Movie Review: "The King of Kings" (2025)

 

The King of Kings

Director: Seong-ho Jang

Producer: Seong-ho Jang, Woo-hyung Kim

Based on: "The Life of Our Lord" by Charles Dickens

Screenplay: Seong-ho Jang

Cinematographer: Woo-hyung Kim

Music:     Kim Tae-seong

Starring: Oscar Isaac (Jesus Christ), Kenneth Branagh (Charles Dickens), Uma Thurman (Catherine Dickens), Mark Hamill (King Herod), Pierce Brosnan (Pontius Pilate), Forest Whitaker (Peter), Ben Kingsley (High Priest Caiaphas)

Production Company: Mofac Studios

Country: United States

Initial release: April 11, 2025

Run Time: 101 minutes

Every year around Christmas for at least the past 30 years I have read "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, and ever since I discovered he wrote "The Life of Our Lord" about 15 years ago I have included it among my annual or semi-annual readings after I read "A Christmas Carol", just like the Dicken's family would do after Charles Dickens passed away. I always thought the two should be published together, at least, and perhaps even include a few of his other Christmas tales.

The Fundamentalism of “Political Correctness”

The Fundamentalism of “Political Correctness”

December 15, 2024

By Metropolitan Amphilochios of Kissamos and Selino

I read somewhere and I agree that in our times we are experiencing a form of “democratic” dictatorship against thought and expression. It is about the one-sided interpretation, according to one's whim, of the term “politically correct”. It is obvious, commonplace and self-evident that no one has the right and can insult or commit wrongdoing against diversity (political, social, gender, religion, origin, language, etc.), as any form of legitimacy of the different that leads to racism which is reprehensible and unacceptable. After all, the rejection of the different, because it is different, is a manifestation of racist behavior and mentality.

And while we agree on the need to protect the correct everyday behavior of citizens, within the framework of the favored state, what is strange and difficult to understand, much less accept, and raises many questions, is the fact that, as far as Christianity is concerned, the term "politically correct" seems to be unknown or rather not applicable by all those who defend its correctness and necessity. When, for example, works of art, films, posters, cartoons and everything else are employed by modern bad craftsmen of our times, who disrespect and ridicule the sacred symbols of the faith of Christ (the symbol of the Cross, the sacred face of the Virgin Mary, the face of Christ, etc.), with the aim and goal of deconstructing the faith, then not only is the logic of "political correctness" not applied, but anyone who raises a different discourse, point of view, opinion and voice, from that which serves "political correctness", is targeted and attacked as an alleged "dark-minded", "homophobic", "Christian Talibanist", etc., by all its defenders.

Movie Review: "Man of God" (2021) - Reviewed by Patriarch Theodoros II of Alexandria

As you may know from the 26th of August there began to be screened in the cinemas of Greece and Cyprus the film "Man of God", which is a film dedicated to Saint Nektarios of Pentapolis the Wonderworker.

Saint Nektarios is one of my beloved Saints and lived within the environment of the Patriarchate of Alexandria. I would like to convey my thoughts, those that were created by watching the film, because I believe that this film can give a lot of consolation and strength to the faithful in these difficult days that humanity is going through.

The film is directed by the Serbian in origin Yelena Popovic who also wrote the script. Many internationally renowned actors participated. I think that for the first time a film is presented to the Greek community that extols a Saint of the Church with equivalent seriousness and professionalism.

Movie Review: "Man of God" (2021) - Reviewed by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos

 

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

I watched with interest the film "Man of God" which refers to Saint Nektarios, Metropolitan of Pentapolis, founder of the Sacred Monastery of the Holy Trinity in Aegina, the production of which the Sacred Monastery of Vatopaidi from the Holy Mountain took part.

The life and conduct of Saint Nektarios, but also the miraculous charisma given to him by God, are wonderful, as well as his theological patristic training is also wonderful. His texts show the meeting of theology and pastoral care.

Watching this particular movie, the first thought that came to my mind is that our director and producers are not engaged in the projection and presentation of the elements of Orthodox tradition, but are content with presenting the various diseased elements of everyday men, with their various passions, love affairs, rivalries, violence, divorces, murders. A Serbian director, Yelena Popovic, had to come to show us that the people need to follow the healthy models which can be found in the Orthodox ecclesiastical environment.

Movie Review: "Dara of Jasenovac" (2020)

Since today, April 22nd, the Serbian Orthodox Church commemorates the Serbian new martyrs of the Ustasha death camp in Jasenovac, I thought I would bring to people's attention an excellent new movie about the horrors of this period of Serbian history, called Dara of Jasenovac.

The film Dara of Jasenovac, directed by Predrag Antonijević and written by Nataša Drakulić, is the first feature film about the suffering of Serbs, Jews and Roma, including children, in the Ustasha death camp in Jasenovac, during the so-called Independent State of Croatia, a fascist/nazi puppet-state during World War II. The historical war drama about one of the most horrific concentration camps in history was filmed 76 years after its closure, based on authentic testimonies of camp survivors and with the support of the Film Center of Serbia.

Movie Review: "The Girl Who Believes in Miracles" (2021) with a special mention of "The Unholy" (2021)

 

Since my goal is to review every movie that has ever been made in which Jesus makes some sort of an appearance, I could not overlook a movie I saw a few weeks ago called The Girl Who Believes in Miracles. It's about a young girl named Sara who is taught at home and in church to have faith in God, but when one day she makes the claim that Jesus appeared to her as a man wearing a t-shirt and jeans over a lake after praying, an encounter that gives her the ability to work miracles and healings which leads to her own loss of health, few believe her except those who share the same simple faith that she does.

Overall the message of the movie is that simple faith has power and reaps rewards, even a vision of Jesus Christ Himself. Typically I would look at a movie like this as silly and dumb, but I must confess the film moved me and it did a good job in conveying its message. In a way, I think the movie is supposed to be sort of silly and dumb, in order to highlight the fact that it is faith in its simplicity that pleases Jesus. Even though the movie does show Sara going to church, it does the best it can in not making it a story within the confines of a certain denomination, but it is a typical American girl in a typical American family that lives in a typical American town where everyone lives a typical American life. The focus is meant to be on simple faith.

Movie Review: "The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988)

 

The Last Temptation of Christ

Director: Martin Scorsese

Producer: Barbara De Fina

Screenplay: Paul Schrader

Based on: "The Last Temptation of Christ" by Nikos Kazantzakis

Cinematographer: Michael Ballhaus

Music: Peter Gabriel

Starring: Willem Dafoe as Jesus

Production company: Cineplex Odeon Films

Country: United States

Initial release: August 12, 1988

Run Time: 163 minutes

The Last Temptation of Christ is a 1988 film directed by Martin Scorsese that was adapted from Nikos Kazantzakis' controversial 1955 novel The Last Temptation of Christ, shot entirely in Morocco. Although a box office failure, it received positive reviews from critics and some religious leaders, and Scorsese received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director. Barbara Hershey's performance as Mary Magdalene earned her a nomination for the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. Peter Gabriel's music score also received acclaim, including a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. Dafoe's performance was praised, with some thinking he should have been nominated for Best Actor. However, Harvey Keitel's performance was not well received and he was nominated for Worst Supporting Actor.

Movie Review: "Jesus Christ Superstar" (1973)

 Jesus Christ Superstar

Director: Norman Jewison

Producer: Norman Jewison, Robert Stigwood

Screenplay: Melvyn Bragg, Norman Jewison

Based on: "Jesus Christ Superstar" by Tim Rice, Andrew Lloyd Webber

Cinematographer: Douglas Slocombe

Music by: Andrew Lloyd Webber

Starring: Ted Neeley as Jesus

Production company: Universal Pictures

Country: United States

Initial release: June 26, 1973

Run Time: 106 minutes

Adapted from Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Broadway rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar recounts the last days of Jesus Christ (Ted Neeley) from the perspective of Judas Iscariot (Carl Anderson), his betrayer. As Jesus' following increases, Judas begins to worry that Jesus is falling for his own hype, forgetting the principles of his teachings and growing too close to the prostitute Mary Magdalene (Yvonne Elliman). After Jesus has an outburst in a temple, Judas turns on him.

Jesus in Film Resource Page

  

 

On Religious Cinema 

 

Popular Depictions of Jesus On Screen 

 

Movie Review: "The Passion" (1898)

 

Movie Review: "The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ" (1906)

 

Movie Review: "Star of Bethlehem" (1909)

 

Movie Review: "From the Manger to the Cross"; a.k.a. "Jesus of Nazareth" (1912)  

 

Movie Review: "Intolerance" (1916)

 

Movie Review: "The King of Kings" (1927)  

Movie Review: "Golgotha"; a.k.a. "Behold the Man" (1935)

 

Movie Review: "The Robe" (1953)

 

Movie Review: "Ben-Hur" (1959)

 

From Ben-Hur to the Fall of Constantinople: Lew Wallace, Faith, and the Limits of Historical Imagination 

 

Movie Review: "King of Kings" (1961)  

 

Movie Review: "Jesus Christ Superstar" (1973)

 

Movie Review: "The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988)

Movie Review: "Risen" (2016)

 

Movie Review: "The Girl Who Believes in Miracles" (2021) with a special mention of "The Unholy" (2021)

 

Movie Review: "The Last Supper" (2025)

 

Movie Review: "The King of Kings" (2025)

 

Robert Powell and His Portrayal of Jesus  

Deleted Resurrection Scene From the Movie "Jesus of Nazareth" (1977)

"The Passion of the Christ": An Orthodox Perspective

Movie Review: "King of Kings" (1961)

King of Kings

Director: Nicholas Ray

Producer: Samuel Bronston

Screenplay: Philip Yordan, Ray Bradbury (uncredited)

Narrated by: Orson Welles (uncredited)

Cinematographer: Manuel Berenguer, Milton R. Krasner, Franz Planer

Music by: Miklós Rózsa

Starring: Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus

Production company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Country: United States

Initial release: October 11, 1961

Run Time: 168 minutes

Movie Review: "Ben-Hur" (1959)

Ben-Hur

Director: William Wyler

Producer: Sam Zimbalist

Screenplay: Karl Tunberg, Gore Vidal and Christopher Fry

Based on: Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by General Lew Wallace

Cinematographer: Robert L. Surtees

Music by: Miklós Rózsa

Starring: Claude Heater as Jesus, also Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Haya Harareet, Stephen Boyd

Production company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Country: United States

Initial release: November 18, 1959

Run Time: 212 minutes

Movie Review: "The Robe" (1953)

The Robe

Director: Henry Koster

Screenplay: Gina Kaus, Albert Maltz, Philip Dunne

Based on: The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas

Cinematographer: Leon Shamroy

Music by: Alfred Newman

Starring: Donald C. Klune as Jesus, also Richard Burton, Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, Michael Rennie

Production company: 20th Century Fox

Country: United States

Initial release: September 16, 1953

Run Time: 135 minutes

Following the success of Quo Vadis? in 1951, which was made to take advantage of the post-World War 2 "return to religion" in America, 20th Century Fox produced The Robe in 1953, directed by Henry Koster, and based on the novel by Lloyd C. Douglas. This was the first film produced in the new wide-screen Cinemascope. Richard Burton has the central role as Marcellus, the Roman Tribune responsible for carrying out the crucifixion of Jesus.

Movie Review: "Golgotha"; a.k.a. "Behold the Man" (1935)

Golgotha

a.k.a. Ecce Homo; Behold the Man

Director: Julien Duvivier

Screenplay: Joseph Reymond

Cinematographer: Jules Kruger

Starring: Robert Le Vigan as Jesus

Production company: Transat Films

Country: France

Initial release: 12 April 1935

Run Time: 95 minutes

When Jesus spoke for the first time on the cinematic screen, it was in French, not English. This French film was Julien Duvivier's Ecce Homo released in 1935 with Robert Le Vigan in the title role. Two years later, 1937, the film was dubbed in English and shown in the United States with the title Golgotha or Behold the Man. As the name suggests, this movie focuses on the events of Passion Week, beginning with Palm Sunday and ending with the Resurrection and Ascension. In doing this, the film returns to the origins of depicting Jesus on screen with a focus on the Passion, Death and Resurrection, much in the tradition of the old Passion Plays.

Movie Review: "The King of Kings" (1927)

The King of Kings

Director: Cecil B. DeMille

Screenplay: Jeannie Macpherson

Cinematographer: J. Peverell Marley, F.J. Westerberg

Starring: H.B. Warner as Jesus

Production company: Pathé Exchange

Country: United States

Initial release: April 19, 1927

Run Time: 155 minutes

Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings is the first truly Hollywood blockbuster film about Jesus, and it is both epic and spectacular. Following DeMille's other spectacular biblical film, The Ten Commandments, in 1923, and before his epic story of the persecution of the early Christians, The Sign of the Cross, in 1932, The King of Kings, released in 1927, premiered at the grand opening of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood in its original 155-minute cut, though it was widely released with the 112-minute cut. I have not seen the latter, but just finished the longer cut version, and all I can say is that this is perhaps one of the best film versions of the life of Jesus, if not the very best of them.

Movie Review: "Intolerance" (1916)

Intolerance

Director: D. W. Griffith

Screenplay: D. W. Griffith

Cinematographer: Billy Bitzer

Starring: Howard Gaye as Jesus

Production company: Triangle Distributing Corporation

Initial release: September 5, 1916

Run Time: 197 Min

Director D.W. Griffith is perhaps most know for his groundbreaking but controversial film The Birth of a Nation (1915), but his follow up Intolerance (1916) (which can be seen perhaps partly as a response to accusations of perpetuating racial stereotypes and glorifying the Klu Klux Klan in The Birth of a Nation) is considered by many to be his masterpiece, and indeed the greatest film of the whole silent era. Griffiths mammoth film, also subtitled: "A Sun-Play of the Ages" and "Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages.", consists of four distinct but parallel stories that demonstrated mankind's intolerance during four different ages in world history. Intolerance was a colossal undertaking filled with monumental sets, lavish period costumes, and more than 3,000 extras.

Movie Review: "The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ" (1906)

The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ

a.k.a. La vie du Christ

Director: Alice Guy-Blaché

Screenplay: Alice Guy-Blaché

Cinematographer: Anatole Thiberville

Costume Design and Production Design: Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset

Starring: Unknown

Production company: Gaumont

Initial release: 1906

Run Time: 33 Min

Alice Guy-Blaché, the first female film director, wrote and directed this 1906 French film about Jesus from his birth to resurrection in 25 scenes. This early extravaganza film had over 100 extras and in 1906 was the biggest hit that French filmmaking had ever seen. It was Gaumont Film Company's big blockbuster. At the time this film was made, it's director/producer, Alice Guy, was also the head of Gaumont film production. She used the illustrated Tissot Bible as reference material for the film. Most scenes in this early film have all the action taking place in front of a still camera. However, one scene "Climbing Golgotha", includes an early innovative sweeping pan shot. It is also one of the first films to have actors walking in and out of screen.

Movie Review: "From the Manger to the Cross"; a.k.a. "Jesus of Nazareth" (1912)

From the Manger to the Cross

A.K.A.: Jesus of Nazareth

Director: Sidney Olcott

Producer: Frank J. Marion

Writer: Gene Gauntier

Cinematography: George K. Hollister

Starring: Robert Henderson-Bland as Jesus

Year: 1912

Duration: 71'

From the Manger to the Cross was a marvel of its day. First, it was filmed on location in Egypt and Palestine; second, the production cost $100,000; and third, because of its length of five reels, when two reels were still common, making this the first feature film about Jesus. The title of the film captures the story from beginning to end. It begins with the Birth of Christ and ends with the Crucifixion. When on the cross, Jesus drops his head, the words from John 3:16 appear on the screen with three crosses on the horizon, and the film ends. There is no Resurrection or Ascension scene.

Movie Review: "Star of Bethlehem" (1909)

The Star of Bethlehem

Director: Edwin S. Porter

Production Co: Edison Manufacturing Company

Language: English and Italian

Country: USA

Release Date: 19 March 1909

Duration: 8:17

Sound Mix: Silent

Color: Black and White

This Edison movie was directed fairly late in his career by Edwin S. Porter. It covers the Annunciation, the arrival of Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem, the appearance of the star and the angels to the shepherds, the Nativity, and the adoration of the magi.

Movie Review: "The Passion" (1898)

La Passion (The Passion)

A.K.A.: La vie et la passion de Jésus-Christ (The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ)

Directors: Louis Lumière, George Hatot

Cinematography: Alexandre Premio

Starring: Bretteau as Jesus

Year: 1898

Duration: 11'

Announcement: The Lenten Jesus Films Challenge (20 Films in 40 Days)

Beginning this Monday, which is Clean Monday and the beginning of Great Lent, I am going to watch then review twenty films about Jesus over the course of forty days. I am typically not a big fan of movies about Jesus, though some are certainly better than others, but I think they all merit a review from an Orthodox Christian perspective. When I was younger I used to watch as many biblical films as I could get a hold of, but as I grew older I have stayed away from them because I know odds are I won't like them. It's been years since I've had an appetite for them. But now I am going to approach each film with an open mind and evaluate them as fairly as I can. All the reviews will be posted at this website. I am hoping to make this an annual tradition until I get through every movie about Jesus, and believe me, there are a lot more than you can imagine. I have only so far selected about half a dozen films I will be reviewing this Lent, so if you have any suggestions, pass them along at my email address: mystagogy@aol.com and I will take your suggestions into serious consideration.

P.S. This is not a public challenge I recommend for others to participate in, though feel free to do so if you wish. It is a personal challenge.