Jesus of Nazareth (miniseries)
| Jesus of Nazareth | |
|---|---|
 Robert Powell as Jesus of Nazareth |
|
| Approx. run time | Original: 371 min UK: 360 min DVD: 382 min |
| Genre | Biographical film |
| Distributed by | ITC Entertainment |
| Written by | Anthony Burgess Suso Cecchi d'Amico Franco Zeffirelli |
| Directed by | Franco Zeffirelli |
| Produced by | Lew Grade Vincenzo Labella |
| Starring | Robert Powell Anne Bancroft Ernest Borgnine |
| Editing by | Reginald Mills |
| Music by | Maurice Jarre |
| Cinematography | Armando Nannuzzi David Watkin |
| Budget | Estimates vary between $12 million to $18 million |
| Country | Italy / UK |
| Language | Assyrian Neo-Aramaic English |
| Release date | April 3, 1977 |
Jesus of Nazareth is a 1977 Anglo-Italian television miniseries dramatizing the birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus based on the accounts in the four New Testament Gospels.
The miniseries was directed by Franco Zeffirelli, and produced by Lew Grade through his ITC Entertainment company. Zeffirelli co-wrote the screenplay with Anthony Burgess and Suso Cecchi d'Amico. It was filmed entirely on location in Tunisia and Morocco. The total runtime is about 6 hours, 20 minutes.
Jesus of Nazareth premiered March 27, 1977 on British television on the ITV network courtesy of ITC's parent company, Associated Television; it made its American premiere as an NBC Easter special, on April 3, 1977. For its fifth airing on American television at Easter 1987, TV Guide called Jesus of Nazareth "the best miniseries of all time" and "unparalleled television".1
Contents |
Cast
From the film's opening titles
"Starring"
"Guest Stars"
- Anne Bancroft as Mary Magdalene
- Ernest Borgnine as the Roman Centurion
- Claudia Cardinale as the Adulteress
- Valentina Cortese as Herodias
- James Farentino as Peter
- James Earl Jones as Balthazar
- Stacy Keach as Barabbas
- Tony Lo Bianco as Quintillius
- James Mason as Joseph of Arimathea
- Ian McShane as Judas Iscariot
"and"
"Also Starring"
- Cyril Cusack as Yehuda
- Ian Holm as Zerah
- Yorgo Voyagis as Joseph
"With"
- Ian Bannen as Amos
- Marina Berti as Elizabeth
- Regina Bianchi as Saint Anne
- Maria Carta as Martha
- Renato Rascel as The Blind Man
- Oliver Tobias as Joel
"Co-Starring"
Plot summary
The storyline of Jesus of Nazareth is a kind of cinematic Diatessaron, or “Gospel harmony”, blending the narratives of all four New Testament accounts. It takes a fairly naturalistic approach, de-emphasizing special effects when miracles are depicted and presenting Jesus as more or less fully human. The familiar Christian episodes are presented chronologically: the betrothal, and later marriage, of Mary and Joseph; the Annunciation; the Visitation; the circumcision of John the Baptist; the Nativity of Jesus; the circumcision of Jesus; the Census of Quirinius; the Flight into Egypt and Slaughter of the Innocents; the Finding in the Temple; the Baptism of Jesus; the woman caught in adultery; Jesus helping Peter catch the fish; the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 11-32); a dialogue between Jesus and Barabbas (non-biblical); Matthew's dinner party; the Sermon on the Mount; debating with Joseph of Arimathea; the curing of the blind man at the pool; the Raising of Lazarus (John 11:43); the Feeding of the Five Thousand; the Entry into Jerusalem; Jesus and the money changers; the Last Supper; the betrayal of Jesus by Judas; Peter denying Christ and repenting of it; the judgment of Jesus by Pilate (“Ecce Homo”); the Johannine Passion Narrative (John 18-19; including the Agony in the Garden); the Carrying of the Cross; the Crucifixion of Christ (Laurence Olivier's Nicodemus recites the “Suffering Servant” passage [Isaiah' 53:3-5] as he looks helplessly on the crucified Messiah); the discovery of the empty tomb; and an appearance of the Risen Christ to his Disciples. The film’s storyline concludes with the non-Biblical character Zerah and his colleagues gazing despairingly into the empty tomb. Zerah's laments: “Now it begins. It all begins”.
Production
The origin of the miniseries dates to a conversation Zeffirelli, who is Roman Catholic, had with Pope Paul VI in which the Pope asked the director to make a film about the life of Jesus.2 To ensure the film's accuracy, producer Lord Lew Grade consulted experts from the Vatican, the Leo Baeck Rabbinical College of London, and the Koranic School at Meknes, Morocco.3
 |
This section requires expansion. |
The standing sets of the film were later used by the British comedy troupe Monty Python's Flying Circus for their religious satire The Life of Brian (1979).
Powell's portrayal of Jesus
Robert Powell almost never blinks throughout the entire film; he mimics H.B. Warner in 1927's The King of Kings, and Max von Sydow in 1965's The Greatest Story Ever Told. The effect, according to the Internet Movie Database, was a deliberate decision by Franco Zeffirelli "... as a means of creating a subconscious visual mystique about the character that not only differentiated him from all other characters". [1] The boy playing Jesus as a child, Lorenzo Monet in his only known credited film role, blinks twice in the temple, while Powell blinks once.
Makeup was also used to accentuate Powell's piercing blue eyes.
Subsequent broadcasts and versions
NBC rebroadcast the series in 1981 and three more times through 1987. A three tape VHS edition was released on February 22, 1995. Artisan Entertainment released a 2 disc DVD version in February 2000—the quality of this DVD transfer was disappointing, with poor resolution and motion artifacts. (A shot of the severed head of John the Baptist on a platter is missing from VHS and DVD versions.)
The miniseries is now broadcast every Easter and Christmas in many countries, sometimes on the History Channel in the United States, and currently, in rather edited form, on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. (Notably, the TBN telecast omits the moment during the Last Supper when Jesus announces that one of the twelve apostles will betray him, and that it will be "he who dips his hand in the dish with Me". A moment later, in the complete version of the miniseries, Judas dips his hand and Christ says to him "What you must do, do quickly." Judas then leaves. The TBN version merely shows him running out of the doorway furtively, after which the Supper proceeds without him.)
Narrative deviations from the Gospels
Although the film has been received as generally faithful to the Gospel sources, and more comprehensive than previous film versions, Zefferelli and his screenwriters found it necessary to take some liberties with the scriptures for purposes of brevity and narrative continuity. Some of these deviations have a basis in time-honored, extra-Biblical traditions (e.g., that the infant Jesus was visited by three "kings" [the Bible calls them "magi" or "astrologers", yet does not state how many there were]). Other deviations were invented for the script.
- Perhaps the greatest liberties taken in the screenplay are interpretations of the motivation of Judas Iscariot in betraying Jesus to the authorities prior to his arrest and execution. In contrast to the Gospels—which vilify Judas as a thief who stole from the Disciples’ money purse (John 12:6) and betrayed his Master simply for money (Luke 22:5) -- the film portrays Judas as a much misunderstood political person who, in several scenes, conspires with the Zealots for the sake of Jewish liberation in a way that could be interpreted as honorable, albeit misguided.
- The film introduces a number of “fictional” (non-biblical) characters. Of these, Ian Holm's Zerah has the most screen time. (Zerah is used primarily to supply Judas Iscariot with a motive for his treachery: he persuades him that an appearance before the Sanhedrin will offer Jesus an opportunity to prove himself.) Other invented characters include Quintillius, Yehuda, and Amos.
- The film casts the same actress in the roles of a prostitute and the woman who anoints Jesus' feet with ointment and her hair. The Bible indicates that Mary Magdalene (who is never actually said to be a prostitute) is the woman from whom seven demons were cast out, while the ointment-bearing woman is Mary of Bethany, a sister of Lazarus (John 11:2).
- In the film, Nicodemus visits Jesus in the late afternoon, not at night as in John 3:3.
- The Apostle Andrew introduces Simon to Jesus as "My brother, Simon Peter." But "Peter" is the name that Jesus later gave to Simon (John 1:42, Matt. 16:18) after he was well acquainted with him, not his original given name.
- The Apostle Thomas ("doubting Thomas"), prior to his calling, is depicted as a servant of Jairus, the synagogue leader whose 12 year old daughter Jesus raises from the dead. Nowhere in the three gospel accounts of this resurrection is Thomas described Jairus' servant. This was done in the movie to conveniently introduce Thomas as the doubter when Jesus said Jairus' dead daughter is 'only sleeping'.
- Barabbas is portrayed in the film as a Zealot (political extremist and agitator). The meeting and dialogue between Jesus and Barabbas are invented.
- The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk. 15: 11-32) is used as a plot device which simultaneously redeems the disciple Matthew and reconciles him to his bitter enemy, Peter. (Although not in the Bible, this has been praised as one of the film’s particularly felicitous innovations).
- Much celebrated Gospel episodes that are not found in the film include the Wedding at Cana (water into wine), the temptation in the desert, walking on water, calming the storm, the earthquake and the tearing of the Temple curtain at Jesus’ death, the Road to Emmaus episode, and the Transfiguration and Ascension.
-
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Reception
For its fifth airing on American television at Easter 1987, TV Guide called Jesus of Nazareth "the best miniseries of all time" and "unparalleled television".4
|
This section requires expansion. |
Awards and nominations
Jesus of Nazareth received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Special Drama or Comedy. James Farentino, who portrayed St. Peter in the miniseries, received a nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Special. The miniseries won neither award. Its unique cinematography, apparently modeled on Renaissance paintings, failed to win a nomination, as did the performance of Robert Powell in the demanding central role. The year's most nominated miniseries was Holocaust, which told the story of the Nazi extermination of Jews from the viewpoint of both a Jewish family and an SS officer's family5. Holocaust is seldom shown today, while Jesus of Nazareth is shown at least once annually.
Jesus of Nazareth, oddly enough, was not Emmy-nominated for Outstanding Miniseries, but for Outstanding Special Program, so it was not in competition with Holocaust in that category. It lost the Outstanding Special award to the two-hour Ed Asner - Maureen Stapleton Christmas-themed film The Gathering.6
Jesus of Nazareth won awards for Best Cinematography (Armando Nannuzzi), Best Costume Design (Lucia Mirisola) and Best Production Design (Mirisola again) from the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists.
Powell was nominated for a BAFTA award and collected the TV Times "Best Actor" award for the same performance.
Controversy
- Before its initial broadcast, Jesus of Nazareth came under ideological fire from American Protestant fundamentalists, led by Bob Jones III, president of Bob Jones University in South Carolina. Zeffirelli had told an interviewer from Modern Screen that the film would portray Jesus as "an ordinary man—gentle, fragile, simple". Jones leapt to the conclusion that the portrayal would deny Christ's divine nature. Having never seen the film, Jones denounced it as "blasphemy." Other conservative Christians picked up the cry and 18,000 angry letters were sent to General Motors, which had provided $3 million of the film's cost. Sacrificing its investment, GM backed out of its sponsorship.7
- Jesus is a venerable prophet in Islam, and the portrayal of religious icons can be seen as prohibited by the Qur'an. A cut version of the miniseries was withdrawn from Egyptian cinemas after 6 days, due to fear of possible agitations in the wake of blasphemy. As a consequence, a decree was added to Egyptian General Censorship Law prohibiting the screening of dramatic personifications of all of 'the prophets'8, although The Passion of the Christ has since been screened.
Ratings
- Argentina - 13
- Australia - G - (Cut Version) M - (Original Uncut Version)
- West Germany - 12
- Singapore - PG
- USA - Not Rated
- UK - PG
Further reading
- Jesus of Nazareth (1977, Collins) by William Barclay ISBN 0-00-250653-X, An adaptation of the screenplay, illustrated with color photos from the film.
- Man of Nazareth: A Novel (1979) by Anthony Burgess. Full-length novel based on his screenplay for the movie but containing much additional material.
- Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus: A Spiritual Diary (1984, Harper & Row) by Franco Zeffirelli ISBN 0-06-069780-6, an account of the film from conception (and Zeffirelli's main motivation for making it - removing sole responsibility for the death of Jesus from the Jews) to final edit, and audience reactions to it
See also
- Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972) by Franco Zeffirelli
References
- ^ https://www.tbn.org/index.php/7.html?nid=237
- ^ http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/news07/20071203.html
- ^ Ostling, Richard N. (APRIL 4, 1977), “Franco Zeffirelli's Classical Christ for Prime Time” , TIME magazine.
- ^ https://www.tbn.org/index.php/7.html?nid=237
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077025/awards
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076067/awards
- ^ Ostling, Richard N. (APRIL 4, 1977), “Franco Zeffirelli's Classical Christ for Prime Time” , TIME magazine.
- ^ http://www.egypttoday.com/printerfriendly.aspx?ArticleID=4390
External links
- Jesus of Nazareth at the Internet Movie Database
- Jesus of Nazareth at Allmovie
- webpages dedicated to the movie called "Jesus of Nazareth" by Franco Zeffirelli
- Jesus of Nazareth at the Arts & Faith Top100 Spiritually Significant Films list
|
|||||||||||||||||