Since The Life and Passion of Jesus came out in 1902, there have been literally hundreds of movies about the Easter story of Jesus Christ. There have been big-budget epics like The Greatest Story Ever Told and more personal movies like The Gospel According to St. Matthew. Some movies have played fast and loose with the story, like Jesus Christ Superstar. There have been parodies, like Monty Python’s Life of Brian.

With these many options, it can be hard to pick a great Jesus movie to watch this Easter season. The following list gives 5 accessible Easter movies about Jesus’ life. The list includes some Biblical epics, some kid-friendly movies, and some thought-provoking movies for adults.

1. The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Rating: R
Recommended for Kids: No
Probably the controversial movie on this list, The Passion of the Christ was the highest-grossing R-rated movie released at the time. It’s also credited with proving there was a market for Christian films, which led to movies like Facing the Giants and God’s Not Dead. Some Easter movies emphasize Jesus’s otherworldly qualities. Those movies capture Jesus’ divinity but make it hard to believe he ever worried about anything. The Passion of the Christ presents a Jesus (Jim Caviezel under heavy makeup) who looks very Jewish and is first seen crying and trembling in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Rather than moving lightly over the crucifixion to focus on the empty tomb, The Passion of the Christ emphasizes what happened on Good Friday. We get brutal scenes of the pain Jesus went through, from him sweating blood in the garden, to the Roman floggings, to the ordeal on the cross.
Satan cameos in several scenes, highlighting the doctrine that Jesus’ death defeated the powers of darkness. Some have questioned whether all this brutality makes the movie sadistic. It certainly makes The Passion of the Christ as iconic as it is, but it’s as close as anyone has gotten to portraying what a crucifixion looks like.

2. The Gospel of John (2003)

Also marketed as The Visual Bible: John, this 2003 movie follows the same formula as The Visual Bible: Mathew and The Visual Bible: Acts. Each one takes a book of the Bible and presents its text as closely as possible. In this case, the text is the Gospel of John. At 3 hours long, it’s perhaps best seen in pieces. While it’s not the greatest adaptation of Jesus’ story, the fact it follows the Gospel of John makes it unique.

Most movies about Jesus follow the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke). Those three gospels share many events, although each has a particular focus (Matthew emphasizes how Jesus fulfilled Messiah prophecies, Mark emphasizes how much Jesus suffered, Luke emphasizes how Jesus brought freedom). Scholars estimate that 90 percent of the Gospel of John is new material, and it seems written for a Gentile audience: John doesn’t start by talking about Jesus as Messiah but as Logos, the Word.

From an adaptation perspective, it’s much easier to base its script on the Synoptic Gospels. Therefore, The Gospel of John is unique because it follows the fourth gospel closely, which makes it a nice pairing with other Easter movies. You can put together a viewing plan to watch a movie based on each of the Gospels, getting a full view of Jesus’ story from the New Testament’s different perspectives.

3. Ben-Hur (1959)

Ben-Hur is a great example of what William R. Telford calls the “Roman-Christian epic”: movies that don’t retell the Gospel story but show its effect through supporting characters. Ben-Hur is by far the best-known of these movies. While its runtime is long and it’s been remade several times, no one has ever really matched its quality.

The story starts with Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, then switches to a prosperous young Jew named Judah Benhur growing up in Jerusalem. Betrayed by an old friend, Judah is sold into slavery and has a simple plan: escape and take revenge. When Judah returns to Jerusalem as a free man years later, he finds his old enemy but is surprised to meet someone else: a new teacher travelling about Judea who may be the long-promised Messiah.

Since the Romans enslaved Judah, he’s excited that freedom may be coming soon. The plot provides a little something for everyone—romance, adventure, sports, exotic locations, and melodrama. Judah’s cravings for vengeance against Rome help viewers see what the average Jew
expected of the Messiah when Jesus appeared. The fact Judah craves revenge pushes viewers to
see how counter-intuitive it feels when Jesus calls us to love our enemies. While this film isn’t graphic, it’s a bit long for kids to watch. If you want to introduce kids to the story, check out the animated version released in 2003.

 

4. The Miracle Maker (2000)

There is a long history of animated movies based on Bible stories. However, they tend to be a bit dry, with a few exceptions like Prince of Egypt. It’s generally easier to adapt a Bible story with some satirical elements (like VeggieTales) than to tell the Bible story straight and risk running into all the clichés. The Miracle Maker goes beyond what you’d expect. It tells the story of Jesus with claymation figures, cutting to hand-drawn animation for some scenes (what Jesus is describing in his parables, Mary’s flashbacks to finding Jesus in the temple. The story starts with Jairus taking his sickly daughter to a healer who can’t do anything for her.

They bump into a carpenter named Jesus (voiced by Ralph Fiennes), who is finishing his last job before going off to do his “father’s work.” From there, the movie follows Jesus’ ministry from the selecting of the disciples to Jesus’ resurrection, with Jairus and his family reacting to his teaching before and after Jesus heals Jairus’ daughter. Despite a small budget, the animated figures in The Miracle Maker are fluid and lifelike. Like The Wallace and Gromit movies, the camera work looks like something out of a live-action film, making the characters even more engaging.

5. King of Kings (1961)

Dozens of Biblical epics appeared in the 1950s-1960s, but most haven’t aged well. The acting seems campy, the costumes artificial (“Bathrobe epics” as some call them). The runtimes are so long these movies make the extended Lord of the Rings trilogy feel like a quick romp. King of Kings is that rare Biblical epic that has aged well.. Like pretty much every epic, it embellishes the story—it starts with the Romans invading Jerusalem in 63 BC.

It features a Roman soldier who keeps meeting Jesus and finally says, “surely this man was the son of God ” at Golgotha. These changes give King of Kings a particular focus: what was Jesus’ message in a violent time? The Romans and Herod Antipas wanted Judea as a peaceful colony. The Israelites wanted to overthrow their rulers. Jesus declared he was the prophesied king, but his kingdom was not what they expected.

Boluwatife Adesina
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Boluwatife Adesina is a media writer and the helmer of the Downtown Review page. He’s probably in a cinema near you.