Gesù

I enjoyed this film immensely I loved Jesus of Nazareth too, but this Jesus laughs,cries, but most importantly.....HE BLINKS HIS EYES!!!!! Seeing G.W. Bailey as Livio it kept reminding me of the "Police Academy" movies. Gary Oldman's Pilate, was very accurate to the description by Josephus, of Pilate's cruelty. I'm probably going to be offending a lot of catholics here, but the storyline was way too Catholicized for my taste. The baptism for example, John the Baptizer puts a cupped handful of water while Jesus is kneeling in the Jordan "Puddle" on Jesus' head the Greek word for baptize is BAPTIZO which means to IMMERSE in the crucifixion scene it looks like a Jew is doing the nailing, The Romans were the ones who did the nailing. and why could they not use the entire Greek Latin and Hebrew on the Title instead of just INRI?? Jaqueline Bisset I believe is too much of a sex symbol to play the Virgin Mary.

Expensively mounted Biblical production with all star-cast and spectacularly filmed in North Africa ; 2000 years ago one man changed the world forever. A colorful version of Jesus Christ's life with a true international all-star-epic treatment and being marvellously shot . This highly regarded epic deals with a dramatic recreation of the life of Jesus Christ from his childhood , evangelization , Crucifixion , Resurrection , through the Ascention . Concerning about the wonderful life, work and death of Jesus as we know it from the Bible. Interesting retelling at the life and teachings of Christ (Jeremy Sisto) from a political , historical and religious view point . The film includes all of the major events referred to in the New Testament with descriptive Biblical passages ; his birth in Bethlehem , his existence in desert tempted by Satan (Jeroen Krabbe) , there Jesus knows he has a destiny to fulfill ; his subsequent baptism by John the Baptist (David O'Hara) ; his relation to Joseph (Armin Mueller-Stahl) , Mary (Jacqueline Bisset ) and Mary Magdalene (Debra Messing), the miracle of the Canaan wedding in which Jesus asks to have the amphora filled with water and transforms it into wine , the miracles as cripples walking , blind men seeing , Lazarus resurrection ; the fishes and the loaves ; his relationship to 12 apostles and so on . As his followers disciples are already slowly beginning to gather around Jesus . Through miracles , Jesus succeeds in allaying the doubts of Simon the Fisher called Peter (Luca Zingaretti) and even those of Thomas, the skeptic , and later on , Matthew (Sebastian Knapp) the tax collector who becomes a follower of Jesus, despite the other disciples' mistrust. Jesus Christ's journey from Galilee to Golgotha is portrayed here in thought-provoking as well as original treatment , icluding contemporary scenes . The film also adds other characters and known episodes as the baptism carried out by John , when a glowing dove appears and a voice calls Jesus by name and Herod Antipas (Luca Barbareschi) , successor to Herod the Great and John the Baptist's (David O'Hara) beheading as Salome's (Pession) price for dancing for Herod . Along the way Jesus is betrayed and detained and being sent back and forth between Caiphas (Christian Kohlund), Pontius Pilate (Gary Oldman) and Herod in a cruel farce, being brutally whipped all the while, his disciples hide in fear .

Breathtaking story set in Christ times with emphasis in lavish costumes and crowds . This is an impressive story of the life of Jesus Christ from his birth in Bethlehem by means of flashbacks , to his baptism, ministry, Crucifixion , death, resurrection, and subsequent ascension . Filmed on a relatively grand scale , being efficiently directed by Roger Young . However , not completely reverential at some Biblical characters such as Judas Iscariote , Pontius Pilate and Barrabbas portraying the man less a thief than as a political revolutionary . And a strange appearance by Satan dressed in modern clothes who shows Jesus retreated in desert all the unhappiness that his teachings will one day bring to humanity and offers him in exchange real, unlimited power over the Earth. Life of Christ is intelligently told , including glowing cinematography , an attractive visual style , memorable soundtrack by Patrick Williams and excellent cast giving larger-than-life interpretation . Good-looking Jeremy Sisto in exactly the right role , he gives a dedicated effort at the character , his acting has power , nobility , subtlety , though extreme sympathy . However , the crucifixion scene was really criticized and audience was offended for its lack of authenticity and unrealistic , there shows up a rare man not dressed as a Roman who nails Jesus to the cross. It also received awful critiques due to Jeremy Sisto's youthful, , in fact , in the film he was 25 years old when he played 33 year-old Jesus . Fine support cast , such as : Gary Oldman as Pontius Pilate , Claudio Amendola as the Zeolet leader Barabbas , Luca Zingaretti as Peter , David O'Hara as John The Baptist , Thomas Lockyer as Judas Iscariot , Sebastian Knapp as Matthew , Ian Duncan as John and Sean Harris as Thomas , among others .

This greatest story of all time results to be a long epic , mostly Italian , being shot in big scope and glimmer color by De Luxe , well photographed by Raffaele Mertes , filmed on usual location in Ouarzazate, Morocco , adding an evocative and moving musical score by Patrick Williams . The motion picture financed by Lube Lux Vide/Betafilm , British Sky Broadcasting , in association with RAI and was professionally directed by Roger Young . Roger is a good craftsman usually shooting films for television, and pilots. Later he moved on to mini-series, which has been the joy of his career, winning two more DGA awards, and working all over the world . He shot various episodes of the prestigious ¨Bible series¨ , such as : Joseph , Moses , Paulus of Tarso , Salomon and Barrabbas .

¨Jesus¨ is the yardstick by which all Jesus movies are to be measure . Other pictures dealing with his divine presence are the following ones : ¨King of Kings¨ (released in 1927) , first silent version by Cecil B. DeMille with H.B. Wagner ; ¨King of Kings¨1961 by Nicholas Ray with Jeffrey Hunter , Robert Ryan , Hurd Hatfield , Rip Torn , Harry Guardino , Carmen Sevilla , ¨The greatest story ever told¨ (1965) by George Stevens with Max Von Sidow , Charlton Heston , Jose Ferrer , Sidney Poitier , Claude Rains ; ¨Gospel according to Matthew¨ by Pier Paolo Pasolini with Enrique Irazoqui as Jesus ; ¨Jesus Christ Superstar¨(1977) by Norman Jewison with Ted Neeley and Carl Anderson ; ¨Jesus de Nazareth¨(1977) by Franco Zeffirelli with Robert Powell , Olivia Hussey , James Mason , Laurence Olivier , Anne Brancfort , Fernando Rey ; ¨Last temptation of Christ¨ by Martin Scorsese with Willem Dafoe , David Bowie , Harvey Keitel , Ian Holm , Harry Dean Staton ; and ¨The Passion of the Christ¨ (2004) by Mel Gibson with James Cazievel , Maia Morgenstern and Monica Belucci .

I have just recently rented "Jesus" and I have watched it about 3 times and I'll probably eventually buy it. I absolutely loved this interpretation of Jesus and feel that this movie has brought me closer to him. I now have a more lovable, happy, and caring picture of Jesus in my mind, not that I didn't think of him that way before, it's just that this movie puts across a side of Jesus that we have not often seen in other movies. Watching this movie has just brought him to life for me and (even though I undoubtedly knew that he was real before) makes him seem even more real to me now. I love the fact, like so many others, that this movie portrayed Jesus to be HUMAN, happy, laughing, crying, and all the other emotions that we all, as humans, go through. Only he was not just any human. My absolute favorite part in the movie is when Jesus is crucified. Even though it might not have been long enough, it still captured the pain and agony that Jesus felt. It made my heart break watching this scene, and made me love him and appreciate him even more for the price he paid for us.

Seeing Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" made me want to re-watch this CBS Mini-series. What a compassionate, loving movie! Jeremy Sisto was excellent in the title role. This film was helped greatly by good music and costumes and excellent F/X. The most difficult thing about "Jesus" is it's flawed script and dumbed-down dialogue. Thats OK, it more than makes up for it. Sisto's Jesus is so human, so full of love and compassion. Debra Messing was an fine choice for Mary Magdalene and Jaqueline Bisset a surprisingly effective Mary.

They take lots of chances. Jesus is shown as the perfect priest, telling Mary of Bethany that his "life is not my own" and loving everyone as His Mother, sister and brother. What a beautiful message! The final hour of the film is the the best part, The brutal crucification and the playing of "Pie Jesu" over Jesus' burial moved me to tears. The resurrected Christ is shown joyful and smiling!!!!! This finally is Jesus, who could find joy in clear skies and still waters, who tell his apostles, in a brilliantly done "upper room" that he is "with them always". In other films they act like the story is over after Easter Sunday. In "Jesus" we know it is just beginning. Highly recommended.

I am glad that someone has finally portrayed Jesus as a man and not as an angelic Superman. This is a Jesus that I could follow. A Jesus that joked with his friends and yet they knew He was more than just a man. A Jesus who could fall into temptation and yet knew he had a higher calling. I'm sure that some will be upset with Sisto's Jesus as being TOO modern, but he portrayed Him as a Christ for all the ages. I wish that more biblical movies would have their characters as human beings and not cardboard cut-outs.