Samstwitch
Senior Member
"JESUS OF NAZARETH" starring Robert Powell
This Review is continued from my Post #3.
MY COMPLETE REVIEW: This is the best Jesus movie of all, because it is very Scripturally correct, with only a few exceptions, and even though some key events are left out, it shows more than any other film of what happened when Jesus walked the earth.
CORRECTION TO PREVIOUS POST: I had only seen the beginning of this movie a couple of times ages ago, and I missed this until now. In my Post #3 I said: In this movie, Joseph is portrayed as a young man. However, in the Apocryphas, Joseph is much older and a widower with children from his first marriage... In this movie, Mary and Joseph are depicted as a young couple, close in age...and Mary is his only wife. Now the correction...
DISCOVERY: In this movie, Joseph actually IS a widower with children from his previous marriage, but no one says that in the movie. It is shown in a very subtle way, so subtle that I missed it previously. Here is how we know. There are 2 scenes where Joseph is teaching some small children his trade of carpentry. Those are HIS children from his first marriage. We do not see them again, until Joseph is on his death bed. He's leaving his last instructions to Mary as he's dying. Joseph looks up at the young men standing in the doorway of his room and tells Mary that they will take over his carpentry business. Those were his sons from his first marriage.
The reason I never understood this before, was because they never say these are Joseph's children or that he was a widower. And when Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem, and then fled to Egypt for a few years, they did not take Joseph's children with them. So I was left with the impression that Mary was his first wife in this movie. I'm glad that I noticed these subtle references to him being a widower. I'm sure the Director showed it in a subtle way, because most people don't know this information unless they have studied the Apocryphas.
CRITICISMS: There is not much to criticize in this movie. However, there are omissions of some key events, but the movie is 6-1/2 hours long, and there are many things included that aren't in other Jesus movies.
SCRIPTURAL INACCURACIES & OMISSIONS:
1) According to Scripture, when Jesus goes to the Temple in Jerusalem and turns over the tables of the Money Changers, he used a whip that He made that morning. In the movie, Jesus had no whip, but instead had a long stick that he was hitting with.
2) In the scene where Jesus is apprehended and arrested by the Pharisees and the Temple Guards, according to Scripture, Peter cut off the ear of the slave to the High Priest. Jesus rebuked Peter, and healed the ear of the slave. It does not show this in the movie.
3) According to Scripture, when Jesus carried the cross to Calvary, he fell 3 times, and after the third fall, a Roman soldier enlisted a stranger to carry the cross for Jesus. This did not happen in the movie. It never showed Jesus falling at all.
4) According to Scripture, while on the cross, Jesus said, "I thirst", and a soldier gave Him sour wine mixed with gall to drink, but when Jesus tasted it, He would not drink it. The movie does not show this.
5) The Crucifixion of Jesus happened from 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.. Around noontime, the sky became dark for several hours (Crucifixion Eclipse) and when Jesus died, there was a great earthquake that split the Temple curtain in two. That never happened in the movie. In the movie, it pours down rain.
6) ) The entire ending of the movie was rushed. Most of the events were omitted during and after the crucifixion.
7) According to Scripture, Roman soldiers sealed and closely guarded the tomb where Jesus was buried. In the movie, the Roman guards are a long distance away from the tomb. The tomb isn't even visible from where they are standing. This was an inaccurate depiction.
8) It only shows one time when Jesus appears to His Apostles after the Resurrection. They are in the room where the Apostles had been hiding out. In that scene, Jesus says He will be with them "every day" until the end of the world, and that's how the movie ends.
ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE: After Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared to the Apostles many times over a 40-day period, and was also seen by up to 500 people at once. When Jesus was ascending into heaven and saying goodbye, He did so on the Mount of Olives (Mount Olivet), and the last thing He said was, "Lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the world."
MORE OMISSIONS: It didn't show...
King Herod greeting the Wise Men who came to see baby Jesus.
In a dream, an Angel warned Joseph to take Mary and baby Jesus and flee to Egypt, because Herod was after them to kill Jesus.
(In the movie, the 3 Wise Men warn Jesus to flee.)
Jesus's first public miracle when he turned water into wine.
Immediately after being baptized by John, Jesus went into the desert and fasted for 40 days. This is when Satan tempted Him many times.
I'd love to hear your take on each movie.
