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The good, the bad, the cheesy, the heretical, and the just plain weird.
There's about a million of them out there, and I haven't seen them all. I'm going to limit this blog to ones I have seen, or at least have seen multiple clips of, so doubtless I'll miss some heavy hitters. Four out of the six movies that I review were made in the 1970s, for some reason, and two in the late 1990s- early 2000s.
Going from my personal favorites to the ones I wish would just disappear into the mists of forgotten VHS tapes and used bookstore finds forever...
The All-Around Good Jesus Movie: The Miracle Maker
Made as a joint project between the BBC and a stop-motion animation studio in Russia in the 1990's, the movie is an obvious artistic passion project rather than an evangelistic one. The artists and producers made this movie to tell a story well and beautifully-- not to convince the audience of its truth or 'relevance to their lives.' The creators spent literally years researching it and putting it together, and did their best to accurately represent both the Holy Land and what people from that place and time would look like.
Told primarily with stop-motion animated puppets, with some of the more 'subjective' scenes rendered in 2D animation, the film reaches some surprising emotional depths-- something hard to do with a story as familiar as this one. It gave me new food for thought about gospel stories I've heard at least a hundred times, but without politically skewing them in any way or being subversive. It simply told the story the best it knew how.
I mean, just take a look at this depiction of Mary Magdalene's exorcism (this is also the ONLY Jesus movie I've ever seen where she isn't depicted as a former prostitute, but instead as a possessed woman, which is what she actually was in the gospels).
I also love that the movie isn't too graphic when it comes to the crucifixion while still managing to make it emotionally powerful. It does this by focusing on the betrayal and sadness of what happened rather than relying on cheap graphic gore. I can show my kids this movie, while still being moved by what's happening on screen.
A 20 something year old movie that manages to do a fantastic job telling the gospel story by relying on artistic integrity and passion rather than preaching or pandering to believers. Worth seeing in its own right as an artistic achievement, whatever your personal beliefs may be. (And the whole thing is free on YouTube!)
Random fun fact-- Jesus is voiced by Ralph Finnes. Most well known for his role as Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter movies.
The Artistic-but-Gory Jesus Movie: The Passion of the Christ
Do I even have to say anything about this movie? It's been discussed to the point of ridiculous elsewhere in great detail-- pretty much everything about it has been dissected, discussed, evaluated, and criticized.
But in case you were curious, here's my two cents. 😜
The director (Gibson, for those of you who somehow missed it) decided to go Braveheart on the account of Christ's passion and death and create an emotional story by dwelling on the graphic physical facts of being tortured to death by Roman Soldiers in ancient Israel while inter-cutting it with heavily symbolic (and theologically corresponding) scenes from the last supper and the life of Christ.
The result is a theologically artistic masterpiece that...quite frankly, isn't going to be accessible, or even watchable, for everybody.
Don't get me wrong; it's a very moving film that does a good job talking about the context of the Crucifixion while also discussing events and perspectives surrounding the crucifixion itself. There's real emotional connection in many of the scenes, like this one (arguably the film's one moment with any sort of levity):
But the almost unrelenting gore (there's a scene where you literally see the flesh torn from Jesus's ribs by a bunch of hooks and barbs at the end of a flagellum) makes those more subtle moments few and far between.
Despite what the nuns thought at the Catholic middle and elementary school I attended, this renders it really inappropriate for children, as well as those with more sensitive personalities. The first time I saw this film was in 8th grade, and that was really too young for the graphic, intense nature of the violence. It actually really upset and disturbed me at the time. I wouldn't show the film in its entirety to anyone under the age of 15 or 16.
But as an adult viewer who's actually studied some of the theology/context behind the passion, it's a worthwhile (though still somewhat difficult) movie to watch. There's a lot of artistic integrity within the film-- watching it gives me the impression that the director sought to tell the story as a layered piece of literature full of symbolism and deeper meanings. If you can stand the gory aspect, that intricate way of telling the story is well worth seeing put to the screen.
Random fun fact: Maia Morgentson (the woman who plays Mary the mother of Jesus) was pregnant during time of filming. In my book, that kind of makes her a badass.
Bonus fact: the guy who played Jesus would sometimes get into full makeup (lots of cuts and gore, etc) and then they wouldn't be able to film due to inclement weather-- so he'd keep the makeup on, go home, then come back the next day ready to shoot.
I'm just trying to imagine the looks he got commuting (or walking across the lot).
The Awesome-Soundtrack-but-Heretical Jesus Movie: Jesus Christ Superstar
Every year you guys. Every year, around Triduum, my husband starts playing songs from this show.
Every.
Single.
Year.
Those songs are catchy too. I'm humming them for at least the next month.
This movie (the 1973 version) is worth watching as an awesome musical achievement, and as a time-capsule of early 1970s artsy alternative culture. The vocals are, for the most part, AMAZING, the music is well done, and it's just overall fun to jam out to. The part of Judas in particular is one of the best vocal performances I've heard anywhere.
It's necessary to note, however, that theologically it's an absolute cesspool of confusion and garbage. I can actually think of two people off the top of my head who have said, "oh yeah, I used to watch that a lot before my conversion (or reversion), and it really skewed up my perception of who Christ is." One of those guys even went so far as to say it partially led to him leaving the Church (he later reverted).
It tells an interesting story with interesting characters, but the story it tells isn't the gospel. If you watch this film, watch it for the music and the artistry that went into it, but don't expect to find any orthodox theology (my former Catholic seminarian husband actually had to do a paper on all the heresies in it as a class project once).
But, oh, that soundtrack.
One song that I think absolutely hits it out of the ballpark, both artistically and as the one song that shows a Biblical character as he was in the gospel is this one:
I love this one for the amazing soundtrack (Andrew Loyd Weber is just insanely talented, there's no getting away from that), but the weird theological/heretical aspects mean I'll probably hold off on introducing it to my children until they already have a firm grasp of the theology of the gospel story. I would also steer clear of showing this to any high school youth groups or anyone who isn't already pretty thoroughly churched.
Random fun fact: there are two other major versions of this show I'm aware of. One was produced in 2000, and is absolute garbage. The vocals are lame, and the direction is weirdly off-- not in a fun, artsy way, just in an awkward way. The 2018 version that showed on broadcast TV was a mixed bag. The lady who played Mary Magdalene was better than the lady who played her in 1973, but the guys who played Jesus and Judas just weren't up to snuff. I recommend looking up those songs on YouTube and skipping the rest.
The Zombie-Cult-Leader Jesus Movie: Jesus of Nazareth
I haven't seen this one in all of its 6 hour long epic glory, but I have seen a couple hours worth of it (thank you high school Biblical theology class)-- enough to form an opinion, though perhaps not a complete one.
This is not a bad film, but it's the first film listed here that I wouldn't be particularly motivated to watch again.
This film was originally intended to be a grand scale spectacle. With a huge corporate backed budget, a cast list consisting in some of the biggest names in film in both the United States and Britain, and a papal endorsement at it's release, this was supposed to be the dramatic depiction of Christ to outshine them all. And watching it, the scale of the thing is enormous. There's thousands of extras, beautiful sets, and so many famous people in it that you could make a party game out of 'spot the Hollywood star' (Mickey Rooney shows up as a slightly demented pharisee...for some unknown reason, I find this hilarious).
But all of this grand, impressive scale can't make up for the fact that Christ comes off a little...creepy.
Here's a scene to show you what I mean:
The director made a conscious decision to have him blink as little as possible, so as to give the impression of a deep, penetrating gaze on the viewer. This, coupled with the actor's delivery of the lines, in an 'epic' voice loaded with 'meaning', serves to make this depiction of Jesus come across like a 1970s cult leader.
The overdone emotionally heavy soundtrack doesn't help either. I feel as if I'm being manipulated by the music, "believe. BELIEVE!!", which is incredibly off-putting to me. I prefer films to focus on telling the story and letting me draw my own conclusions rather than trying to convince me of something.
There are a few scenes where we see that the guy can actually act with some human emotion-- the scene where he raises the young girl from the dead has a fair amount of emotional depth to it, and there's some nicer smaller moments where he's just interacting with people. It's a pity that many of the more 'important' scenes suffer.
If you've never seen this one, it's a grand-scale spectacle that's considered a classic, so probably worth a look. You'll probably be good with just one viewing though.
Random Fun Fact: The guy who played Jesus ate nothing but cheese from 12 days prior to filming the crucifixion scene so he'd look worn out.
I'm trying not to imagine all the gas and constipation the poor guy endured. Pretty sure I'd look worn out too.
The Just-Plain-Weird Jesus Movie: Godspell
This thing has got to be the clown mass of Jesus movies.
I've only seen a few clips of this thing, but what I have seen has left a pretty strong impression.
Rather than taking place in Israel a couple thousand years ago, this film takes place in 1970s New York City. The followers are dressed in eccentric, colorful clothes and sport face paint. Christ wears a superman shirt, an afro, and has a big red heart painted on his forehead. The film basically follows them acting out various parables and scenes from the gospel of Matthew with whatever they seem to find on the street. The crucifixion scene takes place with the guy playing Jesus standing on a stool with his hands tied to a chain link fence with red ribbon while the cast rattles the chain link around him frantically.
And, of course, it's a musical.
Here's a sample of one of the parables (these seem to make up the bulk of the show),
It's SO very 1970s, and SO very strange. Oddly enough, it seems to be at least slightly less heretical in content than Jesus Christ Superstar. Go figure.
Some of the songs are pretty, and the people who made this seemed to have a blast doing it. If you can get past the clown aesthetic, it might be worth a whirl. Just be aware of what you're getting into.
Fun Fact: One of the songs has a refrain based on a 13th century prayer written by a British bishop.
The Very-Cheesy-Propaganda Jesus Movie: Jesus
Bring on the Velveeta. Put a little Cheese Whiz on there while you're at it.
My first exposure to this film was a large scale mailing that a local Christian church did, presumably to get the gospel message into as many homes as possible. I checked the mail one day, and there was a VHS tape in a thin cardboard box.
I was only 6 or 7 years old at the time-- my exposure to film and cinema was limited, my tastes hadn't really developed yet, and we couldn't afford to have a big movie collection, so any new movie was a rare occurrence.
I didn't like this film even then. It's just so...mediocre.
The film is meant to be a complete account of the life of Christ, from the Annunciation to the Ascension. They have a LOT of ground to cover, and no extra time to cover it. And they don't cover it well. The acting is blah, the costumes are blah...nothing really stands out about it. Mary (the mother of Christ) is portrayed VERY melodramatically (seriously, this lady could give Shatner a run for his money), Mary Magdalene is a boiler plate prostitute character with no depth, and for some reason Jesus has this perfectly smooth, combed shoulder length blondish hair and then a ratty looking ungroomed beard that gives him this really weird unbalanced look (which bothers me WAY more than it should, but there you go).
They don't really act with any real emotion or motivation beyond 'it's in the Bible!', and it's just...bleh. Forgettable propaganda, not much else.
You can see a little bit of what I mean in the trailer:
They end the film with a literal prayer that a narrator invites the audience to pray aloud with him, the words over a still of the film on the screen. This really just seals the deal as a bad movie in my book-- anything that overtly tries to manipulate the viewer to perform a certain action rather than relying on just trusting the story to inspire action, or, better yet, just focusing on telling a good story, isn't worth the time it takes to watch it.
If you see this one lying around, skip it.
Fun Fact: This movie is used constantly in foreign mission fields. Many of the clips I found while researching this were in Tagalog.
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So there you have it folks. My opinions on Jesus movies. Any movies, either really good or really bad, that I should add to this list?
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