Nick Norelli responds to a Bible Movie meme that seems interesting. I wasn’t tagged, but I love movies and I think it’s an interesting meme. I’d also like to find out about more Bible-related movies, so I’m crashing the party. My movies:
The Passion of the Christ – Mel Gibson has a proclivity for overly gory epics, but I thought it was a provocative take on an old tradition about Jesus. Even though Gibson seems to be quite anti-Semitic, I found this movie to be more anti-Sanhedrin than anti-Semitic.
The Prince of Egypt – I saw this movie long before I ever read the Bible or had a religious thought enter my head, and I loved it. There are quite a few liberties taken, but I loved Jeff Goldblum as Aaron and Danny Glover as Jethro.
The Ten Commandments – Although I find myself criticizing every little aspect of this movie today, it was a huge deal when it first came out. I respect movies that make such a big impact, even if the costumes and artistic license do make me cringe.
The Nativity Story – A very earthy take on the nativity story. It wasn’t the best movie ever made, but I enjoyed seeing a movie trying real hard to get the historical context right.
Life of Brian – While not technically focused on the Bible, it focuses on a character living in Judea during the time of Christ, and he even attends the Sermon on the Mount. I think it’s one of the most brilliant biblical satires ever made. A couple of the funniest scenes ever recorded on video:
And the movie I’d most like to see made? Something on a pre-exilic character, like David, Solomon, Hezekiah, or Josiah. I’ll tag Pat McCullough, Rob Kashow, James McGrath, and Ken Brown. Take that!
UPDATE: Michael Kok would like to see an epic on the Maccabean revolt. Now that would be cool.
UPDATE: Joel Watts has me tagged, so I’ll add another movie to the list. It’s a made for TV oldie but a goodie. Anthony Hopkins as Paul in Peter and Paul.
Daniel O. McClellan 
September 18th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Had I known you loved movies I would have tagged you as well. I’ll keep you in the mind the next time a movie meme pops up.
September 18th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
That would be cool. I’m kinda new to blogging and especially these memes, so I don’t get a chance to participate often. I think they’re very entertaining.
September 18th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Excellent list!
September 18th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Thanks. I also really enjoyed Luther, but I didn’t think it qualified as a Bible movie. There really aren’t a whole lot of quality Bible movies out there, though.
September 18th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Thanks for your interesting list, Daniel. By way of clarification, I was talking about The Passion (BBC / HBO, 2008), http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/thepassion/ and not the Mel Gibson film. The Passion of the Christ did play into the repentant prostitute reading by having Mary identified with the woman taken in adultery in John 8, in one of the flashback scenes.
Comments on Mary Magdalene in The Passion (BBC) here: http://www.inspiremagazine.org.uk/news.aspx?action=view&id=2212
September 18th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
It did? I must have been getting popcorn. I don’t remember that (it was five years ago that I saw it, though). I remember thinking that would have made sense considering Monica Bellucci was playing Mary. I must not have caught it. My bad.
September 18th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
And now, thanks to the magic of editing, I’ve rectified my error.
September 18th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Daniel: Yeah, I expanded to think of bible-related movies, I guess! And no, there are few bible movies available that are not steeped in cheesy portrayals or poor production.
September 18th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Thanks, Daniel. Yes, it’s a brief flashback, pic here: http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2004_The_Passion/2003_the_passion_033.jpg
September 18th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Thanks Daniel for linking to my post. I too decided to crash the Bible movie meme 🙂
September 18th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Excellent list, Daniel!
I still want to see Judges turned into a Lord of the Rings type series, greatly expanded, of course – maybe some ANE material thrown in.
September 18th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
I think that would be pretty cool. We do need a Bible related movie with some hardcore ANE archaeologists and scholars as consultants.
September 23rd, 2009 at 10:17 am
[…] Movie Meme Jump to Comments I missed this the other day, but Daniel tagged me in the Bible movie meme. Honestly, I can’t think of all that many Bible movies that I have […]
September 23rd, 2009 at 10:50 am
Daniel you’re the only other one I’ve seen so far who put up the nativity story – while it is not perfect I like too how it tends to highlight various themes related to those preached during the Advent season.
September 23rd, 2009 at 10:57 am
Thanks for the comment Brian. Putting its shortcomings aside, it was a fun trip through the producer’s and director’s conceptualization of the events.
September 23rd, 2009 at 11:00 am
Cough, cough, Brian. I believe I had it as well.
September 23rd, 2009 at 11:03 am
Yeah, there were a few who had it. Not so many as Prince of Egypt or The Passion. So far I’ve not seen anyone else name my Anthony Hopkins flick, though.
September 23rd, 2009 at 11:26 am
sorry to have missed that Joel sorry. Glad you liked it too.
September 24th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
[…] Movie Meme Daniel McClellan tagged me with the Bible Movie Meme started by Matt at Broadcast Depth. It asks you to name your […]