Barabba

Having been an Anthony Quinn fan for many years, I came across this video recently and rented it. I wasn't sure what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised to see quite a different performance from Quinn. While he had moments of gruffness, for the most part he tackled this role as the confused, tormented Barrabas with a great deal of inner work. The most impressive moments where when his face reflected the conflicts of belief, choice, and commitment. As one of the most famous individuals in history it was an imaginative characterization of Barrabas, much like the other enigmatic individual in Christianity -Judas- as characterized by Ian McShane in Jesus of Nazareth (1977).

Wonderful music score, and cinematography. Notice especially the care given to the staging of the scourging of Jesus in the beginning of the film -silence except for Heaven's angels screaming in anguish. Breathtaking.

Barabbas (Anthony Quinn) , a thief and killer , is set free by Pontius Pilatus (Arthur Kennedy) in place of Jesus who is condemned to die crucified . Then , Barabbas suffering living anguish by this deed for the rest of his existence . But again he's detained and sent to horrible sulfur mines in Sicily , including terrible work conditions ; there he meets a kind Christian named Sahak (Vittorio Gassman) . Later on , he is brought to a school of gladiators run by cruel Torvald (a sadistic Jack Palance) . In Rome Barabbas meets other Christians (Ernest Borgnine) and Saint Peter (Harry Andrews) .

This epic film contains spectacular scenarios , lavish production and terrific performances . Second movie version of the renowned story based on popular novel by Lagerkvist (Nobel's prize) and previously adapted (1952) in Sweden by Alf Sjoberg . Interesting screenplay by Christopher Fry (who wrote ¨The Bible¨ by John Huston also produced by Dino De Laurentiis) . Top-notch performance by Anthony Quinn , he plays like his previous characters , a Zorba style, adding a little of Quaimodo , though sometimes overacting . Jesus is played by Roy Mangano , brother of Silvana Mangano , Laurentiis's wife . Extraordinary support cast , including prestigious players such as Arthur Kennedy , Katy Jurado , Ernest Borgnine , Arnaldo Foa , Norman Wooland , Douglas Fowley and even Sharon Tate was an extra in the amphitheater scene .

The overwhelming circus scenes were shot in the arena of Verona . Impressive sets produced in high budget , such as the scenarios of the mines and the Roman circus . Magnificently climatic gladiators fights , featured by hundreds of extras and stunning effects . The breathtaking gladiator combats is still one of the best screen fights today , along with ¨Gladiator¨ by Ridley Scott . The Golgota crucifixion scenes were actually shot in a sun eclipse and filmed in Niza . In fact , the solar eclipse that takes place during the crucifixion scene was the real thing, an event for which director Richard Fleischer delayed shooting in order to capture the ethereal nature of the phenomenon . Problems lingered on the set and at a cost of over ten million of dollars , it was one of the most expensive pictures of its time and took long time to finish . Colorful cinematography by Aldo Tonti and evocative musical score by Mario Nascimbene . Firstly , the producer De Laurentiis thought in charge direction to Federico Fellini , though he appointed to Richard Fleischer who realizes a quality film-making .

Who cannot resist seeing a film with a cast like Anthony Quinn, Jack Palance, Ernest Borgnine and Harry Andrews? The cast and my general interest in biblical epic films were my reasons for seeing Barabbas. It's imperfect and could have been better, but there are also a lot of fantastic things. And when it comes to biblical epics, while not definitive or masterpiece status Barabbas is towards the better end of the spectrum.

Barabbas is very grand in scale visually. The sets and costumes are very lavish, the use of amber-orange gives the film a very soothing look and there's some truly breath-taking cinematography. The music score is incredibly powerful and the very meaning of stirringly epic. Also in terms of how it's orchestrated and recorded it's quite innovative with its experimental sounds. The script has its foibles but is a vast majority of the time intelligent and thoughtful, Richard Fleischer directs with a fine sense of period and an understanding to using the action and set pieces to their fullest potential and the story has many compelling moments. Especially true to this are the crucifixion set against a real eclipse of the fun, easily the most striking image of the film, and the climax in the arena, which is the most dramatically compelling and entertaining Barabbas gets.

Rachel's stoning(a heart-wrenching moment), the burning of Rome and the sulphur mines collapse are equally unforgettable scenes. The action is very exciting, so much so that it outweighs the film's dull stretches, and emotionally Barabbas is genuinely heartfelt and sincere. The cast is a uniformly talented one and all performances(despite the characters varying in how well-written they are) range from solid to great. Anthony Quinn portrays titular character Barabbas as a tortured, guilt-ridden soul and portrays this very movingly and with a great deal of intimacy. Not many actors succeed in bringing humanity to a criminal but Quinn manages to do that. Of the supporting cast, the standout is Jack Palance, whose performance as the snarling villain Torvald is an evil-incarnate powerhouse.

The film is let down chiefly by its pacing however. Not all of the time, mind, but the first half in particular is very stodgily paced and not always very eventful before properly coming to life in the stoning scene. There are a lot of references to Jesus which were dealt with rather heavy-handedly at times, some speeches ramble on a little too much and lose flow. 137 minutes is actually reasonably short compared to other biblical epics, but because there are some very draggy and not so eventful parts Barabbas to me did feel a little overlong in places. Barabbas is hardly the first biblical/historical epic to have these problems though, and others have done them much worse this said, and I'm usually tolerant of slow pacing and long lengths dependent on the execution of everything else.

And while a lot is done right in Barabbas, other areas are patchy. Also as gently sincere and pretty Silvana Mongano is, she has very little to do in a particularly clichéd and thinly sketched role in a film where only Barabbas has any proper development. To the film's credit, the idea of people being brought up and living life in tumultuous times is portrayed with much riveting realism, so while development is sketchy it is easy to get emotionally engaged and empathise with what the characters are going through.

Overall, overlong, at times heavy-handed in the script and with its dull spots, but with the wonderful production values, powerful music score, emotional resonance, some visually striking and dramatically compelling scenes and strong acting Barabbas still manages to be a good film and one of the better biblical epics. 7/10 Bethany Cox

I've often wondered at times from a literary as well as religious point of view what happens to some of the peripheral cast of characters in the Scripture. I'm sure that's a question that more than a few have pondered on, whether they are believers or not.

Case in point is Barabbas. All we know about him is that he was the guy that the mob shouted for when offered a choice between pardoning him or Jesus of Nazareth. Some tradition has him as a common bandit, others have him as a rebel against Rome.

As played by Anthony Quinn, Barabbas is a troubled soul. As the message of Jesus of Nazareth spreads, Barabbas is unsure of what his role is. He's realized he's been a participant in something historic to say the least. But people treat him differently. The early Christians view him with some resentment. To Pontius Pilate, played by Arthur Kennedy, Barabbas is still a no good bandit. Of course Barabbas gets himself arrested again and begins his odyssey.

The movie is an adaption of a novel by Swedish Pulitzer Prize Winning writer Par Lagerkvist and a Swedish film adaption had already been filmed prior to this international cast epic. Might be interesting to view it side by side with this one. I'm sure the Swedish film didn't have half the budget this one did.

The movie fuzzes certain issues as films of this type generally do. Pacifism is a tenet of the early Christian faith of those hiding in the catacombs. Turning the other cheek is a big thing. But Anthony Quinn isn't a Christian so his modus operandi isn't exactly turning the other cheek.

Some top flight professionals are in this cast. The aforementioned Arthur Kennedy as Pilate, Silvana Mangano as Barabbas's girl friend who becomes an early convert, Vittorio Gassman as Sahek who is Barabbas's martyred Christian friend and most of all Jack Palance in a scene stealing performance as the top gladiator in Rome. You should watch this film for him alone.

The message the film tries to convey is that Barabbas in and of himself wasn't important. Jesus's life and death were pre-ordained and it could have been Barabbas or any of hundreds of others who could have been where he was.

But the way certain folks enter into biblical stories does give writers a whole lot of license to construct wholly fictional lives around them. This is as good a film as any for that purpose.

BARABBAS rocks. We saw it at the drive-in in the early 60's and the whole family loved it, all nine of us. I'm not always enamored with Anthony Quinn. Sometimes he seems conceited. But as Barabbas he is brilliantly humble, yet powerful. This is by far, his best movie ever. His faces say a thousand words a thousand times. It's as though he was transformed and really became the character, not played it. He is stoic and disturbed, tortured by the crisis within his soul. Barabbas is the man the crowd chose over Christ and this is a fictionalized account of his life after Christ was crucified. Jack Palance gives the second greatest performance of his life as the man who trains, and sometimes kills, gladiators. That evil laugh. That face. What corner of hell gave birth to this man? It's almost as good as his Jack Wilson gunfighter role in Shane. Palance is so mean in Barabbas that all sorts of pacifists would gladly kill him if they had the chance. There are a couple of slow spots but the sets are fantastic and the story is great.

How did Jack Palance sleep at night?