Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Bc. Martina Hejčová

The Unusual Christ: Varieties of Jesus Christ Narratives in Commercial Cinema Master´s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Ph.D.

2018

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

……………………………………………..

Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Ph.D. for his valuable advice, sincere guidance and encouragement. Also, I would like to thank my partner and my family for their support.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction and Methodology ...... 1

2. Religion in the Movies ...... 4

3. Historical vs. Biblical Figure of Jesus ...... 9

4. The Last Temptation of Christ ...... 15

5. The Passion of the Christ ...... 22

6. Monty Python´s Life of Brian ...... 26

7. Jesus of Montreal ...... 30

8. Jesus Christ Superstar ...... 36

9. The Da Vinci Code ...... 39

10. The Man from Earth ...... 43

11. Common Aspects ...... 48

12. Marketing Strategy ...... 53

13. Conclusion ...... 60

Works Cited ...... 63

Summary ...... 67

Shrnutí ...... 68

1. Introduction and Methodology

The Bible is the most important book for the entire Western world. This book is the foundation for Christianity – the most widespread world religion – which has a constituency of more than 2 billion believers. “The Bible was foundational for the

Western literary canon, and so persists, post-Christendom, as the text that is most widely) alluded to in Western literature.” (Wright 7) Biblical stories and figures do not have only religious importance, they are already an integral part of our lives and culture.

Biblical statements and characters have become part of our language over time, whether in the form of interjections and swearing, comparisons (like a pillar of salt), but also archetypes for various situations (Judas – traitor, Doubting Thomas, washing hands of the matter, the first to throw stones). In particular the New Testament story of Jesus

Christ became the subject of many artworks, paintings, portraits, poems, songs and novels. In this enumeration, of course, the media typical of the twentieth century, film and television cannot be ignored. It is important to note that this story occurs almost in almost every genre. According to Eric Lundegaard´s research on IMDB.com, Jesus

Christ is the third most portrayed character in film and television (only Satan and Santa

Claus are portrayed more often). Therefore, almost every human being who is familiar with culture and history knows the name Jesus of Nazareth.

My Master´s thesis “The Unusual Christ: Varieties of Jesus Christ Narratives in

Commercial Cinema” will focus on various forms of narratives in the films portraying

Jesus Christ. My thesis presents the idea that it is important for the commercial success of the film to stand out, to differentiate itself, to attract attention, whether positive or negative. The Bible story of Jesus Christ is the ideal theme - most of the Western world knows the story. The creators of the films that I´ve selected for analysis in my thesis, used this “greatest story ever told” to show it in a different light, with specific approach,

1 using various types of narratives and changes in the original Biblical story. Some of these films were even presented as “the most authentic” story of Jesus Christ (The

Passion of the Christ) or story based on the true historical facts (The Da Vinci Code). In general, all of them are different and arouse controversy on many different levels.

I will deal with seven films in my analysis. Each of these films is based on the

Jesus Christ story, either presenting his story directly or drawing an important plot from it. The Last Temptation of Christ by Martin Scorsese and Mel Gibson´s The Passion of the Christ represent films that are directly portraying the story of Jesus Christ. The remaining films Monty Python´s Life of Brian, Jesus of Montreal by Dennis Arcand,

Jesus Christ Superstar, The Da Vinci Code and The Man from Earth represent the films that portray this story indirectly, whether through theater performance in the movie

(Jesus Christ Superstar, Jesus of Montreal), through parody of the original biblical story

(Monty Python´s Life of Brian) or through the narrative of various film characters.

From the countless number of films that portray Jesus, these in their form and content differ from the others. These films have the forms of a Biblical drama, satirical comedy, musical, theatrical performance within a film, sci-fi and Hollywood blockbuster. Films of American, Canadian and British origin, filmed in different time periods. The portrayal of Christ in these films also differs from the generally known concept of this biblical figure (e.g. by excluding Christ´s divinity and accenting his humanity, moving the story to the contemporary 20th century or telling the story from today´s point of view with respect to recent scientific discoveries concerning Christ´s life, presenting the story in a shocking visual way, or using the story as the basis for comic satire or even a science-fiction story).

I will provide thematic analysis of each of these films with the emphasis on the portrayal of Christ, the differences from the original story in the Bible and on the form

2 of narration. I will focus on the questions of his origin, especially as the Bible itself is not consistent in this aspect (he is often called the prophet, the son of God, the Messiah, or the pre-existent God). Anyway, most of the aforementioned films suggest another explanation of who Jesus was or where he came from (no matter which of his personifications in the Bible we choose) or offers further interpretations of his story.

There are numerous books, anthologies and academic works written on the subject of religion in film, as well as a wide range of publications dealing directly with the portrayal of the figure of Jesus in film, e.g. The Religion and Film Reader by S.

Brent Plate, Bible and Cinema: Fifty Key Films by Adele Reinhartz (five films of my selection appear in this anthology) or Screen Jesus: Portrayals of Christ in Television and Film by Peter Malone. I will use these works and encyclopedias as sources of information on the film theory, list of films on this topic and generally known approaches to the Biblical and religious theme. Furthermore, interviews with the directors and reviews and critics from the newspapers and magazines will serve as the source of the overview of the intentions that led to the filming of these movies in the way they were filmed and analysis of the critical and audience reception. I will deal with official movie trailers and posters in order to analyze the promotional and marketing strategy of these films. The New International Version (NIV) of the Bible will be my source for the Bible quotations.

In the first part of my thesis, I will present the Jesus figure within the cultural and Biblical context and provide a survey of the portrayal of religion in the movies, with the emphasis on the Jesus figure. A list of the aforementioned films and their detailed characteristics (form, narrative, content, director´s intentions and cultural context) will be provided too. In the second part, I will make the thematic comparison of the films based on the narrative, common signs and their marketing strategy and its

3 influence on audience reception.

2. Religion in the Movies

From the beginning of the film era, from silent films to contemporary cinema with Hollywood blockbusters and independent movies, religion has always been a popular topic for the cinema. “Already in the first five years of its existence, the new art form [cinematography] produced at least six films, all brief, as were all films in those early days, whose subject was the life and passion of Jesus the Christ” (Baugh viii).

Religion and film are discussed in various publications, studies and scholarly works from different point of views. Questions of film´s fidelity to religious texts, its influence on the audience and its function as a tool for spreading the Gospel among religious communities are probably main topics of this film/religion discourse. Paul Schrader, author of Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer – one of the most influential studies in the area of cinematography – and screenwriter of The Last

Temptation of Christ by Martin Scorsese, defined the common issues between religion and cinema: “Religion and film both attempt to bring people as close to the ineffable, invisible and unknowable as words, images and ideas can take us” (qtd. in Wright 4).

According to Richard Walsh in his book Reading the Gospels in the Dark:

Portrayals of Jesus in Film, history of film´s portrayal of religion comprises four distinctive eras. From the beginning of cinematography, there was an initial reluctance to portray Jesus figure in films. The second era is characterized by spectacular portrayal of Christian religious epics. The third one is placed around 1960 and consists of foreign and countercultural inroads in the experimental era. The last one shows the increasing influence of a secular and pluralist society and its “iconoclastic portrayal of Christianity and its gradual acceptance of portrayals of homogenized (modern) religion” (Walsh 4).

He also points out to the emerging fifth era characterized with “increasing evidence of

4 metaphysical society” (Walsh 4). Walsh also admits that there are no clear divisions of these eras and many exceptions can be found in the movie history, but the major Jesus films do fit into these eras.

Although some short films dealing with the themes of religion and Jesus were filmed in the early years of cinema, in most cases Jesus was not shown directly. “Jesus appeared indirectly as the ‘structuring absence’ in the stories of his believers” (Walsh 4).

In these years, the figure of Jesus was sacred, almost inviolable. Significant films of this first era were Olcott's From the Manger to the Cross (1912), Griffith's Intolerance

(1916), and DeMille's The King of Kings (1927), of which The King of Kings is the most important, especially for its direct portrayal of Jesus, the “divine Jesus Christ that was acceptable to popular American religious audiences for decades” (Walsh 4). Then

Jesus disappeared from the silver screen for forty-five years.

The change came in 1961 with Nicholas Ray´s King of Kings and George

Steven´s The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). In these films, Jesus was portrayed by an actor, he was seen, he spoke to the people. Ray´s films can be seen as a biography because it portrays the whole life of Jesus from his birth to crucifixion and resurrection.

Stevens's film is the most American Jesus film. The director of the more

famous Shane simply created another blockbuster (gospel) Western. He filmed

the movie in the American West, used every available Hollywood star, and

employed the American poet Carl Sandburg to work on the script. (Walsh 5)

On the other hand, Baugh considers these two films as a failure in the Christ´s portrayal:

Both films took full advantage of all that the new film technology could offer:

wide-screen images, ever more vivid colors, elaborate music scores and sound

tracks and special effects. It was precisely because of these high production

values that both films – “disedifying and even antireligious“ - were failures both

5

in transmitting faithfully the content and meaning of the Gospel narrative and in

representing adequately the person and significance of Jesus the Christ.

(Baugh 18)

The third era came with Pasolini´s The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964). A highly acclaimed black-and-white film which “in the minds of most serious critics is still the greatest, the most authentic and the most religious film on Jesus ever made”

(Malone 94). On the other hand, Walsh argues that Pasolini´s film was the first one to start the counter culture Jesus films, that he simply “did not played by the rules of the

Hollywood spectacular” (black-and-white, eerily long silences, punctuated by nontraditional and highly effective music, nonprofessional actors) (5). He obviously ignored the three canonical gospels and as the title indicates, followed only Matthew closely. However, when the counter culture is mentioned, there are two typical films representing this era. Both of them are originally stage musicals, they are both made in the same year and both of them reflect the youth culture of the “flower-power generation” in the 1960´s. Jesus Christ Superstar by Norman Jewison (originally by

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice) and David Greene´s Godspell (John-Michael

Tebelak with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz). Both of them portrayed the ideas of the counter culture – anti-military movement, protests against society and the establishment. Also, both musicals present the story of Jesus Christ through theatrical performance. Despite all those similarities, Jesus Christ Superstar is the one that won over the audience and is the more acknowledged of the two.

A certain exception in the four eras division is evidenced by the film Jesus of

Nazareth by Franco Zeffirelli (1977). On one hand, Zeffirelli announced that he

… intended to create a human Jesus and an ecumenical film, [but] he actually

created a divine Jesus comparable to those of DeMille and Stevens. Certainly, he

6

created a film widely accepted by the religious and palatable to the ecumenical

church of his day and thereafter. (Walsh 5)

Therefore, Zeffirelli´s movie suggests that this combination of humanity and divinity is an integral part of Christian consciousness around the world.

The fourth era may easily be called “the iconoclastic era”. Three major film of this period are the subject of my analysis. The first of them, Monty Python´s Life of

Brian, as Baugh states “…has the dubious privilege of being the only Jesus-film in the key of satirical comedy,“ (48). Generally it is not considered as a classical Jesus film. It does not depict Jesus directly (except for one scene, where we can see him in the distance during the Sermon on the Mount), but instead it follows the story of Brian, who was born next door to Jesus, and events in his life corresponding to those of Jesus, and of his avid followers. In this film, Monty Python stay true to their reputation as a humorous group for whom nothing and nobody is holy (not even Jesus Christ) and present the story as extremely extravagant, hilarious and satiric towards everybody and everything. Martin Scorsese´s The Last Temptation of Christ reflects the iconoclasm in the Jesus figure itself. Even though the story of Jesus is quite truthful to the Gospels,

Jesus is very human, tormented, uncertain and constantly tempted by the Devil. The last temptation appears on the cross, when the idea of a normal human life with wife and children is presented to Jesus by the Devil. The last film of the iconoclastic trio is not an American production, but a Canadian one. Denys Arcand´s Jesus of Montreal

(1990) follows the story of Daniel, a twentieth-century actor playing Jesus in a passion play for a Montreal church. Daniel's actions and his role in the Passion play soon begin to intertwine so much that it is difficult to distinguish where we see Daniel and where

Jesus. Strong criticism is directed towards the Church and consumers society, together with historically verified real story of a person that we know as Jesus Christ.

7

In recent years, unfortunately, such a clear division can no longer be seen. With more available technologies and the expansion of cinematography, more and more films are being created on this subject, especially for television, in which the creators return to an even image of Christ's divinity and humanity (Jesus and Mary, Mother of Jesus,

The Miracle Maker). Hollywood producers are focusing more on the Old Testament

(Noah from 2014), and the New Testament story from atypical perspective (The Da

Vinci Code, The Passion of the Christ).

Audiences were challenged by The Passion of the Christ. Mel Gibson´s

emphasis on the suffering and its intensity appealed to an older piety and to

cultures that were more emotional. Cooler blooded cultures found some

sequences too much and lamented the lack of emphasis on the Resurrection.

However, a newer generation welcomed the sense of a transcendent Jesus in the

midst of his sufferings. (Malone xvi)

Even though Christianity is the major world religion and therefore the one that is depicted in the movies the most often, there are other religions portrayed in the silver screen quite often. In particular, North American filmmakers are dealing with their own history and the religion of indigenous peoples - the best known and most successful of these films is undoubtedly Dance with Wolves by Kevin Costner or Canadian

Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner. Both these films show a certain “return to the roots” and simple life of our ancestors. In addition, Eastern philosophy and religion, especially

Buddhism is popular among the filmmakers (Little Buddha, Seven Years in Tibet). On the other hand, one of the world´s greatest religions, Islam, is very often displayed in movies, but in this case usually with a negative connotation because Islam is generally perceived in close connection with terrorism, violence and religious wars. “In fact,

Arabs have replaced Nazis as the recognizable ‘bad guys’ in film” (Walsh 3).

8

“… Jesus is far too important a figure to be left only to the theologians and the church” (Pelikan qtd. in Walsh ix). His story offers authors, painters, filmmakers and musical composers countless possibilities to grasp hold of the story. It is so notorious that every change and every novelty in the story will be recognized by the audience. At the same time, and from the same reasons, it is a challenge for all - the story has been artistically crafted so many times that it can be difficult to come up with a new concept.

As Walsh points out:

When it comes to Jesus films, then, we prefer to see Marcellus, Demetrius,

Ben-Hur, Daniel Coulombe, and Maximus (Russell Crowe in Gladiator). We

prefer these stories because we prefer the Hollywood hero to Jesus. We want

interesting, identifiable heroes in film. Jesus is not that. We know him too well

for him to interest us, but he is also too different from us to interest us. (Walsh

25)

3. Historical vs. Biblical Figure of Jesus

In order to analyse the character of Jesus Christ in the movies, it is necessary to proceed from the only relevant source of his life that we have - from the Bible, specifically from the four Gospels in the New Testament. Nevertheless, even the Bible is not entirely consistent in who Jesus was and whom we should consider him to be – the Gospels call Him different names – the Saviour, the Son of God, the Prophet.

(Actually, there are more than fifty names in the Bible that describe Jesus and his presence on the Earth.) In this respect, there are two views by which we must look at this issue: on the one hand, it is the character of Jesus Christ in the Bible itself, and on the other, the credibility of the Biblical sources and their historical accuracy. Because I will deal primarily with films in which the character of Jesus is shown in an unconventional way compared to the Bible, the historical evidence of biblical sources

9 represents an interesting circumstance to be mentioned.

The historical relevance of Biblical sources is a subject of many discussions

(academical, theological and popular). When the book The Da Vinci Code was published in 2003, it created a lot of disturbance among scholars, especially because the author pointed out in the introduction that the book was based on real historical facts.

With reference to this book (and subsequent film), several works were written by various scholars in which they analyse Brown´s “true claims” one by one and set the record straight. One of them, Bart D. Ehrman (American New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the development of early Christianity) explains in his book Truth and Fiction in the Da

Vinci Code: A Historian Reveals What We Really Know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine the importance of relevant source for historical events and questions the reliability of the Gospels as the main source of information on the life of Jesus

Christ. He analyzes all gospels from the historical point of view (they were all written down several decades after Jesus' death, they were not even written at the same time).

This information is therefore based on oral traditions that had been in circulation year after year among people who modified the stories they told and re-told about Jesus’ life.

As Ostling points out: “Scholars generally agree that the four Gospels were written within 40 to 70 years of Jesus' death on the Cross. In addition, existing copies of the

New Testament are far older and more numerous than those of any other ancient body of literature.” When Ehrman compares the events and proclamations described in the

Gospels, many are mentioned only in some of them, some are specific to just one gospel. And even though we know that the Mark´s Gospel is the oldest one, because of the oral tradition as the source of information, even this Gospel cannot be taken hundred percent for granted. “The New Testament is the testimony of believing people,” says the

10 liberal Catholic Theologian Edward Schillebeeckx of the Netherlands. “What they are saying is not history but expressions of their belief in Jesus as Christ.” Even some

Catholic scholars have moved toward the theory of “the Bible as a seriously flawed historical document” since the Vatican modified its traditionally strict view of the accuracy of the Gospels with a 1943 encyclical and a 1964 instruction allowing broader use of higher criticism. (Ostling n.p.)

Despite all these claims, Ebhart tries to find in the Gospels the most historically probable variant of who Jesus really was. This analysis is based on the Mark's Gospel and the so-called Q Document (a hypothetical document that contained, in particular, the quotations of Jesus; the source document for the Gospels according to Matthew and

Luke. This document had to be written in parallel with Mark's Gospel, since the quotations from the Q Document are not found in Mark's Gospel.)

That’s why scholars working to uncover what actually happened in Jesus’ life

tend to use Mark and Q, for example, more extensively than they use John and

Thomas. These latter two were created decades after the former two, and so are

less likely to retain historically reliable information. (Ebhart 132)

According to Ebhart, the earliest and best sources do understand Jesus to be a mortal prophet. In fact, and more than that, they understand him to be a prophet who made a precise set of prophecies.

Traditions of Jesus as an apocalypticist are found in our earliest accounts, such

as Mark and Q and M and L (though not in our later accounts, including John

and Thomas), which were all independent of one another. In these traditions

Jesus anticipates that God would soon send a judge from heaven, whom he calls

by the enigmatic designation “the Son of Man,” who will wreak havoc among

the forces of evil, destroying all that stands opposed to God and bringing in

11

God’s good kingdom for those who have sided with God in this wicked age.

(Ebhart 128)

Ebhart´s theory corresponds with the claims of many supporters of the “prophet” theory among the scholars, who emphasize the dozens of places in the Gospels where Jesus refers to the forthcoming kingdom of God or kingdom of heaven, in which righteousness and peace would prevail. However, there is also a contradiction in the theory of the credibility of sources and the origin of the assertions. “Jesus expected a radical transformation of the world and that this would involve the coming of a heavenly figure, [but] Jesus did not believe himself to be this figure.” says Adela Yarbro

Collins of the University of Notre Dame (quoted in Ostling). According to her liberal interpretation, the disciples experienced Jesus as risen from the dead and became convinced that Jesus himself was the heavenly person who was to come. They then introduced this novel idea into Jesus' teaching.

The theory of the prophet is not the only one - scholars also highlight other biblical references of Christ that testify more to his earthly origins, e.g. the one of wandering sage (James M. Robinson, noted director of Claremont's Institute for

Antiquity and Christianity). The historical Jesus can be compared to Gandhi or Socrates, or any other itinerant, charismatic moralist. In his teachings, he focused on the poor, the sick, the handicapped, the injustices of the world he saw around him. Israeli Historian

David Flusser of the Jerusalem School for the Study of the Synoptic Gospels presents vision of “Jesus as a rabbinical genius whose teachings were very much in keeping with the liberal Jewish scholarship of his day. He represented a humanistic trend in Judaism.”

What Jesus sought was a Judaism purified of resentments and hatred. He wanted a feeling of love and understanding and identification with one's fellow human beings.

(quoted in Osling).

12

As I have already mentioned, it is necessary to look at the figure of Jesus Christ from two perspectives. Apart from the historical analysis of the Bible, it is also necessary to analyze how Jesus is presented by the four apostles in the main four

Gospels. Each of the Gospels has a different structure and displays different period of

Christ's life. First Gospel of the New Testament (the Gospel according to Matthew) is written in the name of an eyewitness, the apostle Matthew. He presents Jesus as the

Messiah, the Christ (Matthew 1.1), the one chosen by God to deliver the people from their sins. There are numerous quotes of the Old Testament, concerning Jesus´ fulfillment of old Jewish prophecies. In this Gospel, Jesus performs miracles, shares parables and teaches the ways of God, he is betrayed, crucified, rises again and sends his disciples to spread the news. Basically, according to Matthew, Jesus is the son of

God: “And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased’” (Matthew 3.17); Jesus is the King (he is the son of King David and declares that the kingdom of heaven is near, as quoted in Matthew 4.17) and the promised saviour (Matthew 2.6).

Mark presents Jesus as the Messiah, who is destined to suffer, die and be raised.

Like the other Gospels, Mark records Jesus´s miracles, betrayal, death, resurrection, and commission. However, Mark focuses more on things Jesus did than things Jesus said.

This Gospel emphasizes two important characteristics of Jesus Christ: his authority as the Son of God - just as Matthew, Mark begins his Gospel with the brief assertion of

Jesus´ nature “the beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God”

(Mark 1.1) and his compassionate service to people (particularly in miracles).

Luke´s Gospel is listed as the third in the New Testament. Not only it is the longest of the four gospels, it is also the longest book of the whole New Testament. He pays great attention to the thorough narration of Jesus´ story, he simply researched

13 everything (Luke 1.3). According the first verses of his Gospel, he investigated the events of Jesus´ life by speaking with eyewitnesses. Unlike others, this book gives its readers a thorough and chronological record of believers an accurate, chronological understanding of Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection. In Luke, Jesus is presented as the Messiah and the Saviour of the nations (Luke 19.10, Luke 2.30–32).

The last of the Gospels is written by John. This Gospel differs from the others, because it mainly focuses on who Jesus is (and therefore his divinity), and less on what he said or did. Unlike the previous Gospels, this one does not aim to record whole life

(and death) of Jesus Christ, this one is written in order to make the reader believe in

Jesus Christ. According to John, Christ is God (John 1.18), who came down to Earth to save the world. The Gospel of John sees Jesus as the exclusive saviour, and the only way to know God (John 14:6). John presents various forms of Christ´s divinity as well; we see Jesus as the Word of God, the Son of God, and God Himself. In addition to the

Gospel, John is the presumable author of three New Testament letters and the Book of

Revelation.

All these portrayals, portraits and personifications of Jesus Christ, whether they come from apostles, theologians, historians, or scholars, show us how interesting, enigmatic and heterogenous the figure Jesus Christ was (or could have been); he aroused and still arouses disputes and passions among various groups of people that have the chance to deal with his story. In the 20th century, film makers joined the company of these groups. They processed Jesus´ story and transformed it into a film, and, as well as scholars and apostles, each of the film makers presented it to viewers each in their own way, reflecting their belief, artistic intentions, and cultural context of the time in which they had made the film.

14

4. The Last Temptation of Christ

The film The Last Temptation of Christ by Martin Scorsese has long been considered the most controversial film about Jesus Christ ever shot (at least until

Gibson's The Passion of the Christ was made). This film portrays Jesus Christ as a man of doubt, fear, uncertainty, and subject to the temptation of the joy of human life.

Although the film stirred up enormous controversy (Catholic group set fire to a cinema because it was showing this film, and the film got banned in five countries for a while),

Martin Scorsese was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. This 1988 movie is based on the novel by Greek writer Nikos Kazantsakis. Even though the author was repeatedly nominated for the Nobel prize, he was excommunicated as a heretic by the Greek Orthodox Church and his novel was placed in the index of forbidden books by the Catholic Church (Baugh 51).

Unlike other films in my thesis, this one clearly distances itself from its Biblical predecessor. Right in the opening credits, you can find this warning: “This film is not based upon the Gospels but upon this fictional exploration of the eternal spiritual conflict.” On the one hand, the film quite faithfully portrays the events that have happened in Christ's life (even though the first part of the film lacks the traditional evangelistic power of evangelical adaptations, and the fulfillment of the New Testament scheme does not follow the exact sequence of events), but on the other hand it completely changes Jesus´s attitude and opinions. The eternal spiritual conflict is the main theme we can observe in the film, thoughts behind the actions play significant role in this movie. The second text that appears in the opening titles is the quotation from the original Kazantsakis book:

The dual substance of Christ – the yearning, so human, so superhuman, of man

to attain God... has always been a deep inscrutable mystery to me. My principle

15

anguish and source of all my joys and sorrows from my youth onward has been

the incessant, merciless battle between the spirit and the flesh... and my soul is

the arena where these two armies have clashed and met.

The film begins in Roman-occupied Judea, where Jesus works as a carpenter, whose work includes, among other things, the production of crosses for the Romans, on which they crucify the Jewish citizens of Judea. His work is a thorn in the eye of his friend

Judas, who thinks of Jesus as a coward, worse than the Romans. “You're a Jew killing

Jews. (…) How will you ever pay for your sins?” Jesus' answer (“With my life, Judas. I don´t have anything else.”) suggests that he is already fully aware of the task God has set for him, even though he rejects it. He hears inner voices, and struggles with doubts, pain, self-loathing and basically even depression:

God loves me, I know he loves me. I want him to stop. I can't take the pain. The

voices and the pain. I want him to hate me. I fight him. I make crosses, so he'll

hate me. I want him to find somebody else. I want to crucify every one of his

messiahs.

In a foreshadowing scene we see a gathering of people, guarded by Roman soldiers, everything is being preparing for crucifixion. In the middle of the crowd of the Roman soldiers, Jesus puts on a thorn belt around his waist, he takes the beams from the cross on his shoulders and, together with the soldiers, heads to the place of crucifixion. The crowd throws stones on him, Mary Magdalene spits his face along the way. However, it soon becomes clear that Jesus is not going through his Stations of the Cross (as it seems at the first sight), but he is working there – he assembles the cross and even personally helps the soldiers to crucify a man, whose sins include a promise “that a Messiah would come from among the people to rise up and destroy Rome.”

Jesus plans to leave and go to the desert to a monastic community, but before

16 going away, she visits the Jewish prostitute Mary Magdalene in the brothel, asking for her forgiveness. It turns out they know each other since childhood, they have a very close relationship - she loved him, he loved her too, but he denied her because of his devotion to God. “You're the same as all the others, only you can't admit it.” In the desert, he experiences an encounter with two cobras that obey his orders. He slowly realizes his extraordinary powers and the monks convince him to teach and spread the

God´s message of love. Judas Iscariot visits Jesus in the monastic community and tries to persuade him to lead a rebellion against the Romans. Jesus refuses and because Judas is aware of Jesus´s powers, he joins him and actually becomes his first disciple. On their way back, they save Mary Magdalene from stoning for prostitution and working on the sabbath and Jesus starts preaching, gathering the disciples (Peter, John, James, Andrew).

Still, he is doubting his role of a Messiah. Judas therefore convinces him to visit John the Baptist, who claims that he is preparing the way for the Messiah (and therefore could recognize Jesus as the Messiah). Jesus is baptized and explains to John his views on importance of love. Following John´s advice, Jesus heads to the desert again, to see

God´s will more clearly. John the Baptist warns Jesus in advance: “Be careful. God isn't alone out there.” Indeed, in the desert, Jesus is tempted by Satan in many forms (snake, lion, pillar of fire, apple tree) but he resists all the temptations and realizes that God´s message is that he is strong enough to conquer the Satan. After 40 days, Jesus returns from the desert and his health is restored in the home of Martha and Mary of Bethany.

He is confronted with their opinion that the only way to please God is to have a home, wife, to make children, and not to fast and pray. Jesus then rejoins his waiting disciples, tears out his heart to prove his authority and invites them to follow him. On his way, he performs many signs and miracles (he turns water into wine, he restores the vision of a blind man, heals cripples so they walk, he raises Lazarus from the dead, and casts out

17 many demons) and with each of the miracles he is more convinced that he is in fact

God's son and the Messiah. After Cleansing of the Temple, he asks for a sign from God, which appears in the form of bleeding from his hands. Jesus realizes that this foreshadows his death on the cross, therefore he asks Judas (as his most trusted friend) to betray him to the Romans, what he reluctantly agrees to do. The Last Supper takes place in the garden of Gethsemane, with all the disciples and even the four closest women. Jesus is arrested, brought to Pontius Pilate and crucified as threat to the Roman

Empire.

While on the cross, young girl appears and claims to be Jesus´ guardian angel.

I'm the angel who guards you. Your Father is the God of mercy, not punishment.

He saw you and said, “Aren't you his guardian angel? Well, go down and save

him. He's suffered enough.” (…) He's tested you and he's happy with you. He

doesn't want your blood. He said, “Let him die in a dream. But let him live his

life.”

The girl takes Jesus down of the cross and leads him away, to the wedding ceremony.

Jesus marries Mary Magdalene. He is surprised by the changed look of the nature (it is not an Izrael desert anymore, but mountains with woods and meadows) to which the angel replies: “It hasn't changed. You have. Now you can see its real beauty. Harmony between earth and the heart, that's the world of God.” Jesus and Mary Magdalene live a simple life in a wooden cabin, they soon conceive a child. Unfortunately, Mary dies during pregnancy. The angel, who still accompanies Jesus, comforts him: “There's only one woman in the world. One woman with many faces. This one falls, the next one rises. Mary Magdalene died, but Mary, Lazarus's sister, she lives. She's Magdalene with a different face.” Jesus later starts family with Mary and her sister Martha as well, they are having children and live in peace.

18

Many years later Jesus meets the apostle Paul (who is in fact Saul, murderer of

Lazarus), who is preaching about Jesus the Messiah, Son of God, his teaching, death on the cross and the subsequent resurrection. Jesus is puzzled, accuses Paul of lying.

Despite of seeing the real Jesus in front of him, Paul insists on his story:

Look around you. Look at all these people. Look at their faces. Do you see how

unhappy they are? Do you see how they're suffering? Their only hope is the

resurrected Jesus. I don't care whether you're Jesus or not. The resurrected Jesus

will save the world and that's what matters.

Paul refuses to tell the truth and argues that “his Jesus” is much more powerful and important to the people, because people desperately need God to make them happy and to guarantee their salvation. While on his deathbed, in the middle of Jewish Rebellion against the Romans and with Jerusalem on fire, Jesus is visited by some of his old disciples (Peter, Nathaniel, John and Judas). All of them changed and suffered in Jesus´ name. Judas accuses Jesus of betrayal: “Your place was on the cross. That's where God put you!” The angel who stopped his crucifixion is recognized as Satan in disguise, who tempted him into a life of comfort as an ordinary man. Jesus realizes that he should have died to bring salvation to all.

Near the end of his life, an elderly Jesus calls his former disciples to his bed. Peter,

Nathaniel, and a scarred John visit their master as Jerusalem is in the throes of the

Jewish Rebellion against the Romans. Judas comes last and reveals that the youthful angel who released Jesus from the crucifixion is in fact Satan. “I told you we would meet again,” says Satan now in his original form of pillar of fire. Jesus crawls back through the burning Jerusalem to his crucifixion site on Golgotha and begs God to take him back, that he wants to be his son, to bring salvation and to be crucified again. This scene is, in fact, the opposite of the event in the garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus

19 prays to God and asks him to take away the burden, because he is scared and not prepared to die. Now he asks God the exact opposite.

Back on the cross, Jesus realizes that all his mortal life, being married and having children, all this was the last temptation he eventually resisted. Now he is willing to die on the cross voluntarily for the salvation of mankind and smiles with relief: “It is accomplished!"

There is an interesting parallel with the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Both films emphasize the role of Judas Iscariot, whose role in the narrative structure is radically different from the established understanding. In both films, the viewer feels sympathy for Judas, he is portrayed as the one who is more of a voice of reason and represents major opinion opponent for Jesus. The Last Temptation presents Judas as a co-conspirator, the one who must suppress his instincts and love for Jesus to feign a betrayal and ensure that he dies.

Two major problems occur within the critics of Scorsese´s film. Critics

(especially the Church) point out especially to the last part of the film in which Jesus succumbs to temptation, lives in active sex life, has several wives, and completely turns away from his religious mission. For some critics, however, this complaint is incomprehensible, for example, for Alice Bach the author of the “The Last Temptation of Christ” essay in the Bible and Cinema: Fifty Key Films Routlege Companion:

It is the final 35 minutes of the film that drove the Church and the

fundamentalist Christian media into a lather. Scorsese became a scourge.

The fury swirled around the author’s and film-maker’s suggestion that

Jesus jump down from the Cross, in the middle of his Agony, and

walk off into his ideal world, the neighbourhood. (…) Ironic that

the fantasy on the Cross, the imagined narrative of Jesus marrying,

20

having children, a home, in the familiar neighbourhood and a death

from old age rather than torture on the Cross, is considered blasphemy;

after all, marriage, baptism of children, and anointing of the

sick and dying are sacraments of the Church. (181)

In this case, the problem is likely to be that a large number of protesters either totally refused to watch the film, or did not understand the fact that the last part of the film is just a hallucination, a fantasy that Jesus is experiencing on the cross, the last temptation created by the Devil. However, Jesus does not eventually succumb this temptation and triumphantly fulfills God's purpose.

The second problem lies in the portrayal of Jesus himself. As previously mentioned, this human side of Jesus in the form of Jesus' dilemma who he actually is.

First, he struggles with the physical attraction to Mary Magdalene, he is afraid of the voices he hears in his head. He gradually realizes his divine origin even though he still doubts it. After his desert experience, he is sure of his divinity, but doubts remain, this time, however, whether he can handle the role associated with the role of God's son and self-sacrifice for all mankind. These doubts are presented very intensely in the film, showing the human nature (totally inappropriate for God's son) and the characteristics that are perceived by many as negative:

What did bother me was the overall portrayal of Jesus as someone who couldn’t

make up his mind about who he was, one time thinking he was the messiah, another

time that he was the Son of Man, another time that he was the Son of God, and so

forth and so on. That just seemed to me to be a cheap way of saying that Scorsese (or

Kazantzakis, who wrote the novel) couldn’t decide who Jesus was, and so put his

own uncertainties onto the shoulders of the character. (Ebert 186)

The problem with the human portrayal of Jesus Christ in film is a general problem of

21 almost all of the films that were marked as controversial and shot in the second half of the 20th century. In this Scorsese´s film, however, this kind of criticism was further augmented by a fictitious final scene that places the ordinariness of human life above

God's mission.

5. The Passion of the Christ

Mel Gibson´s The Passion of the Christ – the most controversial and the most talked-about religious film of the last years. Of course, the fact that the director of the film is the Hollywood´s superstar, action hero and devoted Catholic in one - Mel

Gibson, plays significant role in this controversy. This film is regularly placed at the forefront of many lists of most controversial films of all time (it is also regularly followed by The Last Temptation of Christ). At the same time, with its $ 370 million US box-office receipts, it is the highest-grossing religious film of all time, but also the most successful R-rated film ever (Box Office Mojo). This film was also voted as the most pro-Catholic movie of all time:

In 2004, the National Catholic Register and Faith & Family magazine gathered

online nominations for films that best celebrate Catholic life (movies with

specific Catholic references, not simply with Catholic themes). Over 1,000

readers voted, and The Passion of the Christ came in at #1. (Enk)

Controversy of this film lies above all in its brutal nature - the film depicts only the last

12 hours of Christ's life (with occasional flashbacks to the past), so the film's main content are the scenes of his flogging and torturing, his way to the cross and suffering on the cross. Jesus spends most of the scenes almost unrecognizable, with face and body covered with blood. In this context, the Czech translation of the film´s name “Torturing of the Christ” seems more than accurate. Even Gibson himself in an interview for ABC

News admitted that the film was deliberately “shocking” and “extreme” in order to

22 depict Jesus' enormous sacrifice. For many critics this level of violence was unnecessary:

The basic message transposed onto Jesus struck me as offensive. In this case it

was something like “More pain, more gain”: people have a lot of sins to atone

for, so Jesus goes at it with full vigor, being beaten to a bloody pulp before our

very eyes. And why? Because that’s just what he had to do. His pain is our gain.

This strikes me as at odds with how the Gospels portray Jesus’ last hours, and I

can’t help but find the message a bit repulsive. (Ehrman 187)

On this occasion, I would like to add a personal note. While doing my research for this work, I have seen several films (not just those I am dealing with in this work) portraying the life and death of Jesus Christ. This film impressed me most, but in the negative sense of meaning. I had to look at it several times, for I was unable to see it all at once and withstand such a great deal of blood, beating, screaming with pain, and suffering.

Approximately from the beginning of the second half of the film, I only thought

“Please, kill him now, let it end already.” On the one hand, I understand why Mel

Gibson made this film just that way, what were his intentions and that in fact this event could have happened in a more brutal way, than it was portrayed in the movie; on the other hand, for me personally, this film is beyond the level of watchability and the close shots of tearing of human flesh and bleeding wounds, were simply unnecessary.

The story opens in the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus is praying to God and awaits his destiny, while his disciples sleep. Satan in the form of androgynous being tries to persuade Jesus that people are not worth his sacrifice. Jesus ignores the Devil´s temptations and even kills the snake that Devil sends to him. Meanwhile, Judas Iscariots gets his thirty pieces of silver from Jewish priests for the betrayal of Jesus and giving away the location of Jesus´s whereabouts. Judas takes the Roman guards to Jesus,

23 betrays him with a kiss and in the following fight, one of the guards loses his ear. Jesus heals Malchus´ ear, the guards arrest Jesus and rest of the disciples run away.

John, one of the disciples, informs Jesus´ mother, Mary, and Mary Magdalene of the situation, while Peter follows the guards to the Temple. Caiaphas holds the trial against

Jesus and when questioned by Caiaphas whether he is the son of God, Jesus replies “I am”. He is then condemned to death for a blasphemy. Roman guards are concerned with the situation and they inform Pontius Pilate and his wife of the possible oncoming trouble. Meanwhile, Peter denies Jesus three times and Judas tries to return the money and later, overwhelmed with guilt, he commits suicide.

Jesus is brought before Pontius Pilate for the confirmation of the verdict. Pilate is reluctant – he is warned by his wife Claudia not to hurt Jesus, because “he is holy”.

Indeed, Pilate does not find any reason to sentence him to death. Pilate clearly takes

Jesus´ side, he is angry at the Jewish priests who tortured Jesus even before convicting him, refuses to solve the case because it is not in his jurisdiction and sends Jesus to

King Herod. Herod asks Jesus to perform some miracles, and when he refuses, Herod sends him back to Pilate, with a statement that Jesus “is not guilty, he is just crazy.”

Pilate must decide, he is facing uprising and riots in Jerusalem. He gives the crowd a choice - he can free one man, either Jesus or the murderer Barabbas. The crowd led by Jewish priests demands the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of Jesus.

Pilate frees Barabbas and decides to chastise Jesus to appease the crowd and then let him go. Jesus is brutally scourged and tortured. Mary, Mary Magdalene and John are in the middle of the crowd watching the flogging, when Claudia (Pilate´s wife) brings them clean cloths. The Roman guards mock Jesus with a crown of thorns, and the crowd still asks for Jesus´ crucifixion. Pilate insists that he is innocent with the death of Jesus and that it is the crowd who wants to crucify Jesus. He washes his hands and orders

24

Jesus´ crucifixion.

Jesus carries the cross from Jerusalem to Golgotha. He is followed by the screaming crowd, Mary and Mary Magdalene follow him on one side, the Devil on the other side. He is tired, falls repeatedly with exhaustion. A man from the crowd (known from the Bible as Simon of Cyrene) is forced to help him with the cross. Jesus is crucified, with two other criminals by his side. Caiaphas reminds him his prophecy of destroying the Temple and rebuilding it in three days and mocks him about not being able to come down from the cross. Even though Jesus suffers on the cross, asks forgiveness for everyone for “they don´t know what they´re doing” and redeems one of the criminals on his side. He dies at noon, the storm begins and a single drop of rain

(which in this situation rather indicates to be God´s tear) falls from heaven and causes the earthquake that destroys the Temple. Satan screams with defeat. Jesus´ body is taken down from the cross by his followers and the Roman guards and Mary weeps over his body in the position of the well-known Pieta sculptures. In his tomb, Jesus rises from the dead and leaves the tomb, still with the holes in his hands.

In the film, Jesus appears in both his forms - human and divine. In all flashbacks, Jesus looks familiar as he resembles all the religious paintings, portraits and films. He is calm and conscious man, in a white robe and with well-cared hair and beard, he radiates some kind of inner light and acts like an etheric, supernatural,

Godlike being. In the other part of the film, he is portrayed as a vulnerable and bleeding man.

The film was made in three languages (Aramaic, Hebrew, and Latin) with subtitles, (even though Gibson originally intended to release the film without the subtitles) which shows Gibson´s drive for the maximum level of authenticity. “I think that the image overcomes the language barrier,” explains Gibson (ZENIT). The

25 importance of image for the audience is reminded in Ehrman´s book:

It was a smash hit, principally among people who were both interested in the

story of Jesus and uninformed of what the Gospels themselves have to say about

it. How will such people, probably for the rest of their lives, think about Jesus’

last hours? They’ll think about them in light of what they saw portrayed on the

big screen. Mel Gibson, much more than Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, will

affect how people understand Jesus’ death, for at least the coming generation.

(Ehrman xvi)

Despite all the controversy that it has woken up, the film still has made its creators a great profit. It is no wonder, therefore, that according to all the laws of the Hollywood film machinery, Mel Gibson has decided to make the sequel. The only thing known about the film is that it will map three-day events that have happened between the crucifixion and the resurrection and that Jim Caviezel will take on the lead role again.

Caviezel also said that the film would “shock the audience” and that it would be “the biggest film in history” (The Telegraph). Mel Gibson therefore continues with the proven strategy. The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection will premiere at Easter 2020.

6. Monty Python´s Life of Brian

Monty Python´s Life of Brian represents up to date a single film about Jesus

Christ, which is belongs to the category of comedy, and even very satirical comedy. The

British group Monty Python is best known for its series of television sketches Monty

Python´s Flying Circus and this film represents their third full-length film. As soon as the information about the subject of their new film broke out publicly, problems with film production and funding were immediately emerging as producers were afraid of negative reactions. Because Monty Python is known for his uncompromising satirical humor, these fears were partly justified. On the other hand, this film is not a parody of

26 the story of Jesus Christ, but rather parody of the films about Jesus Christ. Jesus himself appears only in two scenes in the film: in the opening scene in Bethlehem, where there is a very short shot of the crib in the stable, and then from a distance during a Sermon on a Mountain where the film focuses on the crowd of listeners, not Jesus.

The film presents a story of a man called Brian Cohen, who suffers all his life for being mistakenly considered a Messiah. It begins with his birth, when he is born in a house next to the stable in which Jesus Christ is born. Three wise men initially come with the presents to his mother, only later they find the real Messiah next door. In adult life, Brian still lives with his oppressive mother, hates the Romans and works as the refreshment seller at the Jerusalem Colosseum. During Jesus' Sermon on the mountain, he sees a young activist, Judith, falls in love with her, and because of her, he joins the

People's Judea Front, an activist group in Jerusalem fighting against the Romans. Even though they often express their hate for Romans, they only talk about their ideas, they are fighting mainly with each other and they are living actually quite pleasant life under the reign of Romans: “All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?” Brian´s first task in this group is to scribble Jerusalem's walls with the inscription “Romans, go home” in Latin – he is caught by a Roman guard, but because he makes a grammatical error, he is ordered to write the same inscription correctly as the punishment. Then he is officially admitted to the group and joins the plans to kidnap Pontius Pilate´s wife. The plan fails and on the escape from

Pilate not only he is rescued by an alien ship, but he is also forced to disguise himself as a prophet and unwillingly acquires crowd of devoted followers, who think Brian is a

Messiah and who worship Brian´s sandal and gourd that he lost on the escape. Even though desperate Brian repeatedly sends the followers away, they actually do not listen

27 anymore to the things he says, but they fanatically follow him everywhere, proclaiming each of his acts as a miracle. After a night spend with Judith, even Brian´s mother is trying to persuade the crowd of followers around her house: “He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy.” But the fanatical crowd is completely convinced that Brian is the

Messiah and that he is the son of God. Brian is captured by a Roman guard in the garden of his house and sentenced to crucifixion. Judith tries to find help for Brian among the members of their activist group, but they need to discuss the whole situation first. Even though Pontius Pilate chooses Brian as the person to be pardoned, he is not released from the cross, because another man claims to be the real Brian of Nazareth and is released instead of him. Brian´s mother, Judith, his activist group, all of them come to the cross to say their farewell, or even express their political statement, but none of them even tries to save him (even though the rescue happens quite often, people spend couple of days on the cross). Together with other crucified men and women, they sing the famous “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” song:

For life is quite absurd and death's the final word. You must always face the

curtain with a bow. Forget about your sin. Give the audience a grin. Enjoy it. It's

your last chance, anyhow. So... Always look on the bright side of death. Just

before you draw your terminal breath. Life's a piece of shit, when you look at it.

Life's a laugh and death's a joke. It's true. You'll see it's all a show. Keep 'em

laughing as you go. Just remember that the last laugh is on you.

Lloyd Baugh in his book Imaging the Divine: Jesus and Christ figures in film identifies

“abuses of religion and perversions of religious sentiments” (50) as the main target of criticism in the Life of Brian. He considers the film to be “a brilliant metaphor for how the world has used Christ's message” (50). Strong criticism aims also towards people

“the hypocrites, the false prophets, the gullible, the fighters for freedom who feud

28 among themselves” and “fundamentalists of any faith, individuals and groups who give themselves to political and religious intolerance, either as leaders or as followers” (50).

John Cleese, one of the Monty Python´s group main representatives, met two representatives of the church (noted Christian Malcolm Muggeridge and Mervyn

Stockwood, the then Bishop of Southwark) in a famous interview for BBC 4 and its show Friday Night, Saturday Morning and attempted to explain the main purpose of the film:

He says make-up your own mind, don´t let other people tell you. And we would

absolutely deny (at least I would), there was any attempt to say you should not

believe in Christ. What we´re saying is take a critical view, find out about it,

don´t just believe because somebody tells you to.

Cleese refuses that they are ridiculing Jesus and religion as such. Unfortunately, this explanation did not please the religious counterpart and they still insisted on the blasphemous character of the movie. Also, historian Ebhart understood the problem with various religious group, but unlike the filmmakers, he sees the possible influence on the religious perception of the viewers:

I thought parts of it were outrageously funny—although I have to admit that I

felt terrifically guilty laughing at the final crucifixion scene, where hanging on

their crosses they all break out into the song, “Always Look on the Bright Side

of Life.” But I felt even more disturbed by the portrayal of first-century Palestine

as being chock-full of Jewish apocalyptic crazies, all predicting this, that, or the

other scenario for the coming end of the world. I remember thinking that people

who saw the movie might think that that’s how it really was, and again the

“historical” understanding of Jesus might be affected by it. (Ebhart 187)

Although this film does not really depict Jesus Christ at all, the Church and the public

29 are perceiving it in this way.

7. Jesus of Montreal

According to the list “Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time” issued regularly by the Toronto International Film Festival, Denys Arcand´s Jesus of Montreal is considered the fourth best Canadian movie of all time (CBC News). This film, which dates back to the 1980s, combines even two Jesus´ stories - a modern theater Passion play, which a group of young actors performs at the catholic cathedral St. Joseph´s Oratory in

Montreal, and story of Daniel Coulombe – the protagonist of Jesus. During the film, the theatrical play begins to mingle with the real life of the main figures, and their fates are increasingly beginning to resemble the original New Testament story, including its tragic ending. Therefore, the film works on two different levels – as cinema and as theatre.

Young talented actor Daniel Coulombe receives from the priest Frederick

Leclerc the offer to modernize and to direct the traditional Passion play that has been playing at St. Joseph´s Oratory for nearly 40 years. Daniel is carefully preparing for the theatrical performance, studying historical documents, latest archaeological findings, modern theories about Jesus Christ. During one of his visits to the library, the librarian helping him with his research predicts: “Looking for Jesus? It´s He who will find you.”

Daniel also starts looking for actors who will play in the new adaptation of the story.

Soon he gathers together a small company of actors, consisting mainly of struggling actors - Constance, his old friend from the conservatory, Mireille, who works in the advertisement industry, and two men, Rene and Martin - one of them records the commentaries at the planetarium and the other one is doing voice overs for pornographic movies. Together they perform a play “The Passion on the Mount” that presents not only Jesus' biblical story, but also its alternatives based on academic

30 research. “The most famous [story] of all. One we all think we know. A tale from the

Orient, distant and mysterious. The story of the Jewish prophet, Yeshu Ben Panthera... whom we call Jesus.” Jesus is introduced as the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier and unmarried Mary. The play includes long educational passages describing ordinary life in the Middle East, how the idea of “the Christ” was developed over time, as well as philosophical passages (Jesus' sermons, Hamlet's Soliloquy and criticism of the

Church). The play is an instant success among the public, critics and Montreal´s cultural community. On the other hand, Father Leclerc expresses extreme resentment with the new version and is horrified how Daniel changed the script: “Are you out of your mind?

(…) I didn´t ask for this! I have to notify my superiors. I can´t take the responsibility, it´s too risky.”

Daniel's life changes fundamentally on the day when he accompanies Mireille for a commercial audition. After they want Mireille to perform naked on the stage,

Daniel tries to persuade her not to do it, because she´s “better than that”. The whole situation culminates in a conflict in which Daniel destroys the film equipment and equipment in the hall. In the following performance of the play, Daniel is arrested by

Montreal police, exactly in the moment when Daniel as Jesus hangs on the cross. He is taken to a judge (played by director, Denys Arcand, himself) and is released after a psychiatric interview. A well-known lawyer offers Daniel various possibilities how to get involved in the show business, how to become a star. “I´m just trying to show you that with your talent this city is yours. If you want it.” Meanwhile, Father Leclerc announces to other members of the group that his supervisors do not agree with the next repeat of the play and proposes to go back to the original version of the Passion play.

“We're not censuring you. Had you put this on in a private theatre, no problem. But you're on the grounds of a Catholic shrine. And that entails certain restrictions.”

31

Despite the church's ban, the actors decide to play their last performance. Guards interrupt the last scene with Jesus on the cross, and in a subsequent fight where actors and audience try to object the interruption of the play, the cross falls to the ground and

Daniel is seriously injured. He is taken to the overcrowded Christian hospital, where no one is really paying attention to him. When Daniel suddenly gets better, accompanied by Mireille and Constance, he leaves the hospital. In the subway, slightly disoriented, he gives his own sermon, and collapses again. This time he is transferred to a Jewish hospital, where he is dying despite all available care. Both women, as the closest

“relatives”, give their consent to the donation of Daniel´s organs. After his funeral, his friends decided to establish an official theater company in his memory, faithful to his ideas.

Despite being among the so-called “Jesus films”, one of the main motives of the film is the fight against consumer society and ecclesiastical hypocrisy.

Melnyk approves of this: “For some the film was a scandalous, anti-clerical provocation. Arcand responded by claiming his film was a critique of contemporary

Quebec society and its religious institutions” (141). The theme of criticism of the consumer society is present throughout the film. In particular, the scenes with Mireille and her work in the advertising industry bear out that claim. For the advertising industry, only financial profit and the visual aspect are important for advertising. People in the advertising industry do not value the person, but only the appearance. At the beginning of the movie Mireille joins the company fully under influence of the advertising world, internally empty, refusing to appear without costume and make-up.

Under Daniel´s influence she starts to unveil her true herself. Considering that the film is filled with references to the Bible, Daniel and his friends must face temptation too.

After the initial success of their play, all of them are offered various engagements in

32 commercials and TV talk shows, they are promised to fame and glory. Daniel soon realizes the superficiality of the offers (his own biography written by someone else, promotion of food or cookbook, something that he is completely unfamiliar with) which would only guarantee high earnings to the producers. It becomes obvious, that for the actors the object is not to become rich and famous anymore. They do not care if they destroy their future careers in mainstream culture but experiencing the emotions that the

Passion play evokes in them, becomes the most important. Money means nothing - their community means everything. "Consumerism may be the legacy of the eighties but there has got to be more to life than that. Jesus of Montreal is about a yearning for something else, a search for a sort of meaning," director Denys Arcand points out in an interview (qtd. in Barnett). Arcand´s film suggests that:

“… liberation - from consumerism and from Hollywood spectaculars - lies not in

the church or its story, but in the illusions of art (theater) and its dedicated actors.

Thus, Daniel's ethic is largely that of an actor who will not "sell out," and the

community that continues Daniel's memory is a theater company. (Walsh 6)

The second of the motives characterizing this film concerns the criticism of the Church.

Even though the Church first orders Daniel's modernized play, it is unable to accept it in this new form. And just like the biblical Judas, the church betrays Jesus and forbids further reprises of the play. Representatives of the Church are fully aware that they are witnessing the real spirit of Christianity in this play, based on love for one´s neighbor, and with the clear message that the Church in its current form is a fraud. During the play, Father Leclerc and his superiors are watching one of Jesus´ sermons with noticeably worried expressions:

Beware of priests who desire to walk in long robe and love greetings in the

markets, the highest seats in temples, the best rooms at feasts, who devour

33

widows' houses, pretending prayer. They shall receive a greater damnation.

Whoever will be high among you, let him be your servant. Whoever will be

chief among you, let him be your slave. Do not be called Rabbi or Reverend

Father or Your Grace or Your Eminence, for one is your Master, who is in

heaven and you are all brothers.

In a heated argument, Father Leclerc tries to persuade Daniel about the current purpose of the Church, which is to give people comfort and assurance that Jesus loves them and awaits them. “That justifies selling plastic statues of Jesus and bottles of St.

Joseph´s oil for $ 15?” argues Daniel.

The spell of the success of Arcand's film probably lies, however, in the interweaving of the life of young actors with the biblical story of Jesus Christ. They have become the mirror image of Jesus and his twelve apostles. They are not just dramatizing the Gospels, they are living them. Each of the characters in the film has its biblical predecessor and many events correspond with those described in the Bible.

Daniel's Jesus is obvious – we do not know much about his life until he arrives in

Montreal, our knowledge is based on guesses, for example, that he has undergone a

"spiritual journey" in the East. Just as Jesus did, Daniel gathers actors as disciples, he gradually shares his ideas with them. His incident in the theater presents the exact reminiscence of the cleansing of the Temple. Also, Daniel´s relationship to Mireille

(Mary Magdalene) is loving, but platonic. He always takes her side and acts as her protector, which is particularly recognizable at the commercial audition. Throughout the film, he is betrayed, he is crucified, dies and is resurrected (his organs are offered for donation – his cornea is given to a blind woman and his heart to a middle-aged man, therefore Daniel lives on in others).

Mireille is Mary Magdalene, reformed harlot, former sinner. “I used to show my

34 ass to sell soap and beer. Even the guy I was with was convinced that was my best role, given the quality of ass. I half-believed it myself. You saved me, you can't let me down.” And as already mentioned, the lawyer Richard Cardinal represents the Satan, who is trying to seduce Daniel to the world of commercial, fame and glory.

Even the minor roles have their significance and impersonations in the story.

Actor Pascal Berger is the impersonation of John the Baptist. Not only that he refers to

Daniel to the film critics as better actor, as if Daniel were at a higher level, but he also loses his head to the commercial world. One of the commercial producers states at the beginning “I want his head!” and indeed, his head appears on the billboard in the subway, presenting the perfume “Savage”, just behind Daniel´s dying body. Denys

Arcand´s role of a judge symbolizes Pontius Pilate and his trial with Jesus. Also, in this case, the guilt or innocence of Jesus is considered. Only in this case, however, Daniel leaves the court free. Montreal Police detective Marcel Brochu comes to arrest Jesus, while he is still on the cross and admits, that he really liked the play and that the play makes one to think. He may be the reflection of Roman soldier, who believed in Jesus´ miracles and converted to Christianity. Both men from his acting company represent apostles, Martin is given the role of St. Peter (in the end of the movie, he is considered to be the founding director of The Daniel Coulombe Theatre/Christian Church).

Constance is an obvious portrait of Mary, mother of Jesus – she offers accommodation to Daniel without hesitation as she represents caring mother figure. At first glance, there is no character representing Judas. The biblical traitor in this case is not just one character, but the whole Catholic Church (and its representative Father Leclerc), who betrayed Jesus, although it was favorably inclined to him at the beginning.

His film suggests that liberation-from consumerism and from

Hollywood spectaculars-lies not in the church or its story, but in the illusions

35

of art (theater) and its dedicated actors. Thus, Daniel's ethic is largely that of

an actor who will not "sell out," and the community that continues Daniel's

memory is a theater company. (Walsh 6)

8. Jesus Christ Superstar

The rock-opera Jesus Christ Superstar represents the portrayal of Jesus in a musical film and at the same time also a musical that was heavily criticized by several church organizations in the past. The rock-opera is the musical artwork of the composer

Andrew Lloyd Webber and librettist Tim Rice, who composed this rock opera in 1969 and released it first as a musical album. They were aware of the controversy of the subject and some of the aspects that the musical had presented, and they wanted to explore the reactions of the public. In 1971, the stage version of this musical was featured on Broadway and a film was made in 1973. Directed by Canadian director

Norman Jewison, it starred Ted Neeley (Jesus), Carl Anderson (Judas) and Yvonne

Ellimann (Mary Magdalene).

The original story is presented as the story of the last seven days of Jesus Christ, seen from the perspective of Judas Iscariot. The concept of the film slightly differs –

Jewison presents the story in the form of theatrical performance within the film. A group of young artists (dressed in modern-day hippie clothes) arrive by bus in the desert to perform the Passion play. They unload their props and decorations, including a large wooden cross, dress up in costumes, apply make-up. We are already seeing a division in the company now - the actor to play Judas avoids the company of the others, as well as the future priesthood leaders form a separate group. Jesus puts on a white dress, which is so typical (and stereotypical) for his character in modern films. The story itself begins on Friday and finds Jesus and his disciples on his way to Jerusalem. We are witnessing the quarrel between Judas and Jesus, when Judas warns him of the future, for it seems to

36 him that Jesus's teachings and the glory that comes with them is getting out of hands. He also protests against his behavior to Mary Magdalene, he does not understand why Jesus is wasting his time with her and regards her as a threat to Jesus's intentions. Jesus is taking Mary´s side, she is the only person who understands his needs. Together, they triumphantly enter Jerusalem, where enthusiastic crowds welcome them, led by Simon the Zealot. Simon is trying to convince Jesus to lead the crowd against Rome, and Jesus realizes that probably none of his disciples really understands the true purpose of his teachings. On the other hand, the high priests in Jerusalem realize how enormous an influence has Jesus on the crowds and what potential danger he means to the Romans in

Jerusalem. Regarding the current situation, Judas decides to hand Jesus over into the hands of the Roman authorities. In Jerusalem, Jesus visits the temple and finds it full of sinners – merchants, dealers, money-changers and prostitutes – whom he expels. Later he is almost thrown down by a mob of sick and crippled people seeking cures. He cannot handle the crowd and angrily orders them to leave him alone. In the evening,

Mary Magdalene soothes him after the tiring day and when he falls asleep, she confesses of her love for him. On Thursday evening Jesus and his disciples take their last supper, they share bread and wine, and Jesus foretells his early death. After a quarrel with Jesus, Judas leaves the disciples and goes to get the Roman guard. Jesus prays in the garden of Gethsemane, he is afraid and full of fear and asks God to take away the burden from him. The guards come soon to arrest Jesus. He is taken to Pontius

Pilate (who governed Judea at the time), who is indecisive and does not want to deal with this situation, therefore sends Jesus to King Herod to decide. Herod tries to persuade Jesus to perform some of his miracles, to turn the water into wine, to walk across his swimming pool. Jesus' stolid attitude makes him angry and Jesus is sent back to Pilate. Despite doubting Jesus´ guilt, Pilate lets him be flogged with 39 lashes, and

37 later condemns him to death at the cross, particularly at the instigation of the raging crowd. In the meantime, Judas realizes the impact of his betrayal and commits suicide.

He returns to the story as an out-of-this-world narrator, who questions Jesus and asks him whether his story made any sense and whether it was worth it. Crucifixion and

Jesus' death follow. The whole actor´s company is getting on the bus, Judas is boarding as the last one. This time, however, the whole company is strangely silent, with serious expressions on the face. Jesus is not among them.

According to my own analysis for my bachelor´s thesis, there are several common features in the musical, which critics have been observed intensely and for which they criticized the musical. Many of these criticisms are common for the album, theatrical production and the film version. The most common complaint is the portrayal of Jesus himself. In the musical, he is totally deprived of his divinity and is presented to the audience as a simple and ordinary person, not as a son of God. All significant complaints are touch on this topic. The musical is accused of an inappropriate relationship, almost a love affair between Jesus and Mary Magdalene; another complaint is directed toward Jesus's human feelings - fear of death, worries, uncertainty, the desire to give up his mission. The musical ends with Jesus' death on the cross, the scene of the resurrection is missing here - the writers therefore suggest that Jesus died just like any other ordinary man. The fourth major critique is the concept of the musical itself - it is narrated from the point of view of Judas Iscariot (the musical even has its unofficial name The Gospel according to Judas), who is considered to be the personification of the evil in the Christian Church. Judas also saw Jesus as an ordinary man – “I remember when this whole thing began / No talk of God, then - we called you a man” (“Heaven on Their Minds”).

On the other hand, Mark Goodacre, the New Testament scholar and university

38 professor, considers Jesus´ humanity the film´s greatest strength:

Jesus Christ Superstar takes away the holy fog and attempts to give us a clear

view of a Jesus who thinks human thoughts and feels human feelings. He has

self-doubt and uncertainty and is capable of looking genuinely pained as well as

genuinely happy. This is, in fact, the one Jesus film in which he is actually

capable of smiling, and smiling a warm, human smile and not a condescending,

beatific simper. Indeed, the point at which the smile wanes is a highly important

moment, a turning point in the narrative. Up until the number ‘Simon Zealotes’,

Ted Neeley, playing Jesus, smiles constantly, and looks thrilled to see the

support and adulation given by the crowd in the song ‘Hosanna’. (Goodacre)

Jewish and racial themes also resonated within the society. Jewish organizations protested against the image of Jews as those who bear the main guilt on the death of

Jesus Christ and the black organizations against the fact that Judas, the personification of all evil, is played by the black actor.

It is interesting to note that even though more than 45 years have passed since the premiere of the film, the musical was officially recognized by the Vatican, and yet protests have appeared even in recent years, almost every time the new musical is released. (Hejčová 33).

9. The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code is included in this movie selection because its basic plot is based on the story of Jesus, and in this case a greatly altered story. Altered to the extent that Leigh Teabing, one of the main characters of the film, called the original Jesus´ story “a lie” and “the greatest cover-up in human history”. The film is based upon a bestseller written by Dan Brown in 2003 and, like the book, caused an enormous wave of interest and positive and negative reactions from both critics and the public.

39

The film portrays the story of a Harvard professor Robert Langdon who is invited as a consultant to the unusual murder of the curator in the Louvre Museum in

Paris. The consultant soon becomes the prime suspect and what first seemed to be a murder investigation, suddenly becomes a hunt for the Holy Grail throughout Europe.

Sophie, the granddaughter of the Parisian curator joins Langdon and, thanks to the clues left by the curator before his death, they gradually reveal not only further indications to find the Holy Grail, but also the history of the Priory of Sion, their teaching, and their role in the history of the world. On the run, they visit an English historian Leigh

Teabing, who familiarizes Sophie with the main mission of the Priory of Sion - to guard the Holy Grail. Sophie, to her great surprise, learns that, according to the Priory of Sion, the Holy Grail of Jesus Christ is not a vessel, but a woman, Mary Magdalene. As

Teabing explains: “No, the Grail has never been a cup. It is quite literally this ancient symbol of womanhood. And in this case, a woman who carried a secret so powerful that if revealed, it would devastate the very foundations of Christianity.” Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus Christ, and she even gave birth to Jesus´ daughter Sarah. “When the legend speaks of the chalice that held the blood of Christ it speaks in fact of the female womb that carried Jesus' royal bloodline.” The evidence of this story is written in the Gospel according to Philip, that was “… rejected at the Council of Nicaea along with any other gospels that made Jesus appear human and not divine.” After the crucifixion, Mary moved to France, where her and her descendants, the bloodline of

Jesus Christ, were protected by the Priory of Sion for centuries. Potential revelation of this mystery that could shake the foundations of the Christian Church and the entire

Western world is the reason why the curator of the Louvre was murdered. The murderer is revealed to be the Albino monk, who works for the mysterious Teacher and cooperates with the Opus Dei religious group. (The goal of Opus Dei is to protect the

40

Church from destruction and ridicule.) The final string of clues reveals Teabing to be the

Teacher, who wants to punish the Church for a century full of lies and deceit:

For 2000 years the Church has rained oppression and atrocity upon mankind

crushed passion and idea alike, all in the name of their walking God. Proof of

Jesus' mortality can bring an end to all that suffering drive this church of lies to

its knees. Jesus must be shown for what he was. Not miraculous, simply man.

These clues also lead Robert and Sophie to Scotland to the Rosslyn Chapel. Here they meet members of the Priory of Sion - Sophie's relatives, and several evidence that proves Sophie as the last living descendant of Jesus Christ. Later in the Louvre in Paris,

Langdon discovers the place where the Holy Grail, the tomb of Mary Magdalene, is hidden.

The film The Da Vinci Code has encountered the same problems as the original book when it was introduced to cinemas. In particular, the Roman Catholic Church objected to it, pointing to blasphemy and even calling for a boycott of the film.

According to Fox News, Monsignor Angelo made the comments in a speech at the

Pontifical Holy Cross University, which is run by the conservative Catholic movement

Opus Dei:

“I hope all of you boycott this film,” the Italian agency quoted Amato as saying.

[…] “Slander, offenses and errors that if they were directed toward the Quran or

the Shoah would have justifiably provoked a worldwide revolt,” he said,

referring to Islam's holy book and the Hebrew word for Holocaust. “Yet because

they were directed toward the Catholic Church, they remain ‘unpunished’,” he

said.

While the book became a bestseller and received positive feedback among critics, the film was not very successful among them. At the Cannes Film Festival where the film

41 premiered, it met with rather lukewarm praise, and its newspaper reviews were not very favorable too. On the other hand, audiences were not listening to the views of critics – the film earned $ 217 million in the US and became the second most profitable film of

2006 worldwide (the first place belongs to the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man´s

Chest).

In addition to the apparent insults of the Church, the false statements about the history of the Church and its principal holy figure, critics saw the main problem especially in one sentence in the introduction to his book, where the author claims that everything is true. “All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate,” states Dan Brown in a separate text with a large title

FACTS. What's more, in several TV interviews, he confirmed that the whole background of his novel is true (O´Neill). Therefore, many people might not simply watch or read The Da Vinci Code as merely fiction, but might taking its claims as being well researched, historical and factual. According to O´Neill´s website History vs The

Da Vinci Code (which is dedicated to the examination of historical claims made by

Brown in his book and which provides comprehensive analysis of all these claims) several surveys were made among the readers to map their opinions:

Recent surveys of readers' attitudes to the historical information confirm that a

large proportion of them accept Dan Brown's information almost without

question. On June 23rd 2005, the National Geographic Society released a survey

of readers of The Da Vinci Code which revealed 32 % of 1005 readers agreed

with the novel's claim that Jesus founded a ‘bloodline’ which is protected by a

secret society to this day. In May 2006, the British pollster Opinion Research

Business conducted a similar survey, finding that out of 1000 people surveyed,

60 % of readers of the novel believed Jesus had a child by Mary Magdalene, as

42

opposed to 30 % of people who had not read the book.

This Brown's claim that his book is based on true foundations has provoked outrage not only among church institutions and believers, but also among scholars and historians.

Many of them were inspired to write their own publications and texts in which they accurately portray and correct Brown's historical mistakes.

I should stress that I am not objecting to Dan Brown’s inventing claims about

early Christian documents as part of his fictional narrative; the problem is that he

indicates that his accounting of early Christian documents is historically

accurate, and readers who don’t know the history of early Christianity will

naturally take him at his word. (Ehrman 100)

As it turns out, much of what Brown sets forth about the early Christian documents, largely on the lips of his Grail expert Leigh Teabing, is built into the fabric of his fictional narrative and cannot be trusted as part of the historical record.

10. The Man from Earth

In my view, a collection of films offering an unusual portrayal of Jesus Christ must also include this 2007 science fiction film. Even though the film's main premise is based on the question seemingly unrelated to the topic “What if a man from the upper

Paleolithic survived until the present day?”, the connection with Jesus Christ soon appears and represents one of the most important plot twists of the whole movie.

The film is based on a script written by Jerome Bixby, a well-known author of science fiction stories and scripts for the legendary Star Trek sci-fi series. Based on the story he had co-written, the film and the Fantastic Voayage series were also filmed. The script to The Man from Earth represents his last work, which he completed on the deathbed in 1998 (he dictated the last lines to his son, Emerson Bixby). The film premiered at the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con and later leaked on-line, just two weeks

43 before its official DVD distribution. It soon became an Internet sensation and a

“BitTorrent Blockbuster” as The Hollywood Reporter states.

Man From Earth jumped 7,700 percent on IMDb's MOVIEmeter, a statistic that

tracks activity on a film's page, becoming the most searched sci-fi movie on the

site. Both filmmakers cite the illegal traction as having a positive impact on legal

sales of the film. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Following thousands and thousands illegal downloads, the director Richard Schenkman and producer Eric D. Wilkinson came up with the idea of creating the PayPal account and ask the viewers to voluntarily contribute with any amount they consider adequate.

Eventually, the film earned over one million dollars in business (the production costs were only about $ 200,000) and according to Richard Schenkman, people are still sending money and positive reviews on their website even today.

As mentioned above, the film presents the idea of Cro-Magnon man surviving into the present day. The film is a very unconventional representative of the science fiction genre. In its essence, this is a conversational film that takes place in one room and is based only on a thought-based dialogue between university professors. They gather together for an impromptu good-bye party for their colleague, John Oldman, who is retiring from the university and leaving the town. At this farewell party, John initially refuses to tell his friends why he is leaving, only confines himself to the information that he gets "itchy feet" and that he often moves on. Friends argue that he is too young for this and that "he hasn't aged a day" for the past 10 years he spent on the faculty. It turns out that his friends are university professors of anthropology, biology, history, art history, and archeology. While John gradually packs his stuff, the whole company, drinking rare green Johnny Walker bottle, looks for an appropriate conversation theme for the afternoon and is still returning to the reason why John leaves. So, John decides

44 to share this mystery with them.

“There is something I'm tempted to tell you, I think. I've never done this before

and I wonder how it'll pan out. I wonder if I could ask you a silly question. (…)

What if a man from the upper Paleolithic...survived until the present day?”

“Wh-what d'ya mean ‘survived’? Never died?”

“Yes. What would he be like?”

This hypothetical question arouses amazement among professors, but on the assumption that this is a plot of John's new book (which John does not entirely deny), they decide to take on this “game” and discuss the topic within the terms of their expert knowledge.

They basically agree that if this 140-centuries-old man had an irregularity in his immune system in the form of perfect cellular regeneration, he could have lived for so long. He would look just like us, for there is not a fundamental anatomical difference between the younger Paleolithic man and people of the 21st century. But the immense difference would be in his knowledge, as Dan, the anthropology professor mentions:

“Well, we think men of the upper Paleolithic were as intelligent as we are. They just didn't know as much. John's man would have learned as the race learned. In fact, if he had an inquiring mind, his knowledge might be...astonishing.” In the midst of the following discussion of the possibilities of science, of discoveries that can be considered first as a magic and superstition, but subsequently shown to be a scientifically proven fact, John reveals that he once sailed with Columbus, and even though he believed that the Earth was round, he was still afraid that they would fall off an edge somewhere at the end.

The disbelieving, reluctant and confused reactions follow, John is even accused of being mad and drunk, but his story all sounds so interesting and appealing to everyone that they want him to continue. John then tells his story of the centuries-long

45 journey, from the Paleolithic to the present, of life in the middle of a prehistoric tribe, of livelihood, geography, perception of time and space, of learning and new sciences, of his travels around the world, to the Far East, China. He tells about his meetings with famous people in history (Vincent van Gogh, Buddha). What was first a friendly afternoon chat, changes over time into intense interrogation full of mysteries. John´s story, on the one hand, is utterly unbelievable, but John challenges the erudite objections from his colleagues without any problems and has a very credible answer to all questions. And they are truly aware of that, as Dan points out:

There's absolutely no way in the whole world for John to prove this story to us,

just like there's no way for us to disprove it. No matter how outrageous we think

it is, no matter how highly trained some of us think we are, there's absolutely no

way to disprove it. Our friend is either a caveman, a liar, or a nut. So, while

we're thinking about that, why don't we just go with it?

Art, a professor of archeology, expresses great concern about John's mental health, and calls another colleague, Wil Gruber, an old psychiatrist, who soon assumes the role of the main “interrogator.” The conversation turns to education, John admits that he has 10 doctorates in various disciplines (including all that his colleagues teach), but he can no longer keep up with all the news in all disciplines. The colleagues are fascinated, although according to John “… living 14,000 years didn't make me a genius. I just had time.”

A fundamental contradiction, however, occurs when the conversation begins to concern religion, and when the question arises whether John knows someone from biblical history. He wants to avoid this question and refuses to answer it several times, stating that the Bible is largely just a myth, partly based on historical events and that

“… the mythical overlay is so enormous...and not good. The truth is so… so… simple.”

46

Then he narrates the story of a man who knew and admired Buddha's teachings and decided to spread it in modern form. He tried it, but because he was alone against

Rome, Rome won. And the rest is a well-known history. Even though the name was never told, it was clear to all people in the room. “I knew it. He´s saying he was Christ” whispers Edith, the professor of art history and the most religious person in the room.

Then came the resurrection story:

He blocked the pain, as he had learned to do in Tibet and India. He also learned

to slow his body processes down to the point where they were undetectable.

They thought he was dead. So his followers pulled him from the cross, placed

him in a cave... His body normalized as he had trained it to... He attempted to go

away undetected, but some devotees were standing watch. Tried to explain. They

were ecstatic. Thus, I was resurrected, and I ascended to central Europe to get

away as far as possible.

The excited discussion that follows blames John for blasphemy, but also examines the historical connection between Buddha's teaching, Jesus, and ancient myths, e.g.

Hercules, which carry features similar to Jesus' story. John admits that the present form of religion and church is fundamentally different from what he was teaching at the time.

“I see ceremony, ritual, processions, genuflecting, moaning, intoning, venerating cookies and wine. And I think...it's not what I had in mind.” Dan approves:

Taken alone, the philosophical teachings of Jesus are Buddhism with a Hebrew

accent. Kindness, tolerance, brotherhood, love. A ruthless realism

acknowledging that life is as it is here on earth, here and now. The Kingdom of

God, meaning goodness, is right here, where it should be. “I am what I am

becoming.” That's what the Buddha brought in.

An interesting question arises from this discussion – what does Jesus have to say to

47 those present who have difficulties to believe in him. John answers: “Believe in what he tried to teach, without rigmarole. Piety is not what the lessons bring to people. It's the mistake they bring to the lessons.” John explains how history has changed his story, how simple teaching has become religion (“…began as a schoolhouse and ended as a temple”), how his name has gradually changed in various languages, the nonexistent three wise men, walking on the water, or raising the dead. However, he admits healing through Eastern medicine.

With every word the atmosphere in the room thickens, everyone is shaken, some believe the story, others refuse to believe it because it fundamentally changes their beliefs. The discussion ends when Will forces John to finally admit that he invented everything, because the situation has gone too far. John admits that everything was a fanciful story that was induced by the questions his friends asked him. All of them start gradually leaving, some with relief, others angry that John played with them. Only

Sandy, who is in love with John, believes that John told them the truth, though so incredible. She asks him about other names he used in the past. One of these names

(used 60 years ago in Boston - John T. Partee) is overheard by Will. It turns out that

John is Will's father who left him as a little boy. Based on this revelation, Will gets a heart attack and dies. John for the first time witnesses the death of his own child. He and

Sandy then leave together.

If the sci-fi factor is taken away from the story, Jesus Christ remains as a wise wandering scholar from the East, aware of the Buddha's teachings and practices of

Tibetan monks, who could be a real historical figure and represent a potential explanation of the story of Jesus Christ, his crucifixion, his death and his resurrection.

11. Common Aspects

The films I chose as examples in my thesis, belong, according to Walsh, to the

48 third, fourth and fifth waves of religious films. Only Jesus Christ Superstar is part of the third one (counter-culture era), most of the others belong to the fourth, iconoclastic era, and The Man from Earth can be said to fall into the fifth (metaphysical era). In their essence, however, all films offer certain aspects of the fourth, iconoclastic era. The

Oxford English Dictionary characterizes the iconoclasm as: 1) “the action of attacking or assertively rejecting cherished beliefs and institutions or established values and practices” and 2) “the rejection or destruction of religious images as heretical; the doctrine of iconoclasts”.

From this point of view, all the selected movies appear to be iconoclastic, all of them break the ingrained myths not only about the character of Jesus Christ, but also about religion as such. Scorsese presents his Christ as a God tormented by human doubts and fear and even allows him to enjoy earthly life to the detriment of his divine mission. The Pythons point to the issue of religion and blind following of belief and false prophets. Mel Gibson in his “authentic” film shows brutal torture full of blood instead of the generally expected religious piety. Denys Arcand presents in his film a

Passion play about historically accurate Christ whose existence is documented by archaeological findings and writings. Jewison´s Jesus Christ Superstar depicts the person of Jesus Christ as a human, and moreover, from the viewpoint of Judas Iscariot.

In Ron Howard´s movie, the descendants of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene survived to the present, and The Man from Earth suggests that Jesus could have been a person who is familiar with the Eastern teachings and practices of Tibetan monks.

There is another common aspect of the films – all of them raised an enormous wave of criticism from various church organizations, primarily from the reasons mentioned in the previous paragraph. The portrayal of the Jesus-figure that does not correspond with the image of God´s son and the Messiah as described in the Bible,

49 seems to be the general and common problem for all the Christian organizations, irrespective of their religious bearings. For example, in my bachelor´s thesis research, I found that “fundamentalists opposed the relationship between Jesus and Mary

Magdalene, Catholics protested against the portrayal of Christ as a totally human character and Jews against the presentation of Jewish leaders as Christ-killers” (Hejčová

32). The only exception among these films, the one has not met with criticism from the

Church, is the film The Man from Earth. There are probably two reasons for this: first, the film belongs to the science-fiction genre and was not promoted as a Jesus film, therefore the Church was not probably aware of the existence of another film that portrays (even in a very specific way) Jesus Christ. Secondly, promotion and distribution of the movie first took place primarily through the torrents and illegal downloads, which is not exactly the Church´s preferred way of obtaining films.

From a cultural point of view, each of these films more or less reflects the era in which it was made. The director´s personal ideological perspectives play a significant role as well. This cultural perspective occurs not only in this selection of films but is quite common in almost every important Jesus film in history. Walsh argues:

Filmmakers present Jesus according to their personal ideological perspectives.

Griffith advocates pacifism and attacks social engineering. DeMille supports

American capitalism and the middle class. Pasolini speaks for Italian peasants

versus aristocratic and bourgeois regimes. Jewison and Greene reflect the

counterculture and oppose the military-industrial complex. Ray is open to

secular humanism. Stevens and Zeffirelli speak for private faith: Zeffirelli and

Young are ecumenical, while DeMille is popularly Protestant and Krish and

Sykes are evangelical. Monty Python mocks empire (including the church).

Scorsese and Arcand criticize Hollywood. Arcand also rejects consumerism.

50

(Walsh 8)

The musical Jesus Christ Superstar is a typical product of the 70s and its hippie generation. Hippie counter culture is present both visually and in content. The nomadic theater company of young people is dressed in typical hippie outfits, bell-bottom jeans, batik t-shirts, scarves, floral headbands in long hair. Among the apostles there is a relaxed, friendly atmosphere, solidarity and mutual affection, almost like in the hippie community of the 70s. This era is typical with the anti-war moods. Modern army tanks appear in the film when Judas considers betrayal of Jesus Christ, Roman guards are dressed in modern camouflage suits and jet fighters fly over the heads of the performers

– all these are easily recognizable symbols of occupation and oppression (especially for the audience that lived through the war in Vietnam).

As previously mentioned, the Pythons reject the statements that they are mocking the character of Jesus Christ itself.

Members of the Monty Python troupe have always insisted that their 1979 Life

of Brian - the comic film treatment of a hapless mortal who happens to be born

in the manger next to Jesus’ and who is consequently mistaken all his life for the

Messiah—is not blasphemous because, rather than mocking any deity, it satirizes

mortal failings. (Cassity 1)

The main objective that is targeted by their satire are the blinded followers of fundamentalist groups. Encyclopedia Britannica describes fundamentalism as “type of militantly conservative religious movement characterized by the advocacy of strict conformity to sacred texts”. This is clearly shown in the film in the example of a group of enthusiastic Brian's followers. Not only do they fanatically admire every single word, regardless of its meaning, but they also begin seeing miracles in the most common things, and later even begin to invent these miracles. Their obsession grows to the point

51 where they will gradually cease to perceive the real content of the message.

In Scorsese´s The Last Temptation of Christ, the postmodern passion for deconstruction and reinterpretation of classical themes can be found. Postmodernism itself rejects the concept of a single truth and a single goal but seeks an alternative approach to the world. Last third of the film (even if it is only a dream sequence) shows the ultimate alternative approach – a Jesus who was not crucified and lives a happy family life represents an approach that no one has ever used before Scorsese.

The beginning of the 1980s is linked to the emergence of the second wave of consumerism. Jesus of Montreal not only reacts to this rise of a consumer culture in which relationships serve only for self-gratification and people are used and exploited but targets ecclesiastical conformism and hypocrisy as well.

We can basically include The Passion of the Christ among modern action movies, whose era began in the 1980s and 1990s of the last century and now continues with the film adaptations of comic heroes’ stories. Both action movies and comics present the fearless main hero, who, with his courage (and often through sacrificing his own life), saves the world and the mankind. The film presents Jesus as a superhero, who is able to face all the pain and violence. Mel Gibson in his interview for ZENIT confirms:

There is no greater hero story than this one — about the greatest love one can

have, which is to lay down one’s life for someone. The Passion is the biggest

adventure story of all time. I think it’s the biggest love-story of all time; God

becoming man and men killing God — if that’s not action, nothing is.

Although the films The Passion of the Christ and The Man from Earth are only three years apart in the date of the origin, both stand on the opposite side of the film spectrum. While The Passion of the Christ reflects the fascination with blood and

52 violence, The Man from Earth highlights education, love, compassion, and friendship.

This difference reflects the situation of today's polarized society.

These common features (an iconoclastic approach, criticism from the Church for the portrayal of Christ, and thematic reflection of the time in which these films were shot) can be found in all of these films. An interesting connecting element is, however, also the marketing strategy and the form of promotion.

12. Marketing Strategy

Hollywood studios spend an enormous amount of money on film marketing because cinematography has always been seen in the US as a business and entertainment industry. Profitability is the decisive factor for major film studios. And at the same time, these studios have funds for extensive marketing campaigns. Film marketing plays an important part of film culture that can shape and change the expectations, preferences and habits of the audience through targeted marketing campaigns and strategies. For many years, film promotion relied heavily on printed advertising (movie posters, newspaper advertisements, billboards), radio, television and film trailers before the main movie in cinemas. With the emergence of the Internet in the

90´s, completely new field of digital marketing was created that allowed promotion in the online environment). No matter what part of marketing mix is used, the main objective of the film studios is to attract to the cinemas as many people as possible. The promotional strategy is therefore shaped to attract the viewers across the opinion spectrum, in this case believers and atheists at the same time. Walsh confirms the importance of the secular audience for the religious films:

[…] recent film has not turned away from religion; it has portrayed religion in a

way marketable to the largest possible pluralist, secular audience. After all, it is

rationalized and ethicized religion that has dominated modernity since its earliest

53

days. (4)

All the films mentioned in this paper interestingly use various forms of marketing to promote themselves. These films can be compared from several points of view regarding the promotional marketing. First, films can be divided into two groups, depending on the origin of the script. First group (The Last Temptation of Christ, The

Da Vinci Code) was based on a book (or album in the case of Jesus Christ Superstar), while the scripts for the second group were written directly for the films. The audience knew what to expect of the film, they knew the storyline and, in all three cases, protests appeared at the time of the publication of both the books and the album. The promotion

(with the focus on the official poster and the movie trailer) of these films is deliberately avoiding controversy: the movie poster for The Last Temptation is, in addition to text information about filmmakers, just a simple black graphic that shows a thorn crown on a red (bloody) background. Movie trailer shows scenes that are typical of all Jesus films, scenes that are described in the Bible: a crowd welcoming Jesus to Jerusalem, singing Hosanna, cleansing of the Temple when Jesus is expelling the merchants and money changers from the Temple, Jesus praying and walking with the disciples and entering the cave/Lazarus´ tomb. There are no mentions of Christ´s visions on the cross and the underlying voice presents the film: “Martin Scorsese brings us a startling vision, an extraordinary story. The Last Temptation of Christ”. Everything in the trailer suggests that we are going to see a classic Jesus film, the film that would be appealing to the Christians. On the other hand, The Da Vinci Code movie trailers and poster are presenting the murder and mystery, “the biggest cover-up in human history” and the secret that would “devastate the very foundations of mankind”. Despite being accompanied with religious music and paintings, the trailer does not reveal the true gist of the mystery, the controversial theory of Jesus Christ being married to Mary

54

Magdalene and their child; actually, it does not appear to be religious at all. Therefore, the marketing of the movie does not target the Christian community, if focuses mainly on the typical Hollywood thriller fans. Jesus Christ Superstar is an interesting case of film with two predecessors: a rock-opera album and a stage musical on Broadway.

Therefore, the content and story are well-known to the audience. As the movie was made in 1973, there is strong influence of the hippie era that can be seen in its promotion. The poster depicts silhouette of Jesus on the cross with Roman guards and his friends and family surrounding him, and the scene is lit by wild shades of red, orange and violet colors. The movie trailer is voiceless, it basically shows the highlights of the musical score and the main events and people of the last seven days of Christ´s life – Judas and his hatred to Jesus, Mary Magdalene´s devotion, cleansing of the

Temple, King Herod, flogging, Jesus on the cross and his final appearance in heavenly white glowing dress. Great attention is paid to the clothing and props from the 70´s, hippie counterculture is accentuated. This mixture of modern attitude and traditional story is appealing to both groups, believers and atheists as well. But just as in the two previous cases, the controversial aspects accompanying the introduction of the musical do not appear in the trailer. On the contrary - Jesus is shown in the trailer as a divine figure (in accordance with the Bible, but not with the original libretto of the musical that represents him more like a human being) and the final scene with Jesus in white robe can convince the audience unacquainted with the story that Jesus is resurrected at the end of the film. The importance of Judas's character is also suppressed here.

The second group consists of films that do not have their predecessor, so their marketing does not have to deal with prejudice and protests against the original work.

Of all remaining films only The Passion of the Christ depicts the life of Jesus Christ, the others incorporate Jesus' story into other people's lives. As I have previously mentioned,

55

Mel Gibson paid great attention to the authenticity of the film and repeatedly stated his intention to film what had really happened to Jesus:

This film will show the passion of Jesus Christ just the way it happened. It’s like

traveling back in time and watching the events unfold exactly as they occurred.

[…] We’ve done the research. I’m telling the story as the Bible tells it. I think

the story, as it really happened, speaks for itself. The Gospel is a complete script,

and that’s what we’re filming. (ZENIT)

Gibson's film was therefore expected to be a typical Jesus film, not only on the basis of his statements, but also on basis of Gibson´s devote Catholicism. The official poster also implies traditional Jesus film. In addition to the film's name, we see Christ's profile portrait, with his eyes closed, thorn crown on his head and a bloody scar on his face.

The trailer focuses on detailed views of Jesus' mother and his loved ones and shows their emotions and pain, scenes from Jesus' past are accentuated, but also supernatural elements (Satan and the serpent as his symbol). The trailer shows many details that are sufficiently telling (walking legs, falling hammer, detail of the thorn crown, crying mother) while not revealing much of the overall visual of the film. The footage of a tortured and bloody Jesus is altered into a sepia shade, so the viewer does not know how bloody Gibson´s movie really is and the amount of controversial demonstrations of violence. In this case, however, it is probably due to screening in cinemas before films with a lower rating of accessibility (the trailer is marked with green color, which approves it for all audiences), generally speaking, this trailer also promotes a different film than the viewer actually sees. Mel Gibson promoted the film personally and focused his promotion primarily on the Christian public, religious groups and their leaders. “For filmmakers, biblical and religious topics guaranteed audience interest and conferred an aura of respectability on their new industry. Accordingly, advertising

56 rhetoric depicted the theater as a church and the film as a sermon,” (Walsh 2). As Peter

Marseco claims in his analysis, Mel Gibson sent the invites to the important church dignitaries to view the preview on their own recommend the film in their congregations and encouraged believers to buy tickets in advance sales, and even renting the entire theatres for viewing. Promotion of this film was devised to the last detail and relied on the cohesion and enthusiasm of the Christian community, who saw The Passion of the

Christ as the biggest opportunity for evangelism in this century:

The Passion of the Christ Website Outreach offered visitors a detailed timeline,

beginning in December of 2003, for specifically planning a week of events

surrounding the movie to be used in February and March. In early January,

Outreach reminded ministers to place orders for various supporting materials. By

the end of the month, visitors to the Passion website were being instructed to

show trailers of the film to their congregations. In February the instructions

became more specific including hanging banners, inviting friends to view the

movie and to attend follow-up sessions. (Marseco 23)

Enormous merchandising and several Internet pages offering official licensed products of the film were important part of the marketing campaign. Targeting the advertising on special demographic groups became financial success and an example for future marketing of religious movies.

Three remaining movies do not portray the life of Jesus Christ, they incorporate it into the lives of other people, whether it be in the time of Jesus Christ or in the present. The film Man from Earth is very specific in this selection regarding the marketing - I have described the unique distribution and financing in Chapter 11. The trailer itself and the poster do not even mention the character of Jesus Christ, and it is no surprise - it would reveal the main surprise and plot twist of the film. The poster

57 represents a regular science fiction poster, with the Earth seen from the universe and a floating figure of a man in bright light above it. Trailer then points out to the legendary writer of the script Jerome Bixby and introduces the underlying premise of the film –

(what if a man walks the Earth for 14,000 years) and shows various academical hypotheses and disputes among the main characters and adds the hint of an action in the form of a drawn revolver.

On the other hand, the trailer for the Monty Python´s Life of Brian immediately points out to the Biblical story and the Messiah (even though the name Jesus Christ is not mentioned): “Everyone knows the glorious story of the child born in a faraway manger.

Well, this is that story.” Since the production of the Monty Python group has been notoriously known for its sharp satire and humorous sketches, despite this introduction, it is unlikely that this film would be perceived as a serious story. The entire trailer is conceived as a television documentary accompanied by an avid commentary of the moderator, describing various events in the movie. The visual part of the trailer full of humorous scenes, absurd events and proclamations makes a sharp contrast to this serious commentary, a typical feature for Monty Python sketches. There were several versions of the official poster, all of them were illustrated and dominated by a huge inscription with the name of the film. The posters reveal Brian chased by a fanatical crowd, God's light, a crashed alien ship, gathering of the crowd and typical "Jesus" attributes like Jerusalem or Three Kings in the desert. Despite of these religious hints, the trailer clearly shows a parody of the Jesus movies with the focus on the senseless and blind behavior of avid followers. The last of the films Jesus of Montreal represents an interesting mix of two stories - the story of actors in contemporary Montreal and the

Jesus Christ story in Palestine. Director Denys Arcand has repeatedly stated he considered Jesus' story to be a myth: “We finally had the chance to tell a story which we

58 all knew, to reinterpret one of the basic myths of Western culture," and points out that

"the film is not a literal reconstruction of the Jesus myth” (Arcand qtd. in Barnett). The film poster is focused on a man with luggage standing on an escalator heading towards the sky. The subtitle of the film reads “Passion is absurd”. Great emphasis is also placed on the evaluation and awards the film has won. The overall atmosphere of the trailer can be perceived as rather comic and absurd, especially thanks to the accompanying commentary:

Jesus of Montreal – refers to the Gospel according to St. Mark. Advertising for

eau de cologne. The Brothers Karamazov. The dubbing of pornographic movies.

The Big Bang. The formula for Coca-Cola classic. Hamlet´s soliloquy. The

inconvenience of being born in Burkina Faso. Jesus of Montreal. It touches

everything that is unavoidable.

The contrast between the Gospel and the list of things that are connected with the contemporary consumer society adds to the absurd aspect of the trailer. The visual part offers predominantly scenes from the private life of the actors, it does not reflect the

Passion play and actually, it does not mention Jesus´ name at all. If it were not the name of the film, the film would not be recognized as a film with a religious subtext, but only as a contemporary critique of consumerism.

This promotional point of view reveals interesting aspects of the films: one part of them claims in their publicity to tell the true story of Jesus, the other, on the contrary, the mention of Jesus completely avoids in the promotion. However, all films are offering the viewer a story that is authentic, based on historical facts, new approaches and perspectives. The Jesus Christ story, which in its essence always differs from the traditional portrayal of the Christ in the Bible. Adele Reinhartz in her book “Jesus of

Hollywood” argues that these movies fit into the standard biographical film genre, they

59 make a claim to historicity or historical authenticity, and at the same time, they undermine that claim in ways that are both subtle and overt. Therefore, a marketing strategy aimed at various target groups allows the creation of promotional materials and trailers that can fundamentally differ from the original work.

13. Conclusion

Films that portray the life of Jesus Christ are an integral part of cinematography from its very beginnings. This story fascinates not only filmmakers, but predominantly the audiences who do not hesitate to spend a lot of money not only for cinema tickets but also for accompanying merchandising. In our contemporary commercially focused society, the combination of a traditional story and the modern filmmaking approach is often a guarantee of profitability.

The films I chose for my analysis represent a variety of different approaches to the New Testament theme. The Last Temptation of Christ by Martin Scorsese and Mel

Gibson´s The Passion of the Christ represent films that are portraying the story of Jesus

Christ, Monty Python´s Life of Brian, Jesus of Montreal by Dennis Arcand, Jesus Christ

Superstar, The Da Vinci Code and The Man from Earth present stories of people whose life is somehow influenced by Jesus Christ. Although these films come from different periods and from different countries, they all share several features, of which the most common one is to portray Jesus Christ as a character we do not know from the Bible, but at the same time to claim the film is either historically correct or authentic. But the

Bible itself is not consistent in naming and characterizing the origin of Jesus Christ, each of the Gospels names him differently. Since the Gospels were written long after

Christ's death, and were subject to certain errors due to unreliable oral spread, but perhaps also due to deliberate modifications related to the current developments and religious atmosphere in the area, it is not possible to consider the Bible historically as a

60 completely relevant source.

The creators show Jesus Christ from various point of views, with specific approach and changes in the original Biblical story and using multiple types of narratives. According to the cultural context, firstly, all the films reflect the era in which they were produced, and secondly, these films either belong to the “iconoclastic” era of

80´s and 90´s (according to Walsh) – when the influence of a secular and pluralist society began to appear – or bear significant features of iconoclasm. Scorsese presents his Christ as a God tormented by human doubts and fear, rejecting his destiny and succumbing to the temptation of mundane life. The Pythons in a satirical exaggeration mock the blind following of belief and false prophets. Mel Gibson´s film is full of brutal torture of Christ, Denys Arcand acquaints the viewers with Yeshu Ben Panthera, son of a Roman soldier, whose existence is documented by archaeological findings and writings. Jesus Christ Superstar presents the person of Jesus Christ as a doubting man, deprived of his divinity. Ron Howard accuses the Church of lying and claims that the descendants of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene survived to the present. And the sci-fi

The Man from Earth offers the hypothesis that Jesus could have been the sage and the healer from the East, who is acquainted with the practices of Tibetan monks. The combination of these two issues resulted in another common aspect - all of the films

(except The Man from Earth) were accompanied by strong protests by the Church. The iconoclastic approach, as well as claims of truthfulness and historical authenticity, has forced many church leaders to organize protests, boycotts of the films, and public claims of condemnation.

At this stage, marketing enters the game. By analyzing trailers, posters, and other marketing tools, I have come to believe that the story introduced in most of the trailers does not match the real content of the movie. Significant story lines are

61 concealed, the overall appearance of the film is distorted, and trailers for the movies that are based on the novels, obviously deliberately avoid the plots and storylines that were a subject of protests and criticism. These contradictions suggest that marketing specialists have defined the target groups, and subsequently have adjusted the promotion of the film. The most striking marketing strategy accompanied the film The Passion of the

Christ by Mel Gibson, who personally provided the promotion of the film, was entirely focused on church and religious organizations as the main target group. This exceptional and well thought strategy made the film the most profitable R-rated film in history.

Based on these findings, it is possible to conclude that although these films were made in different eras, their portrayal of the “unusual Christ” bears more common features, like the iconoclastic approach, accent to the historical accuracy, controversy accompanying the films, reflection of the era in the content, and promotion of the film that is different from the real content.

The popularity of the New Testament is clearly embedded in our culture. The most famous story of Western civilization is surely waiting for many more artistic renderings in various fields of arts. Since the desire to differentiate is another feature typical for mankind, we will certainly see variety of stories of unusual Christs, whose creators will claim that their story is truthful and authentic one.

62

Works Cited

Primary Sources

Jesus Christ Superstar. Dir. Norman Jewison. Perf. Ted Neeley, Carl Anderson.

Universal Pictures, 1973.

Jesus of Montreal. Dir. Denys Arcand. Cineplex Odeon Films, Orion Classics, 1989.

Monty Python's Life of Brian. Dir. Terry Jones. Warner Bros./Orion Pictures, 1979.

The Da Vinci Code. Dir. Ron Howard. Perf. Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou. Columbia

Pictures, 2006.

The Last Temptation of Christ. Dir. Martin Scorsese. Perf. Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel.

Universal, 1988.

The Man from Earth. Dir. Richard Schenkman. Perf. David L. Smiths. Anchor Bay

Entertainment, Shoreline Entertainment, 2007.

The Passion of the Christ. Dir. Mel Gibson. Perf. Jim Caviezel, Monica Bellucci.

Newmarket Films, 2004.

Secondary Sources

“2006 Worldwide Grosses.” Box Office Mojo. Imdb.com, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2018.

“Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner Voted No. 1 Canadian Film of All Time.” CBCnews.

CBC/Radio Canada, 24 Apr. 2015. Web. 14 Apr. 2018.

Awesomefilmtrailers. "Life of Brian (1979) - Terry Jones - Trailer - [HD]." YouTube.

YouTube, 29 Oct. 2009. Web. 29 Nov. 2018.

Baugh, Lloyd. Imaging the Divine: Jesus and Christ-figures in Film. Franklin, Wisc.:

Sheed & Ward, 2000. PDF File.

Burnett, Ron. "Denys Arcand-Jesus of Montreal." Critical Approaches to Culture +

63

Communications. Ron Burnett, n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2018.

Cassity, Kathleen J. “Not Alone: “Ironic Faith,” the Comic Worldview, and Process

Theology in Monty Python's Life of Brian." Journal of Religion & Film, vol. 20,

no. 3, Oct. 2016, pp. 1-23. EBSCOhost. Web. 10 Nov. 2017.

“Christian Movies.” Box Office Mojo. IMDB.com, 28 Apr. 2018. Web. 28 Apr. 2018.

“‘Da Vinci Code’ Misses Mark for Cannes Critics.” TODAY.com. The Associated Press,

16 May 2006. Web. 10 Apr. 2018.

“Denys Arcand - Jesus of Montreal: A Discussion.” Blog post. Critical Approaches to

Culture + Communications. N.p., 29 June 1990. Web. 15 Apr. 2018.

Ehrman, Bart D. Truth and Fiction in the Da Vinci Code: A Historian Reveals What We

Really Know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine. Oxford University

Press, 2004. EBSCOhost. eBook. 27 Mar. 2018.

“English Dictionary, Thesaurus, & Grammar Help.” Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford

University Press, 2018. Web. 26 Apr. 2018.

Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2018.

Endless Fun. "The Man from Earth - Movie Trailer." YouTube. YouTube, 10 Sept. 2011.

Web. 29 Nov. 2018.

Enk, Bryan. “10 Things You Might Not Have Known About 'The Passion of the

Christ'.” Yahoo! Yahoo!, 25 Feb. 2014. Web. 28 Apr. 2018.

Goodacre, Mark. “Do You Think You're What They Say You Are? Reflections on Jesus

Christ Superstar.” Journal of Religion & Film. Omaha: U of Nebrasca, 02 Nov.

1999. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.

Gunslinger, Tristan. "Jesus Christ Superstar Original Trailer (1973)." YouTube.

YouTube, 16 Feb. 2011. Web. 29 Nov. 2018.

64

Hejčová, Martina. “The Rock Opera Jesus Christ Superstar – Analysis of the Critical

Reception Over the Decades.” Thesis. Masaryk University, 2016. Print.

“How Despairing Gibson Found 'The Passion'. ABC News. ABC News Network, 17

Feb. 2004. Web. 28 Apr. 2018.

“Life of Brian - 1979 Debate.” Friday Night, Saturday Morning. BBC 4. London,

England, 9 Oct. 1979. Web. 25 Apr. 2018.

Lundegaard, Erik. "The Most Oft-Portrayed Character on Film Isn't Santa Claus But..."

ErikLundegaard.com. Erik Lundegaard, 10 Apr. 2012. Web. 18 Apr. 2018.

Maresco, Peter A. "Mel Gibson 's The Passion Of The Christ: Market Segmentation,

Mass Marketing and Promotion, and the Internet." WCOB Faculty Publications.

Sacred Heart University, 2004. Web. 24 Nov. 2018.

“Mel Gibson's Great Passion.” ZENIT. Innovative Media Inc., 01 Jan. 2016. Web. 28

Apr. 2018.

“Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ Sequel Will Be ‘the Biggest Film of All Time’.”

The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 31 Jan. 2018. Web. 28 Apr. 2018.

Melnyk, George. One Hundred Years of Canadian Cinema. Toronto: U of Toronto,

2004. PDF file.

Mitchell, Jolyon, and S. Brent Plate. The Religion and Film Reader. New York:

Routledge, 2007. Print.

Movieclips Classic Trailers. "The Da Vinci Code (2006) Official Trailer 1 - Tom Hanks

Movie." YouTube. YouTube, 13 Mar. 2017. Web. 29 Nov. 2018.

O´Neill, Tim. History vs The Da Vinci Code. Tim O´Neill, May 2006. Web. 10 Mar.

2018.

Ostling, Richard N., et al. "Who Was Jesus? The Debate among Scholars Is as Heated as

65

the One in Hollywood." Time, vol. 132, no. 7, 15 Aug. 1988, p. 37. EBSCOhost.

Web. 19 Nov. 2017.

Patches, Matt. "Illegal Downloads Made 'Man From Earth' a Hit; Now What to Do for

an Encore?" 30 Mar. 2 The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media, 11

Sept. 2013. Web. 018.

Reinhartz, Adele. Bible and Cinema: Fifty Key Films. London: Routledge, 2013. PDF

file.

Reinhartz, Adele. Jesus of Hollywood. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2007. Print.

Schenkman, Richard. "How Piracy Helped 'The Man From Earth' Become A Viral

Sensation and Inspired A Sequel." IndieWire. Penske Business Media, 16 Sept.

2013. Web. 30 Mar. 2018.

Thecultbox. "The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) - Official Trailer." YouTube.

YouTube, 28 July 2011. Web. 23 Nov. 2018.

“Top Grossing R Rated Movies at the Box Office.” Box Office Mojo. IMDB.com, 28

Apr. 2018. Web. 28 Apr. 2018.

TrailersPlaygroundHD. "The Passion Of The Christ - Official® Trailer [HD]." YouTube.

YouTube, 03 Dec. 2013. Web. 29 Nov. 2018.

“Vatican Official Calls for ‘Da Vinci Code’ Boycott.” Fox News. FOX News Network,

28 Apr. 2006. Web. 10 Apr. 2018.

Video Detective. "Jesus Of Montreal Trailer 1989." YouTube. YouTube, 28 Oct. 2014.

Web. 23 Nov. 2018.

Walsh, Richard. Reading the Gospels in the Dark: Portrayals of Jesus in Film.

Harrisburg, PA: Trinity, 2007. Print.

Wright, Melanie Jane. Religion and Film: An Introduction. London: I.B. Tauris, 2008.

PDF file.

66

Summary

The aim of this diploma thesis is thematic analysis of films that have over the past fifty years focused on the life of Jesus Christ, but from a non-traditional perspective. For the analysis, I chose the films The Last Temptation of Christ (directed by Martin Scorsese), the musical Jesus Christ Superstar (Norman Jewison), Monty

Python´s Life of Brian, Canadian film Jesus of Montreal (Denis Arcand), The Passion of the Christ (Mel Gibson), The Da Vinci Code (Ron Howard) and the sci-fi film The Man from Earth (Richard Schenkman).

Due to their theme, all films belong to a group of so-called iconoclastic films (in the sense of denying established values and institutions). Scorsese presents his Christ as a God tormented by human doubts and fear, who succumbs to the temptation in the form of ordinary human life. Monty Python, with satirical exaggeration, focuses on blind following false prophets. Gibson's film depicts the brutal torturing of Christ instead of the expected sacred piety. Denys Arcand, describes the existence of Christ, named Yeshu Ben Panthera, the son of a Roman soldier, with the help of archaeological findings and historical documents. Jesus Christ Superstar is a doubting man, stripped of his divinity, in Howard's movie, the descendants of Jesus and Mary Magdalene have survived to the present. The Man from Earth indicates that Jesus could be a sage from the East who knew the eastern medicine and practices of the Tibetan monks.

Analysis showed other common features - although the films were made at different time periods, all of them in various forms claim that their version of the story is true, based on historical facts or the most authentic. All films reflect the time in which they were filmed, and almost all of them were accompanied by protests from the church. At the same time, their marketing promotion reveals discrepancies in trailer content compared to the actual movie content.

67

Shrnutí

Cílem této diplomové práce je tématická analýza filmů, které se v průběhu posledních padesáti let zaměřily na život Ježíše Krista, avšak z netradiční perspektivy.

Pro analýzu jsem vybrala filmy Poslední pokušení Krista (režie Martin Scorsese), muzikál Jesus Christ Superstar (Norman Jewison), Monty Python: Život Briana, kanadský film Ježíš z Montrealu (Denys Arcand), Umučení Ježíše Krista (Mel Gibson),

Šifru mistra Leonarda (Ron Howard) a sci-fi film Muž ze země (Richard Schenkman).

Díky svému námětu patří všechny filmy do skupiny tzv. ikonoklastických filmů

(ve smyslu popírání zavedených hodnot a institucí). Scorsese představuje svého Krista jako Boha zmítaného lidskými pochybnostmi a strachem, kterého nechá podlehnout pokušení v podobě obyčejného lidského života. Monty Python se satirickou nadsázkou zaměřují na slepé následování falešných proroků. Gibsonův film zobrazuje především brutální umučení Krista namísto očekávané posvátné piety. Denys Arcand existenci

Krista jménem Yeshu Ben Panthera, syna římského vojáka, dokládá archeologickými nálezy a historickými dokumenty. Jesus Christ Superstar je pochybujícím člověkem, zbaveným své božské stránky, v Howardově filmu potomci Ježíše a Máří Magdaleny přežili až do dnešních dnů Muž ze země naznačuje, že Ježíš mohl být mudrcem z východu, který znal východní medicínu a praktiky tibetských mnichů.

Analýza ukázala další společné znaky – I když byly natočeny v různých dobách, všechny filmy různou formou tvrdí, že jejich verze příběhu je pravdivá, založená na historických faktech či nejvíce autentická. Ve všech filmech se odráží doba, ve které byly natočeny, a téměř všechny při jejich uvedení doprovázely protesty církve. Zároveň se v jejich marketingové propagaci objevují nesrovnalosti v obsahu traileru v porovnání se skutečným obsahem filmu.

68