Recommendations on Chritian/Biblical films please (1 Viewer)

[Tom Oh]

My wife has asked me to buy some more Old/New Testament related films. This is what I have in my collection:

Ben-Hur
Last Temptation of Christ
Prince of Egypt
Life of Brian (I have not shown her this )

I know that following are available:

Robe
Ten Commendments (Will they ever come out with a S.E.?)

Pleae come up with some recommendations on what's out there. Thanks.

 

[BrianP]

Here are a few titles I could think of that might be of interest.

The Bible
The Greatest Story Ever Told
Jesus Of Nazareth
King of Kings

Don't let the lack of an SE stop you from purchasing the Ten Commandments. The DVD looks great and is a worthy addition to anyones collection.

 

[Rich Malloy]

Definitely Pasolini's "THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW".

Though infused with the slightest tinge of P's Marxist-humanism (Jesus as a "man of the people"), the film is nonetheless the most faithful of any New Testament related film to the text of the Gospels (St. Matthew's, in this instance, of course).

The R1/NTSC DVD is unfortunately OOP, but I rented it from Netflix about 8 mos. ago... definitely worth seeking out from them or another rental store. The DVD presentation is not ideal, but certainly watchable. If you have R2/PAL capabilities, you can check out this DVD: http://207.136.67.23/film/DVDReview/gospel.htm

For a deeply moving, quasi-"retelling" of the gospel (not really, but sorta), check out Criterion's release of the Dreyer masterpiece "ORDET" ("The Word").

 

[Jeff Kleist]

All excellent films

If you stray from the epic genre, stay far far away from Left Behind or Omega Code

If you want biblical accuracy, try The Prophecy series. While it's a modern tale, it's the most accurate representation of angels in cinema

 

[Randy Schissler]

The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur are awesome and I don't think you'll find much in that catagory and on DVD. Perhaps "The Bible" and "The Greatest Story Ever Told". The TV adaption "Jesus of Nazareth" is fair. The TV adaption "Noah's Ark" is bad.

Checkout this link: http://www.moviesunlimited.com/musit...asp&sku=D26457

I always thought the TV mini-series "Masada" was great, but it is not available on DVD.

--Randy S.

 

[Cees Alons]

Ten Commendments (Will they ever come out with a S.E.?)

Maybe, maybe not. But trust me: this version is great!

Other titles that come to mind:

Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954), Delmer Daves
The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1966), Pier Paolo Pasolini
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), George Stevens
Jesus of Nazareth (1977), mini-series by Franco Zeffirelli
King of Kings (1961), Nicholas Ray


Cees

 

[Steven_J_H]

And if you like musicals:

Godspell
Jesus Christ Superstar (2 versions on dvd)
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Joseph King of Dreams (animated Dreamworks dvd).

 

[Brook K]

I'll 3rd The Gospel According To St. Matthew
& 2nd Ordet.

and for some films that do not reflect Biblical events, but concern the nature of faith in very powerful ways:

The Passion Of Joan Of Arc(Carl Th. Dreyer)
Day Of Wrath (Carl Th. Dreyer)
The Seventh Seal (Ingmar Bergman)
Through A Glass Darkly (Ingmar Bergman) currently only available in R2
Winter Light (Ingmar Bergman) currently only available in R2.
Andrei Rublev (Andrei Tarkovsky)

And for fun you could try Monty Python's Life Of Brian

 

[Peter Overduin]

"The Fourth Wise Man" is also a very good story starring Martin Sheen and Alan Arkin. Unfortunately, the DVD is not a good reproduction.

Here are two sites that specialize in that type of film, so they will also have some other good ideas for you to look at:

http://www.christiandvd.com/default.htm

http://www.visionvideo.com/vv/home.a...tegories&mc=-2

 

[Dave Miller]

I'm not sure if you are into animation, but I found Prince of Egypt to be a very powerful retelling of the Exodus. Great efforts were made in the making of this film to keep most of it faithful to the Scriptural account.

I would not consider it epic, but rather warm and personal.

Peace,

DM

 

[Jeff Kleist]

I'm not sure if you are into animation, but I found Prince of Egypt to be a very powerful retelling of the Exodus. Great efforts were made in the making of this film to keep most of it faithful to the Scriptural account.

Indeed it was, now if we could only cut out the silly Priest number it would have been better

Fortunately DreamWorks realized that changing this story would be blasphemy in more ways than one

 

[Dave Miller]

Check out the Visual Bible series here. They have a set on Matthew and a set on Acts. I have only seen clips and but what I've seen looks great. Jesus is portrayed w/ great warmth.

Peace,

DM

 

[Dan Rudolph]

I'm surprised I'm the first to mention Jonah: A Veggietales Movie. In fact, you can't go wrong with Veggietales in general.

 

[Conrad_SSS]

KING OF KINGS!!!!!

 

[Nick Graham]

For a good time, rent Meggido: The Omega Code II, one of the most incredibly, beautifully bad films of all time.
Michael York as the Antichrist (and super CGI Satan in the end), R. Lee Ermey as the President, Michael Biehn as the hero, and a very chunky Diane Venora with a bad accent as the antichrist's estranged wife/ the hero's would-be love interest. OOOH, I forgot, Udo Kier as Satan/The Antichrist's henchman!

As a Christian, it would be great if somebody made decent Christian flicks. Unfortunately, any company that calls itself Chistian and actually has money to make movies tends to make cheeseball "Christploitation" (a term I stole from Harry Knowles) flicks like the one mentioned above.

For sheer comedic value, rent Omega Code and Omega Code II. The Left Behind flicks are pretty even-handed considering the company that makes them, but woefully low budgeted, and lacking in terms of a halfway engaging story.

I love The Prophecy, as it has my favorite actor (Walken) and one of my favorite underrated actors (Elias Koteas). If you're looking for Biblical accuracy, it's not gonna be your cup of tea, but it's a really engaging movie with a twist on the old angels vs demons thing. The DVD is an early Miramax disc, has a non-anamorphic transfer and piddly stereo, so don't pay much for it.

 

[Malcolm R]

and for some films that do not reflect Biblical events, but concern the nature of faith in very powerful ways:

Frailty (Matthew McConaughey/Bill Paxton)
Signs (Mel Gibson)

 

[Damin J Toell]

Sean Penn's The Pledge is a modern re-telling of the story of Abraham's attempted sacrifice of Isaac.

DJ

 

[derek]

Don't miss 'The Miracle Maker' - a stop motion animated film (ala California Raisins) about the life of Christ. The DVD is excellent (anamorphic widescreen 5.1) and just quite a marvel to behold. All star voice cast. Quite a hidden DVD treasure IMHO.
The family also loves 'Prince of Egypt'& 'Joseph King of Dreams'. I thought the 'Omega Code' was decent...with 'Meggido' just being somewhat a mess. The Left Behind movies are good in a TV movie sorta way.

 

[Larry Sutliff]

The Cecil B. DeMille version of THE KING OF KINGS is a magnificient film. It isn't available on DVD(yet), but Kino has a beautiful transfer available on VHS, and the Criterion Laserdisc is nice too.

 

[Eman_Ramos]

What about The Apostle?