If I Were Directing A Jesus Film

I’m not a director or screenwriter or actor.  I'd love to write a screenplay, but I know how tough that is. A rank amateur like me shouldn't try it.  At the same time,  I don’t think I could hurt anyone by giving some tips to the next person who wants to bring Jesus to screen.

A special note to Chris Columbus:  (Director of the first Harry Potter film)  So I hear you are going to do a movie based on Anne Rice’s book Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt.  Wow, I wish you luck.  It’s not a problem.  After all, displaying fantasy and science fiction is your specialty.  But please don’t think you are making a REAL Jesus movie.  Still, it might be fun to portray ancient religious novels on the screen. That's where Anne Rice went for her sources for this material-- religious novels about Jesus from the early third century on.  But I don't need to tell you that, you probably already knew.

Here’s my real tips (for someone who is filming a real Jesus film):

Jesus was socially conscious.  He was trying to open up the temple to women and non-Jews.  He related to the poor and the socially outcast.  He was trying to give real solutions to difficult problems, with a religious spin.  Show that.  Don’t make him so heavenly minded that he is no earthly good.

Jesus was a radical, not a revolutionary.  He opposed the status quo, but determined that martyrdom would do more than revolution.

Try to keep the balance of attitude.  Jesus wasn’t gentle and mild, nor was he a jerk (usually).  He was an intellectual who went popular and was very clever.  He was smarter than anyone else around him.

Jesus became popular because of the healings, not because of his teaching.  At first, no one cared about the teaching.  They only listened to him because they were stuck in church with him speaking or because they were waiting their turn in the miracle line.  Only the disciples took notes (so to speak—they memorized his oral teachings).

Try to keep to a historical Jesus.  There are too many pitfalls in making a Jesus in the "here and now".  Have you ever seen the film Joshua (2002)?  Awful.  But in keeping to a historical Jesus, ignore the many books people will want to give you. There are a plethora of modern scholars to tell you who Jesus was “really” like.  Ignore them all.  Just stick with a gospel.  Luke is still relevant, but no one has done Mark, and Mark is the “action” gospel without so much teaching.   Focus on what Jesus did, but read the text yourself and make your own interpretation.  That’s what Tim Rice did with the original writing of Jesus Christ Superstar, and though the movie was pretty silly, the original libretto and lyric are deeply insightful.

 

Jesus had fun.  He had a wry humor and used hyperbole and puns to good effect.  I mean, “Don’t take the speck out of your friend’s eye if you’ve got a plank in your own.”  That’s good stuff.  Put that kind of humor in there, if it doesn’t seem too weird.

Anyway, I'm not trying to tell you what film to direct or write.  I guess what I'm saying is, let's keep it real.  Jesus was a real person, and the ancient writings don't make him too "holier than thou" and yet a person really focused on his goals.  

The Human Jesus on Film

From the early 300s to today, there have been discussions (aka arguments) about Jesus' nature.  Was he a god or a blood-filled flesh bag?  The orthodox answer is that Jesus is fully human and fully divine.  He was just as human as any of us, but also completely the Son of God.  But how do you show that in a movie?  The tendancy of film is to lean one way or the other-- to be a god-like person or to be more human with supernatural qualities.  Below are some films of that second category:

The Passion of the Christ—This Jesus doesn’t have much to do except suffer.  He has a few scenes, notably the “He who has not sinned cast the first stone” scene, where he can actually be a normal human being, but these are short, and offer few insights of Jesus as a person.   The movie is not about Jesus, but about The Christ—the symbolic sacrificial lamb.  The Christ isn’t supposed to be someone we identify with, but he is deeply human, in that he suffers and struggles and bleeds.  And bleeds.  In a sense, this is the perfect orthodox Jesus.  A Jesus who doesn’t teach anything specifically, but who dies for humanity and allows his followers to fill in the gaps.  No one has to listen to this Jesus, or obey him, nor does he say anything uncomfortable.  All we have to do is watch him die.  And while observing that is, at the very least, a difficult task, it is better than a Jesus that meddles in our lives, right?  I know that the film is only about one aspect of Jesus’ life, but I really need a Jesus that does something, not just one that winces. Jesus-2/5 Film-3/5

The Last Temptation of Christ—The most human of the human Jesus’.  Jesus struggles with the common desires of every man, he gets married and has kids.  We see that Jesus wasn’t interested at first in God acts, but had to be led and prodded every step of the way.   In this way, this Jesus is the one that is most identifiable, the one we can best connect with, of all films.  I only have one personal problem with it: Willem Dafoe.  He’s a great actor and he does a wonderful job.  But he also played a rather iconic role in the much more recent Lars Von Trier film Antichrist, which I watched a couple months before my rewatch of Last Temptation.  So I couldn’t see Jesus at all, only Dafoe.  I’ll watch it again later and see if I can distance myself from his other roles. Jesus- 4/5  Film-4/5

Jesus of Montreal—I like the way that Daniel isn’t Jesus from the very first scene.  Rather, he is a struggling actor with a girlfriend trying to make ends meet and to have integrity as an actor and director.  But as the movie progresses he becomes more and more like Jesus, until the role is completely embodied.  This is probably the best portrayal of the love of Jesus and a great human version.  Jesus-4/5 Film-3.5/5

Life of Brian—First, I want to point out that Brian isn’t Jesus.  He doesn’t intend to be the Messiah, and in one scene he is trying to hear Jesus speak the Sermon on the Mount.   But on the other hand, Brian IS a kind of Jesus.  The pathetic Jesus who stumbles upon his Messiahship unknowingly.  Brian is a terrible Jesus.  But Life of Brian is a wonderful poking at religious thought. Jesus- 1/5  Film- 4/5

Ordet—Before you read the second part of this paragraph, I want to say two things.  First of all, this is my favorite portrayal of Jesus ever.  Secondly, if you haven’t seen it you MUST NOT read any more.  Major spoilers, here.  Order the film from Netflix, watch it, and then finish this paragraph…

Okay, have you watched it?  Wow, huh?  My favorite part of this film is that Johannes is seen as clearly mad throughout the film.  Interestingly enough, this is how Jesus was seen in his day by contemporary scholars and by his own family.  After all, one who makes such exaggerated claims as Jesus MUST be mad, right?  The only thing that separates a madman from a saint is that the acts and words of the saint actually come to pass.  I can think of no film that better portrays the view of Jesus family during his ministry and the aftermath.  I was as stunned and pleased and overwhelmed at the end of this otherwise dry film as any of the characters.  Glorious, just glorious.  Jesus-5/5 Film- 5/5

If you cheated and read this without watching Ordet, go and watch it anyway.  It is an excellent experience and the best portrayal of Jesus I have ever seen.

The next section, I give some recommendations to the next film portrayal of Jesus. 

The Otherworldly Jesus in Film

If you want to keep your Christian audience happy, you want a Jesus that is pretty much out of this world.  Not like an alien (although the main characters in Starman and Knowing were pretty Christ-like), but a Jesus that isn't like the rest of us.  Someone who seems to come from another dimension.  Let's look at a few films that make that choice for their Jesus:

The Gospel According to St. Matthew—This is an Italian film, made to represent a traditional view of the New Testament book.  Every spoken word comes from the book, as close to the text as possible.  And every scene looks like it belongs in a stained glass window.  Jesus himself is very handsome, so he’s nice to look at.  He’s primarily a teacher who does the occasional miracle.  But the problem with this interpretation of Jesus is that it doesn’t really say anything.  One example is the teaching montage.  Jesus is seen as speaking familiar teachings, most of the Sermon on the Mount and other teachings, one line after another in fifteen minutes.  But it is without context, and it is edited so close together that we don’t have time to hear what he is saying.  We hear a familiar line then whoosh! we’ve got the next one halfway done.  Just like how Scripture is often read in church. While the overall portrayal gives the film a saintly veneer, it also is pretty boring.  We could go to a church and get the same experience, and we can meet interesting people at the same time.  There is no real insight given in this film at all. Jesus-2/5 Film- 3/5

Jesus (1999)—The boy band Jesus.  This Jesus is a celebrity.  He knows how to work the crowd, how to use the blowdryer on his hair to let the wind give it that lift. Hip yet nondescript.  Complete fail.  Jesus- 0/5 Film-1/5

The Gospel of John—(Or is it the gospel according to Lost?-- Henry Ian Cusick who plays Desmond of Lost plays Jesus in this film)The irritating Jesus.  I know that the script comes just from the gospel of John, but the way it is performed… well, we can see why THIS Jesus was crucified.  He keeps implying that he’s God and then he insults the people he’s talking to.  And he is a equal opportunity offender—the “Jews”, his disciples, his apostles—they all get insulted at some point in the film.    I know that the text all comes from John, but Jesus doesn’t have to be so personally angry when speaking it.  The “Matthew” Jesus had it better, with more scorching text: you are preaching, not interested in personally insulting.  You can speak harsh statements with a more general delivery. Jesus- 1/5 Film- 2/5

Jesus (1979)—This film is actually an edited version of a filming of the entire gospel of Luke.  Because the purpose of that original film was to film every verse, in context, of the Gospel of Luke, this Jesus feels very textual.  The English is a dubbed over the original Greek, the settings are from Israel, all to give a very authentic feel.  To me, it just feels flat.  It is a good version of the book, but I might recommend a person to just read the volume.  The Jesus of Luke is much more socially radical and more energetic.  Jesus- 3/5 Film- 3/5

Jesus of Nazareth—Probably the best portrayal of an otherworldly Jesus.  He floats from scene to scene, doing good, speaking wisdom, but he is always focused on something else… another dimension.  His eyes are focused on people and things no one else can see.  It is stunning, but unnerving.  It is rumored that Robert Powell took drugs on set to give him that mystic-look.  In fact, Powell was given make up to accentuate his blue eyes, and he never blinked while the camera was focused on him.  The effect is that Jesus doesn’t seem to be responding to other people, just speaking his lines in the most gentle, saintly manner ever.  We can see why people would love this Jesus, but not why he would be crucified.  Still, marvelous job. Jesus-4/5 Film-4/5

You might notice that I didn’t review the King of Kings’ or The Greatest Story Ever Told’s Jesus.  Frankly it  is because I can’t bring myself to watch these traditional American films on Jesus.  If you feel I should watch them, let me know.  And tell me why.

Of course, as Kenny points out, if you portray a Jesus that is so completely different, then you will end up with a Jesus whom no one can relate to.  In the next post, we'll look at Jesus' that are more down to earth.

Jesus In Film: Part 1 of 4

Jesus is difficult to portray.  Frankly, it’s a difficult role.  Jesus is often mysterious, and his motivation is difficult.  If you are portraying a divine Jesus, then how could you know his motivation?  Perhaps you might want to be as otherworldly as possible, and so make him to be as disconnected from personal motivation as possible.  The result is to make a Jesus that is saintly, but not really comprehensible.

Or you might make Jesus a very human man.  After all, it isn’t heresy to declare Jesus human.  And it shouldn’t cause waves to say that Jesus was tempted in every way that we are (yeah, right, even though it says just that in the Scripture located in Hebrews 4).   The problem with this Jesus is to interpret him as too human is to make him too modern.  Jesus WAS human, but he probably didn’t have existential doubt.  Jesus was an ancient Jewish rabbi, not an American rock star.

In overviewing different Jesus’ in film it is clear that Jesus is hard to get right.  How can we make him both charismatic and enigmatic; both caring and angry; both mystic and down-to-earth?  Not only that, but Jesus is the second most popular person in the United States—how can one draw on that, but still match the “Jesus” they have in their heads?

In the next episodes, I’ll look at some films and rate how Jesus is portrayed in each.  Then I’ll draw some conclusions at how I’d like to see Jesus portrayed.