Jesus (1999 film)

Jesus
DVD cover
Written by	Suzette Couture (teleplay)
Directed by	Roger Young
Starring	Jeremy Sisto Jacqueline Bisset Armin Mueller-Stahl Debra Messing Gary Oldman
Music by	Patrick Williams
Country of origin	Italy, United States
Original languages	English, Italian
Production
Producers	Russell Kagan Roberta Cadringher
Cinematography	Raffaele Mertes
Editor	Benjamin A. Weissman
Running time	240 minutes
Budget	$17,000,000
Release
Original release	December 5, 1999 (1999-12-05) (Italy)

Jesus is a 1999 Italian-American biblical historical drama television miniseries that retells the historical events of Jesus Christ. It was shot in Morocco and Malta. It stars Jeremy Sisto as the titular character, Jacqueline Bisset as Mary of Nazareth, Debra Messing as Mary Magdalene and Gary Oldman as Pontius Pilate. The miniseries was broadcast in Italy in two parts on December 5 and 6, 1999 before being broadcast in the United States on May 14 and 15, 2000.

Overview

The film's chronology entails a cinematic blending of the Four Gospels with the addition of extra-biblical elements not found in the New Testament accounts. It provides a down to earth approach through its focus on the human aspect of Jesus. Compared to more solemn and divine portrayals in earlier films, Jesus expresses emotions weeping at Joseph's funeral, throwing stones in Lake Galilee upon meeting Simon Peter and James son of Zebedee, dancing at the wedding at Cana, and starting a water-splashing fight with his disciples.

While the film mainly presented familiar Christian Episodes, it provides extra-biblical scenes such as flashbacks of his first trip to Jerusalem with John as well as scenes of war and destruction waged in the name of Jesus during the medieval and modern times. Likewise, the film's Satan comes in two different forms: a visual exemplification of a modern man and a woman in red, instead of the traditional snake that can be found in most films. The film also adds a composite character, an apocryphal Roman historian named "Livio" who watches and comments as events unfold; he is presumably named after Livy. The film has been generally well received but it also been criticized for having an unrealistic Crucifixion scene as the person nailing Jesus to the cross is not a Roman Soldier but a Jew from the crowd. It has also been criticized for having a highly unsympathetic portrayal of Pontius Pilate, who appears to deliberately do everything to annoy the Jews, which is unlike most other media works in which he is usually depicted as an unwilling gentile participant dragged by the Sanhedrin into the unjust proceedings.

As it appears in the credits, it was dedicated in memory of Enrico Sabbatini.

Cast

Soundtrack

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic

A soundtrack, Jesus: Music from and Inspired by the Epic Mini-Series, was released on March 8, 2000, for the series. "I Need You" was released as a single for the soundtrack by American country music recording artist LeAnn Rimes. "Spirit in the Sky" by dc Talk was also released as a B side with "I Need You".

See also

• TNT network's Bible Collection
• 1999 in American television
• List of films shot in Malta
• List of foreign films shot in Morocco

External links

• Official website
• Jesus at AllMovie
• Jesus at IMDb