Paul Verhoeven's Jesus of Nazareth

[Roose Bolton]

Well if it's even 10% as funny as the Life of Brian then I'm in

 

[Bruce Malone]

The Jews not being
responsible for Jesus' death
and the catholic church
agree??? Well I guess Jesus
just walked upto the
Romans, said a few "your
momma" jokes and
suggested crucifixion as an
appropriate punishment for such
behaviour. But hey the Catholics
worship and pray to Mary so...(I was raised a catholic,
went to catholic school and all that
but realised the catholic church in some regards is utter...well let's just say I see things differently in some areas.)

I don't understand why this
is a big deal. The Jews and
the particular generation who were
responsible for the persecution of
Christ were dealt with accordingly
(70AD).

The depiction of the jews at the time was definitely an issue i took and many others took with the film. Jews in 1st century judea had very little to no sway with roman authorities, if the romans wanted to execute jesus it was on their own accord.

Not to mention that crucifixion was a banned formed of execution among jews of which jesus was himself. So depicting pontius pilate in a light where his hands were forced was very innacurate and not at all reflective of current church doctrine or historical fact.

It is fitting that he called the film the passion of the christ as passion plays were popular in the middle ages to stir up violence among jews.

 

[Tanin]

So while on the subject of other Jesus films... what does everyone thing of the TV movie Jesus made in 1999? Had Gary Oldman in it as Pontius Pilate. Not quite sure how accurate it was... but it was a nice break from just being a passion play.

 

[Ajendo]

The depiction of the jews at the time was definitely an issue i took and many others took with the film. Jews in 1st century judea had very little to no sway with roman authorities, if the romans wanted to execute jesus it was on their own accord.

Not to mention that crucifixion was
a banned formed of execution
among jews of which jesus was
himself. So depicting pontius pilate
in a light where his hands were
forced was very innacurate and not
at all reflective of current church
doctrine or historical fact.

It is fitting that he called the film
the passion of the christ as
passion plays were popular in the
middle ages to stir up violence
among jews.

But it wasn't the Jews that crucified him it was the Romans. The Jews at that time facilitated that Christ be "dealt with" and that's pretty clear. The severity in Christ's punishment was mainly down to the fact that you had all these high priests, pharasies, sadusies (sp?), the whole lot constantly trying to catch him out because they believed many of the things went against or were at "odds" with the law of Moses. Fair enough Christ may have been an irritation to them because of that and never mind that they hardly understood the parables and metaphores Christ spoke but the head spinner was when Christ openly declared himself as the son of God, that he and God were one and the same...**** hit the fan fast, not to mention when Christ told them to destroy the temple and that he'd rebuild it in 3 days...all that was just devil talk as far as they were concerned but again, Christ wasn't even talking about the physical temple were they all worshiped. He was talking about himself but like the saying goes, people often fear and are hostile to thongs they don't understand or can't grasp.
I'll see this movie out of interest if it ever makes it on to tv.

 

[The Guard]

I'm all for a human take on Jesus. That last time we got a human(ish) Jesus, it was Last Temptation of Christ, which is probably my favorite Scorcese film.

Ditto.

 

[Hurm...]

I consider myself an open minded person, but i think this is a bit too much for me lol.
.

Same here.

I'll watch it though. The Last Temptation of Christ is also my favorite Scorsese film, and possibly my most favorite film.

 

[Doctor Jones]

There was a movie called The Nativity Story, about the birth of Jesus, that was released not long after Passion was, but it didn't do well.

I think there's more of a market for Christian-themed films, like the Kirk Cameron-produced films like Fireproof and Courageous. Even movies like Soul Surfer fall into that category as well. They cost nothing to make, and do very well at the box office. That seems to be the more recent route for religious-themed films these days.

And besides, Jesus is too busy splitting his time on Broadway, since he's currently appearing in Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar, and The Book of Mormon right now. He couldn't possibly have time to make a movie.

If he's really Jesus he could do all of those things. And make an omelete.

 

[8wid]

We need more movies like this to challenge the minds of mainstream teachings of Christianity. I wish he would do a movie about stories that don't get told that much like the family friendly versions that are cherry picked as teachings from the Bible. Personally the one about the bald man that gets fun of by a couple of kids should be a good example that the Bible is not always so rosy. It ends with 42 children being mauled to death by a few bears sent by God for making fun of the bald man.