Jesus of Nazareth

Year of release : 1977

 

Run time : 6h13min

 

Genre : Religious / Spiritual / Mini Series / Drama /

Epic Biblical Drama

 

Cast : Robert Powell, Anne Bancroft, Christopher Plummer, Ian McShane, Michael York, Anthony Quinn, Claudia Cardinale, Laurence Olivier, Peter Ustinov, Ian Holm, James Earl Jones

 

 

The mini series are a British- Italian drama co-production, directed and co-written by Franco Zeffirelli, adapted from the Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Mark, and Gospel of John .

 

Mary, a young woman, is promised to Joseph,a carpenter. The very same night Mary is receiving the news from an angel that she is with child. She is also told that a barren older woman, is pregnant. Mary goes to see her,and it's revealed she's the mother of John the Baptist.

 

Back home, Mary tells Joseph she is with child,and knowing he never touched her,Joseph doesn't know what to do,as, if he breaks the engagement,Mary is gonna be stoned to death. The very same night after having a nightmare about Mary,he hears the voice of the angel of God,and he marries Mary.

 

As they have to go back to Bethlehem for the census, him and his relatives talk about how the prophecies are fulfilled.

 

Years later,their child is studying the word of God in the synagogue.

 

John the Baptist is spreading the word of God and preparing the way for Jesus' coming. He gets the attention of Herod and his new wife,and he gets himself in jail,being too passionate in his convictions about the two of them,as he married his brother's wife.

 

John the Baptist baptized Jesus,and tells two of his followers to follow him from now on,as Jesus' path is just beginning,and John is ending.

 

Jesus starts preaching,and gets more and more followers,and more and more apostles. He performs miracles,from healing the sick,who can't move or are presumed dead, to 'finding' food for his people(the fishermen find fish where there was none,multiplies the bread and fish).

 

The mini series tell the story of Jesus,although it leaves certain things out,and watching it I realized it doesn't show the same things The Passion of the Christ does,and I'm wondering which one got it right. Or wrong. In The Passion, Mary Magdalene is the one stoned,not in this one,they are two different characters . We don't see him walking on water,or putting back the soldier's ear. In this one Mary Magdalene joins his mother,Mary,later,she's not with her on the Via Dolorosa. There's no storm or earthquake.

 

The actors were good,even the cameos gave a passionate interpretation which brought tears to my eyes(there's a Jewish man who screams in despair after the Romans raided their houses for food,how long do they have to endure the atrocities they suffer at their hands (in an attempt to kill Jesus, as he didn't want him to take his place as king,King Herod killed the Jewish people's babies) ).

Robert Powell who plays Jesus ,was really a perfect choice,as he looks the part and acts the part. He and the children playing young Jesus have amazing eyes,to the point I wondered if they wore contacts to make their eyes look charmed, other-wordly.

Michael York gave a passionate interpretation of John the Baptist.

 

I liked the world they created,the houses,from the ones of the Jewish people to the palaces of the Roman kings. I liked their clothes too,and the women's make-up and jewelry.

 

I didn't like the close-ups,as they looked bad(as someone from film school filming) nor Salome's dance.

 

I didn't like the soundtrack.

 

I don't know if the movie had visual effects,but the star announcing Jesus' birth(which to me looked like the moon),if it was computer made, looked great!

 

You can watch the full series here for free :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yumoqNlaPCE&ab_channel=RSebastian

 

Rating : Worth a watch !