As Jesus of Nazareth enters its fifth decade, there remains nothing like it: a comprehensive if not exhaustive look at the entire sweep of the Gospel story from the Nativity to the Resurrection, drawing from all four Gospels but significantly influenced by the Old Testament and Jewish tradition as well as Catholic art and imagination. His success in this regard was considerable, if less than complete. The youthful zeitgeist-oriented approach that had served him well with Romeo and Juliet (1968) failed with Brother Sun, and a chastened Zeffirelli approached Jesus of Nazareth determined to make a film, not of the moment, but for the ages. Francis movie Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972). If Jesus of Nazareth was an opportunity for Zeffirelli to serve his Church and his faith with his talents, it was also an opportunity for professional redemption after the critical and box-office failure of his prior religious project, the St. A wayward but loyal and even conservative son of the Church, Zeffirelli reportedly put his theatrical design and staging talents at the Church’s service for a number of papal ceremonies and has more than once expressed concern for the Church’s image in the modern media era. (Zeffirelli has also claimed that Paul VI separately suggested to him that he make a Jesus movie, and even that the Pope lobbied for him with Grade’s team.)Īfter the four Gospels, if one text is more influential than any other in the tone of Jesus of Nazareth, it might be the Vatican II declaration on the Church in relation to non-Christian religions, Nostra Aetate, a watershed document in Jewish-Catholic relations.įor Zeffirelli, Jesus of Nazareth was an important project for a number of reasons. On the small screen, producer Lew Grade’s Moses the Lawgiver (1973), forgotten now, was well received at the time, paving the way for Jesus of Nazareth - at the suggestion of Pope Paul VI, according to Grade. Some of the best moments are fictional episodes, while some crucial Gospel stories have inexplicably been omitted.īy the 1970s the big-screen Bible epic was dead, killed by the box-office failure of George Stevens’ earnest, ultra-serious Gospel film The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) and John Huston’s Genesis epic The Bible: In the Beginning… (1966).

Key moments like Peter’s great confession of Jesus and the Last Supper are reverentially staged, while other moments like the Parable of the Prodigal Son and Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedrin are dramatically reimagined - and not infrequently the latter are far more interesting and valuable than the former. Jesus of Nazareth’s best sequences are brilliant, but they alternate with middling or indifferent material. It’s also because of the work’s unevenness.

Franco zeffirelli jesus of nazareth dvd