| Jesus of Nazareth | |
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Jesus of Nazareth promotional poster |
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| Genre | Biographical Biblical |
| Distributed by | Carlton Pictures |
| Directed by | Franco Zeffirelli |
| Produced by | Lew Grade Vincenzo Labella |
| Written by | Anthony Burgess Suso Cecchi d'Amico Franco Zeffirelli |
| Starring | Robert Powell Anne Bancroft Ernest Borgnine |
| Music by | Maurice Jarre |
| Cinematography | Armando Nannuzzi David Watkin |
| Editing by | Reginald Mills |
| Budget | Estimates vary between $12 million to $18 million |
| Country | Italy / UK |
| Language | Assyrian Neo-Aramaic English |
| Release date | March 27, 1977 (UK) April 3, 1977 (US) |
| Running time | Original: 371 min UK: 360 min Uncut: 382 min |
Jesus of Nazareth is a 1977 Anglo-Italian television miniseries co-written (with Anthony Burgess and Suso Cecchi d'Amico) and directed by Franco Zeffirelli which dramatizes the birth, life, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus largely according the Christian bible's New Testament Gospels. It was filmed in Tunisia, Morocco, and Mexico and was produced by Lew Grade and Vincenzo Labella on a budget of an estimated $12 million to $18 million
It stars British actor Robert Powell as Jesus. The large cast of co-stars include: Anne Bancroft, Ernest Borgnine, James Farentino, Ian Holm, Olivia Hussey, James Earl Jones, Stacy Keach, James Mason, Ian McShane, Laurence Olivier, Donald Pleasence, Christopher Plummer, Anthony Quinn, Fernando Rey, Ralph Richardson, Rod Steiger, Peter Ustinov, and Michael York.
Extra-biblical traditions were used in the writing of the screenplay and some characters (such as Zerah) and situations were invented for the film for brevity or dramatic purposes. Notably, Jesus of Nazareth depicts Judas Iscariot as a well-intentioned man initially, but later as a dupe of Zerah who betrays Jesus largely as a result of Zerah's false platitudes and pretexts. However, in accordance with the Gospels, the film depicts Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea as sympathetic members of the Sanhedrin. Franco Zeffirelli explicitly wished to deemphasize the accusation of deicide against Jews, an accusation he levied against The Passion of the Christ, which was produced and directed by Mel Gibson, whom Zeffirelli directed in the 1990 film, Hamlet.[1] Many of the miracles of Jesus, such as the changing of water into wine at the wedding at Cana, the transfiguration, and the calming of the storm are not depicted, although Jesus healing the blind man and the crippled woman on the Sabbath, the feeding of the multitude, and the raising of Lazarus from the dead are.
Jesus of Nazareth was first aired on British television on the ITV network on March 27, 1977 and premiered in the United States on the NBC network on April 3, 1977. It is generally well-praised, but it was not without controversy. Bob Jones III of Bob Jones University, who had not seen the film, immediately denounced it as blasphemous due in part to Franco Zeffirelli's stated intent to portray Jesus as equally human and divine; "...an ordinary man — gentle, fragile, simple".[2] In 1987, TV Guide called it “the best mini-series of all time” and “unparalleled television”.[3] It currently has a 76 percent audience rating at the film review site Rotten Tomatoes.com.[4] The total runtime of the full film is approximately six hours, twenty minutes.
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"Starring"
"Guest Stars"
"and"
"Also Starring"
"With"
"Co-Starring"
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The storyline of Jesus of Nazareth is a kind of cinematic Diatessaron, or “Gospel harmony”, blending the narratives of all four New Testament accounts. It takes a fairly naturalistic approach, de-emphasising special effects when miracles are depicted and presenting Jesus more or less evenly divine and human. The familiar Christian episodes are presented chronologically: the betrothal, and later marriage, of Mary and Joseph; the Annunciation; the Visitation; the circumcision of John the Baptist; the Nativity of Jesus; the circumcision of Jesus; the Census of Quirinius; the Flight into Egypt and Slaughter of the Innocents; the Finding in the Temple; the Baptism of Jesus; the woman caught in adultery; Jesus helping Peter catch the fish; the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 11-32); a dialogue between Jesus and Barabbas (non-biblical); Matthew's dinner party; the Sermon on the Mount; debating with Joseph of Arimathea; the curing of the blind man at the pool; the Raising of Lazarus (John 11:43); the Feeding of the Five Thousand; the Entry into Jerusalem; Jesus and the money changers; the Last Supper; the betrayal of Jesus by Judas; Peter denying Christ and repenting of it; the judgment of Jesus by Pilate (“Ecce Homo”); the Johannine Passion Narrative (John 18-19; including the Agony in the Garden); the Carrying of the Cross; the Crucifixion of Christ (Laurence Olivier's Nicodemus recites the “Suffering Servant” passage [Isaiah' 53:3-5] as he looks helplessly on the crucified Messiah); the discovery of the empty tomb; and an appearance of the Risen Christ to his Disciples. The film’s storyline concludes with the non-Biblical character Zerah and his colleagues gazing despairingly into the empty tomb. Zerah's laments: “Now it begins. It all begins”.
The origin of the mini-series dates to a conversation Zeffirelli, who is Roman Catholic, had with Pope Paul VI in which the Pope asked the director to make a film about the life of Jesus.[5] To ensure the film's accuracy, producer Lord Lew Grade consulted experts from the Vatican, the Leo Baeck Rabbinical College of London, and the Koranic School at Meknes, Morocco.[6]
The standing sets of the film were later used by the British comedy troupe Monty Python's Flying Circus for their religious satire The Life of Brian (1979).
Robert Powell almost never blinks throughout the entire film; he mimics H.B. Warner in 1927's The King of Kings, and Max von Sydow in 1965's The Greatest Story Ever Told. The effect, according to the Internet Movie Database, was a deliberate decision by Franco Zeffirelli "... as a means of creating a subconscious visual mystique about the character that not only differentiated him from all other characters". The boy playing Jesus as a child, Lorenzo Monet in his only known credited film role, blinks three times when he first arrives in Jerusalem and looks up at the temple, once when he holds a sacrificial lamb on his shoulders and three times in the temple while speaking to Mary. Powell blinks only once.[7]
Makeup was also used to accentuate Powell's blue eyes.[8] Powell's image has become an often-used image of Christ.
NBC rebroadcast the series in 1981 and three more times through 1987. It was originally released as a three-tape VHS edition in the early 1980s. Another three-tape VHS edition was released on 22 February 1995. Artisan Entertainment released the DVD version on two discs on December 6, 1999.
The mini-series is now broadcast every Easter and Christmas in many countries, sometimes on the History Channel in the United States, and currently—in rather edited form—on the TBN.
Although the film has been received as generally faithful to the Gospel sources, and more comprehensive than previous film versions, Zefferelli and his screenwriters found it necessary to take some liberties with the scriptures for purposes of brevity and narrative continuity. Some of these deviations have a basis in time-honored, extra-Biblical traditions (e.g., that the infant Jesus was visited by three "kings" [the Bible calls them "magi" or "astrologers", yet does not state how many there were]). Other deviations were invented for the script:
For its fifth airing on American television at Easter 1987, TV Guide called Jesus of Nazareth "the best mini-series of all time" and "unparalleled television".[9]
Jesus of Nazareth won no Emmy Awards at all despite receiving several nominations. It received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Special Drama or Comedy. James Farentino, who portrayed St. Peter in the mini-series, received a nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Special. The mini-series won neither award. Its unique cinematography, apparently modelled on Renaissance paintings, failed to win a nomination, as did the performance of Robert Powell in the demanding central role. The year's most nominated mini-series was Holocaust, which told the story of the Nazi extermination of Jews from the viewpoint of both a Jewish family and an SS officer's family.[10] Holocaust is seldom shown today, while Jesus of Nazareth is shown at least once annually.
Jesus of Nazareth, oddly enough, was not Emmy-nominated for Outstanding Mini-series, but for Outstanding Special Program, so it was not in competition with Holocaust in that category. It lost the Outstanding Special award to the two-hour Ed Asner - Maureen Stapleton Christmas-themed film The Gathering.[11]
Jesus of Nazareth won awards for Best Cinematography (Armando Nannuzzi), Best Costume Design (Lucia Mirisola) and Best Production Design (Mirisola again) from the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists.
Powell was nominated for a BAFTA award and collected the TV Times "Best Actor" award for the same performance.
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