Abstract

In the one hundred years of the art of the cinema, one of the themes that repeatedly has interested film makers and audiences is the life of Christ. The many films on Jesus of Nazareth and the Christ-event raise a number of issues, both theological and esthetic. In the first part of this article, the author analyzes some of these issues, focusing precisely on the crucial decisions regarding both content and style that the film maker approaching the Jesus theme must make. In the second part of the article, the author considers briefly the more important films of the early years Jesus film tradition, and then does a more in-depth analysis of the major films of the tradition: the Hollywood Jesus epics, the Jesus musicals, the scandal film of Scorsese, three important Italian productions, and finally the masterpiece of the tradition, Pasolini's The Gospel According to St. Matthew. A subsequent article is announced which will analyze the many films which approach the Jesus story and the Christ-event metaphorically