Favourite Jesus Film

Jim Davila points out an article from the Tennessean:

What's your favorite 'Jesus' movie?

One correspondent in the article says that his favourite is Jesus of Nazareth, adding that "I like it for its faithfulness to the text. I believe it is based upon the gospel of Mark and its dialogue is taken word for word from the text". Unfortunately, he "believes" incorrectly. Jesus of Nazareth is actually in the tradition of King of Kings, Greatest Story Ever Told et al in being a harmony of the four Gospels with lots of extra "made-up" bits, so it's far from faithful to any particular text.

Jim's favourite is Last Temptation of Christ and asks about others of us. I think Last Temptation is flawed genius -- there are parts that are wonderful, e.g. the stoning of Mary Magdalene (partly based on the woman taken in adultery, John 8) followed by Jesus' attempt to speak to the assembled group; the first scene in the Temple is fantastic too -- especially Jesus' confrontation with Caiaphas -- lots of powerful raw emotion in contrast to the Temple scenes in most of the other films. So this might be my favourite too, but too much of it is rather ponderous. I love Jesus Christ Superstar and it's the one I've seen and heard most often. I like the Miracle Maker -- found it especially powerful the first time I watched it. And it's one I can watch with the kids. I've also very much enjoyed the recent Jesus directed by Roger Young (1999) and I like bits of the Visual Bible's Matthew. My least favourite are Godspell, embarrassing to watch, Pasolini's Gospel According to St Matthew, very boring, and the 1979 Jesus film which is allegedly the most watched film of all time but also very flat. Jesus of Nazareth and King of Kings I like bits of. That's a long-winded answer. I think in order I'd say (1) Jesus Christ Superstar, (2) Miracle Maker, (3) Last Temptation of Christ and then the rest. But if I'm allowed Life of Brian, then I put that top; it's still funny. "Only the true Messiah denies his divinity" -- genius.