remember seeing it on tv back in the early 1970’s. I was impressed with silent films since then.
For it’s time, It was well done. However some of the dialogue (titles) don’t fit the scenes. If you see the original, you’ll know what I mean.
But the photography and the sets are great for their time!
 
I love “Jesus of Nazareth” and “The Passion of the Christ”. However, since the latter directly pertains to only the final 12 hours of Jesus’ earthly life, I must vote for the former in light of the question posed.

Now, if Mel Gibson were to produce some “prequels”, I might be faced with a dilemma…
Maybe one for each set of Mysteries of the Rosary?
:hmmm:
 
Wow, what a list to choose from !!
I loved ALL of those movies.
Still, for overall effect and grandeur, I had to choose THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD. The scene of the Resurrection of Lazarus moved me to tears in that film (Greatest Story…).
Love,
Jaypeeto4 (aka Jaypeeto3)
 
I finally Jesus of Nazareth but I love them all. Loved Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus when I was a kid.
 
I find it hard to vote since I have so many dvds on the life of Christ. Jesus of Nazareth and Passion of the Christ would probably tie since I hear the actors went through similar experiences in the making of the movies.
 
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msproule:
I love “Jesus of Nazareth” and “The Passion of the Christ”. However, since the latter directly pertains to only the final 12 hours of Jesus’ earthly life, I must vote for the former in light of the question posed.

Now, if Mel Gibson were to produce some “prequels”, I might be faced with a dilemma…
Maybe one for each set of Mysteries of the Rosary?
:hmmm:
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When I was Watching “The Passion of the Christ” I saw the sorrowful mysteries being unfolded on the screen. At the end I felt like I had meditated on the sorrowful mysteries. Very powerful, but “Jesus of Nazareth” was also powerful. The most memorable scene to me was when they lowered Jesus from the cross and Mary cradled him in her arms and wept. It brought to mind the prophesy. “And a sword shall pierce your own soul too”
 
The only one I’ve saw off from that list is “The Passion”, but I still doubt that any of the others could top it in my mind. It brought home to me for the first time the extreme brutality that Christ endured, and it has greatly changed my view of the Triduum and the Scripture surrounding the crucifixion. I have a much better appreciation for the event.
 
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Annunciata:
Though I voted for The Passion, Jesus of Nazareth is the most accurate of all, IMO.

Another, which was made for TV, “Jesus” with Jermy Sisto was a rather ‘modern version’, but I liked the part where we are taken to Jesus’ childhood and we saw Jesus laughing and dancing…it showed a very human Jesus…maybe too much for some…
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Is this the one that is based on the Gospel of Luke and is also called The Jesus Movie?
 
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