The image of actor Robert Powell, with a beard, blue eyes, deep gaze, long brown hair, and who wears a white robe in the film Jesus of Nazareth, He became part of the iconography of the Catholic Church, to the point that his face appears on many postcards, prints, scapulars, and posters as if he were Jesus Christ himself.
“He established that image of the attractive Jesus, which many idealized as if he were the original,” explains Jerónimo Rivera, PhD in Communication, writer, screenwriter and director.
Powell, currently 78 years old, played Jesus in 1977, in the miniseries directed by the Italian Franco Zeffirelli, undoubtedly one of the most famous versions of the life of Jesus Christ among the more than 100 films that have passed through the screen.
The production, unlike others, is very naturalistic, does not play with special effects to recreate miracles and shows a kind and understanding Jesus.
more jesus
For Diana Agudelo, Social Communicator-Journalist and film critic, the best film and the best Jesus is The Gospel according to Saint Matthew (1964), “because it is the closest to the Bible. It’s actually a beautiful and very moving film, easy to watch for all people, believers and non-believers alike.”
He explains that at the time it was thought that being a production directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini would be a heresy or something similar, because the director had outraged the Catholic Church with a satirical sequence of a crucifixion loaded with cheese in the film. Ro.Go.Pa.G., but what with The Gospel according to Saint Matthew “He got temporary redemption with this realistic adaptation.”
The protagonist was a Spanish acting student Enrique Irazoqui, who according to Diana Agudelo “plays the role in a naturalistic way, which makes it even more moving. We see a boy with a great responsibility and we suffer his tribulations with him”. In 2015, the daily The Osservatore Romano he called it the best film about Jesus Christ.
The Martyr of Calvary
Although his cinematographic and acting quality is well below Jesus of Nazareth y The Gospel according to Saint Matthew, in this top can not be left out The Martyr of Calvarythe Mexican from 1952, starring the Spanish actor Enrique Rambal Junior.
Luis Carlos Uribe, administrator of the now-defunct Cine Centro theater in Medellín, remembers her as a social and religious phenomenon. For many parishioners in Antioquia, seeing the film was a higher priority than going to a mass or a procession during Holy Week.
“People came from the towns to Medellín exclusively to see The Martyr of Calvaryin the theaters people were crying and shouting against the Roman soldiers”, recalls Uribe, who points out that to have it in a theater it was necessary to separate it from a year before.
The demand was so great that in some municipalities they gave it out before or after Easter, because there were not enough copies. “If there were records, by far it would be the most watched film in the history of cinema in Colombia.”
A report by Cine Colombia in 2007, during the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the cinema chain, highlighted that until then The Martyr of Calvary It was the second most viewed in its history, behind the also Mexican Law of the hill, and above Cleopatra, Who will love my children, The Millionaire Taxi Driver, The Virgin and the Photographer, Moses and The Blue Lagoon, respectively.
the rest of the top
In the list of the best Jesus in cinema, Jerónimo Rivera cites Jim Caviezel, in Passion of Christ (2004). “Mel Gibson’s controversial film, where he shows a super-tormented Jesus, which was also torture for the actor to play the character.”
On his list are Ewan McGregor in The last days in the desert, a film by Rodrigo García Barcha; William Dafoe, in The last temptation of Christ (1988), by Martin Scorsese, “which generated a lot of controversy in the world, because it showed a more human Jesus.”
Nor did he leave out Ted Neeley in Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), “a rock opera that also had its theatrical version in Spanish, where, curiously, Camilo Sexto did Jesus”.
Top of Jesus in the movies
1. Robert Powell, Jesus of Nazareth (1977)
2. Enrique Irazoqui, The Gospel according to Saint Matthew (1964)
3. Enrique Rambal Jr., The martyr of Calvary (1952)
4. Jim Caviezel, Passion of Christ (2004)
5. Jeffrey Hunter, King of Kings (1961)
6. William Dafoe, The last temptation of Christ (1988)
7. Ted Neeley, Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)
8. Joaquin Phoenix, Maria Magdalena (2018)
9. Max von Sydow, The greatest story ever told (1965)
10. Ewan McGregor, The last days in the desert (2016)
