The Jesus Films

A Random Ranking of Movies About Jesus

My most recent homily began with a question posed to the congregation: “Do you have a favorite movie about the life of Jesus?”

I figured opening with a question (rhetorical though it be) might help people engage with the message to come. But as I began preaching, it crossed my mind that it might inspire some to turn the question on me at the end of Mass. Nobody did, as it turns out, but I started wondering what I would say if someone did ask.

I’m not sure I could pick out a favorite movie about Jesus. Many of them I saw too long ago to have any clear memory of them. Some came out amidst controversy of one kind or another, and naming them as a favorite might beg a longer discussion than I could have with congregants filing out the door on Sunday. But it got me thinking.

What follows is a very informal ranking, based on vague memories and impressions of memories, of the Jesus movies I’ve seen. Maybe some time in the future I’ll try re-watching them to see how these rankings stand up. But for now, here’s my ranking of Jesus movies as I’m able to recall them.

10. The Passion of the Christ (2004). I was working as a projectionist in the local movie theater when this movie came out, and happened to be near the box office before one of the first showings. I overheard someone asking an elderly woman in line if she was here to see the Passion of the Christ, and she replied, “oh, no, I don’t need to see that. I’m Catholic.” And honestly, I kind of felt the same.

    In one sense I think of it in a similar vein of film as Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, or the Pianist — movies seen less for entertainment than for some sense of social obligation to be bludgeoned by a cinematic reminder of Man’s inhumanity to Man. As good and compelling as those three movies are, I don’t really have a desire to watch them again. And Passion just isn’t in their league. It tries to make up in brutality what it lacks in artistry.

    I know many Christians, Catholic and otherwise, would put this movie at the top of the list. I don’t get it. There is nothing particularly interesting or spiritually enlightening in two hours of torture porn.

11. Intolerance (1916). What to say about this movie? Intolerance is DW Griffith’s cinematic answer to the critics who panned his previous film, Birth of a Nation, for its racist stereotypes and its glorification of the KKK. The film weaves together four stories of the evils of intolerance throughout human history, including an account of the persecution and execution of “the greatest enemy of intolerance,” Jesus Christ.

    Even putting aside the unfortunate pairing of Jesus’s story with contemporary far-right ideology (and the depressing realization of how little has changed in the past hundred years), there is nothing particularly interesting or inspiring about his blandly pious Gospel Highlights-Reel approach.

8. Mary Magdeline (2018). Rooney Mara plays Mary Magdeline to Joaquin Phoenix’s Jesus in what at the time I dubbed the Mumblecore Jesus Movie. The narrative keeps itself mostly to the margins of the familiar Gospel accounts, which could be an interesting approach if they had tried to do anything interesting with it.

   

9. The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964). Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini gives us probably the most straightforward, no-frills Jesus movie of them all. It’s basically exactly as advertised: the text of St. Matthew’s Gospel set to film. It was cast entirely with non-actors, with local laborers and workers for the crowd scenes. So it gives probably the most authentic account of “preaching the good news to the poor.”

6. King of Kings/The Greatest Story Ever Told/Jesus of Nazareth (1961/1965/1977). I’m certain I’ve seen each of these at some point, but it was a long time ago. And the three grandiose star-studded Biblical epics have sort of run together in my memory so that I really couldn’t tease them apart to comment on them separately. Maybe I’ll give them each a re-watch in the near future to refresh my memory, but for now I’m lumping them together here.

   

5. Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979). Another narrative that plays around the margins of the Gospel texts, this movie actually has some fun there. As we might expect from the Monty Python troupe, the humor is sharp and often irreverent. But it’s aimed not at Jesus himself so much as at the ways humanity misunderstands or misappropriates his message.

4. The Nativity Story (2006). Does it count as a movie about Jesus if Jesus only shows up at the end as an infant? I’ve seen this movie make several online lists of Movies about Jesus, so I’ll include it.

   

   It’s a charming little film, pulling together elements of Matthew’s and Luke’s narratives of the birth of Jesus to present the basic story we’re all familiar with hearing every Christmas. What bumps it a few spots up the list is its very droll and entertaining handling of the Three Wise Men subplot, as they seek out the newborn King.

3. Jesus Christ Superstar (1973). I’m a big musical-theater fan, so of course any musical rendition of the Gospel stories would have to go high on this list. There is a lot I like about it, and a lot I find lacking.

   

   Looking at the ministry of Jesus through the lens of late Twentieth-Century celebrity culture is a unique and interesting take on the story. On the other hand, the music is not Webber’s best — I find it mostly clumsy and, aside from Herod’s Song, it has nothing to really leave you singing as you leave the theater. So I’m going to have to rank it just below …

2. Godspell (1973).

   

   Actually I think Godspell ranks high on this list more for my appreciation of the stage play than for the movie itself. I’ve only seen the movie once, but the stage play I’ve seen several times. I love the adaptable, improvisational feel of each new performance as an expression of the “new wine” energy of the Gospel message. And the songs are just a lot of fun.

1. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). Martin Scorcese’s film was controversial for its more human portrayal of Jesus. Based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis, the narrative suggests that the last and greatest temptation Christ would face was to come down from the cross, forgo his execution, and live out the rest of his life as an ordinary and unremarkable man.

   

   It’s uncommon to see a Jesus film bold enough to explore what it means that our God was “like us in all things but sin.” And if Last Temptation might push the question further than some are comfortable with, it gives a lot of food for thought and contemplation.

   And when - spoiler alert - Jesus does submit to his death on the cross, the narrative falls back on the traditional Pauline theology of sacrifice necessary for the salvation of the world.

As I said, it’s been decades since I’ve seen most of these films and I wonder now if it might be time to revisit a few and see if my rankings might change. If it does happen, I’ll be sure to post an update.