It is a day of mourning and quiet prayer, but also it is a day to remember the passion of the Christ and His suffering on the cross. Many movies depict the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, so we have compiled a list of the top ten films. The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ (1902-05)
Film was a new medium, only a few years old, when the Pathé Company in France produced this series of short tableaux illustrating scenes from the Gospels.
Jesus of Nazareth (1977)
Some would say this is the best Jesus film; it is surely one of the most. At six and a half hours, Franco Zeffirelli's mini-series gets to discover the Gospels at greater length than usual, and it fleshes out the supporting characters in ways that convey the extent and depth of the impact Jesus had on his contemporaries.
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Mel Gibson's controversial, and highly personal, meditation on the death of Christ is a work of profound Catholic devotion, inspired by sources as varied as the Stations of the Cross and the visions of Sister Anne Catherine Emmerich, a stigmatic German nun; it is also possibly the boldest, plainest portrayal of evil, both human and supernatural, since The Exorcist.
The King of Kings (1927)
The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)
Right from its very first frames—when a visibly troubled Joseph beholds a pregnant Mary—this film challenges the soft-focus piety that affects many adaptations of the Gospels.
Director Pier Paolo Pasolini, a gay Marxist atheist who was famous for his poetry before he turned to filmmaking, certainly wanted to confront the conventional spirituality of his day, and his Jesus is more aggressive than most. But nearly every single line of dialogue comes from Matthew's Gospel.
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
Some will say that this expensive flop, produced by the devoutly Christian George Stevens (The Diary of Anne Frank, Shane), shows everything that is wrong with Hollywood adaptations of the Gospels: it's too pretty, it's too stilted, it's too American, it's too extravagant to be an authentic depiction of first-century Galilean peasant society, and it's got too many distracting cameos, culminating in John Wayne's brief, out-of-nowhere appearance as the centurion at the crucifixion.
Prepare ye the way of the Lord! In some ways, Godspell, one of three musical Jesus movies released in 1973 (the others were Andrew Lloyd Webber's agnostic, angst-ridden Jesus Christ Superstar and Johnny Cash's The Gospel Road), may not belong on this list.
For one thing, it's set in modern New York—or rather, it uses contemporary New York as a backdrop; one shot even takes place on the roofs of the then-brand-new World Trade Center towers.
The Messiah (1976)
Roberto Rossellini was one of the pioneers of post-war Italian neorealism, in films like Open City (1945), and his controversial film The Miracle (1948) prompted a landmark American court case which ultimately led to movies being recognized, for the first time, as an art form protected by free-speech laws.
Toward the end of his life, he made a series of "didactic" historical biopics focusing on characters like Socrates, St. Augustine, and Blaise Pascal, and one of his very last films was this portrait of Jesus.
Produced as part of Lux Vide's "Bible Collection" series, this two-part TV-movie is kind of like The Last Temptation of Christ without the heresy.
That is, it presents Jesus as a haunted and vulnerable human being who fights romantic attractions (to Mary of Bethany, this time) and a growing awareness of his destiny—but instead of fleeing God, he always chooses God's will for his life.
The Miracle Maker (2000)
Shown in theaters in Europe and on television in North America, this follow-up to the Welsh-Russian TV series Testament: The Bible in Animation was the first major animated cartoon about the life of Jesus.