Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Jesus Movies for Lent

This is an ongoing project for me during Lent every year: to gather together films that, in some way, re-tell the story of Jesus. I organized a film series at church years ago that covered several of these, but there are many more. I stay on the look-out for the ones I haven't seen, and I'll try to find new ones.

The Passion Play of Oberammergau (1898)

The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ (1903)
La Vie du Christ (1906)
Ben Hur (1907)
From the Manger to the Cross (1912)
Christus (1914)
Christus (1916, director Antamoro)
Intolerance (1916)
Ben Hur (1925)
The King of Kings (1927)
Jesus of Nazareth (1928)

Golgotha (1935)
The Last Days of Pompeii (1935)

The Robe (1953)
He Who Must Die (1957)
Ben Hur (1959)

Barabbas (1961)
King of Kings (1961)
The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
Black Jesus (1968)
Son of Man (1969)

Godspell (1973)
Gospel Road: A Story of Jesus (1973)
Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)
The Thorn (1974)
Il Messia (1975)
Jesus of Nazareth (1977)
The Nativity (1978)
The Jesus Film (1979)
Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)

The Day Christ Died (1980)
Hail Mary (1985)
Cotton Patch Gospel (1988)
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
Jesus of Montreal (1989)

Lamb of God (1993)
Book of Life (1998)
The Green Mile (1999)
Jesus (1999)
Mary, Mother of Jesus (1999)

Jesus Christ Superstar (2000)
The Miracle Maker (2000)
The Cross (2001)
Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter (2001)
The Gospel of John (2003)
Man Dancin' (2003)
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Mary (2005)
Son of Man (2005)
Color of the Cross (2006)
Manchester Passion (2006)
The Nativity Story (2006)
St. Mary (2007)
Hamlet 2 (2008)
The Messiah (2008)
The Passion (2008)

Christianity Today lists their top 10 Jesus movies.
BibleFilms has a top 10 list.

14 comments:

  1. You should add the Robe to your list.

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  2. Done. Thanks for the suggestion. :) I've seen The Robe several times, but it's been a long time. I don't think I've ever owned it.

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  3. The Robe, Ben Hur Quo Vadis, all good films in which Christ's influence in our lives is stressed rather than Christ's life.

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  4. Divers,

    I humbly nominate YOU to open a revival cinema in Memphis! Please please please!

    Cheers,
    fearlessvk

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  5. That would be fun, wouldn't it! :)

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  6. make the roles of jesus is always hard cause make the role of the almighty is always to big to any one even for morgan freeman

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  7. I have been searching for such a collection from so many days..Thx you first of all...It would be good..if you can provide us the links or the torrents to download the movies...I urge you to do that or else, please update me the links to download the movie directly...and also please try to update the animated movies of Bible..because I will show such kind of movies for my Sunday School children... Please send me the links to download all these movies brother...my email ID is sravan_n87@yahoo.com
    or
    shravan.n87@gmail.com

    I will be waiting for you mail....
    Praise the LORD and may GOD bless you for such a kind of work....AMEN

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  8. thx, sravan, for your kind words. most of these films are still under copyright and are unavailable for free legal download, but many of them can be purchased on dvd. you might be interested in this blog: http://biblefilms.blogspot.com/ , which is devoted to the subject of the bible in movies.

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  9. thx for sharing the link brother..and as I mentioned earlier, please do update the link of animates Bible movies..It would be good for kids... I will be looking forward for them....bye brother...

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  10. try here: http://www.imdb.com/keyword/bible/?genre=animation for a list of animated films based on the Bible.

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  11. Anonymous6:44 PM

    jesus christ vampire hunter... seriously? where is the respect due to God's only begotten son?
    Being complacent to ridiculing Jesus is a sin in itself.

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    Replies
    1. i haven't seen that one, so you are obviously more knowledgeable about it than i am. is it disrespectful? does it ridicule jesus?

      or do you just need to lighten up?

      Delete
  12. I didn't know there was a Jesus Christ Superstar remake!!! I wonder if it was any good...

    Also, here is a list my daughter made about Jesus movies. I share it for two reasons: first, because maybe (or maybe not!), you might want to add Hamlet 2 to your list; and second, as evidence that Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter might be just a tad bit irreverent.

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  13. the superstar remake is a product of its time, as the original was. i prefer the original; my oldest child prefers the remake.

    i've never heard of hamlet 2 but will definitely add it to my list and keep an eye out for it.

    it wouldn't surprise me if jc vampire hunter were irreverent. it just sounded to me like the previous commenter had made that judgment based on the title alone, which isn't really fair. i'm not much interested in stories about historical or literary figures and creatures like vampires and zombies, so i'll probably never see that one. your daughter makes it sound tempting, but still...

    i did see jesus of montreal recently. my post isn't published yet, but seeing her take on it is interesting. i agree with her that seeing it play out in a modern urban setting adds a different view of the story. in that sense it reminded me just a bit of godspell.

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