Jesus (also known as The Jesus Film) is a 1979 American biblical drama film directed by Peter Sykes and John Krish, and produced by John Heyman. In Jesus, the life of Jesus Christ is depicted, primarily using the Gospel of Luke as the main basis for the story. A voice-over narration is featured sporadically throughout the film, providing background information on characters and events. The end of the film states that the Good News Bible (Today's English Version) was used during filming, and instead of telling a parallel story or embellishing the Biblical account like other Biblical films, the filmmakers chose to adhere to the Gospel of Luke as closely as possible.
The film has been used by the Jesus Film Project, an organisation seeking to translate and distribute the film as part of its evangelistic efforts. Because of this, Jesus is often described as the most-watched motion picture of all time, in addition to being the most translated film of all time.
Plot
During the days of Emperor Augustus and King Herod the Great, Mary is visited by the angel Gabriel who tells her that she will give birth to Jesus, the Son of God. Later, Mary visits Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, who tells her that she is the most blessed of women and that her child is blessed.
When the Romans hold a census, Mary travels with her husband Joseph to his hometown of Bethlehem to register. There, Jesus is born in a manger. A week later, Mary and Joseph travel to Jerusalem to present Jesus at the Temple. There, they are greeted by Simeon, who blesses Jesus as the Christ. At the age of twelve, Jesus becomes separated from his parents during a Passover trip to Jerusalem. When Mary asks about his whereabouts, Jesus tells them that he was in His Father's house. Years later, during the reign of Emperor Tiberius and King Herod Antipas, John the Baptist baptizes Jesus in the Jordan River and the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus.
Jesus is subsequently tempted in the wilderness by Satan but withstands the Devil's trials. Travelling to Capernaum, Jesus recruits the disciples Peter, James, and John after helping them to find a large haul of fish. During his preaching ministry, Jesus resurrects the daughter of Jairus. Jesus then recruits twelve apostles from among His disciples including Matthew and Judas Iscariot. Jesus' followers also include several women including Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna.
The film covers several of Jesus' teachings and messages including the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, the Beatitudes, the Golden Rule, loving your enemy, and the Parable of the Sower. While visiting the home of the Pharisee Simon, a sinful woman anoints Jesus' feet, prompting Jesus to forgive her sins. Jesus and his disciples later travel across the Sea of Galilee where he calms the storm. At Gerasa, Jesus exorcises a demon-possessed man and the demons enter a herd of swine. At Bethsaida, Jesus feeds five thousand with five loaves and two pieces of fish. Later, Jesus and his disciples travel up a mountain where Jesus encounters Moses and the prophet Elijah and is transfigured.
As Jesus' preaching and healing ministry grows, he reaches out to the sinners and outcasts including prostitutes and tax collectors, earning the ire of the Pharisees and religious teachers. Jesus also befriends the tax collector Zaccheus, convincing him to repay people he has extorted. While preaching the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus befriends a little girl and tells his disciples not to forbid the little children from coming to Him. Jesus draws the attention of the Pharisees, Jewish religious leaders, and Romans after he drives the merchants out of the Temple. In Jerusalem, Jesus teaches the Parable of the Tenants and to pay taxes to Caesar. At the Last Supper, Jesus warns his disciples of his impending betrayal and death. Judas conspires with the religious leaders to betray Jesus.
At the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is betrayed by Judas and captured by the Jewish authorities. Peter denies knowing Jesus three times before the cock crows. The following day, Jesus is condemned by the religious leaders. He is then brought before Pontius Pilate, who sends him to Herod. While Pilate exonerates Jesus of wrongdoing, the religious leaders and crowd demand Jesus' death. After being scourged, Jesus is forced to carry his cross through the streets. When he collapses from exhaustion, Simon of Cyrene is obliged to carry his cross. At Golgotha, Jesus is crucified besides two robbers, one of whom recognizes him as the Messiah. Following Jesus' death at noon, the sky is plunged into darkness and the curtain of the Temple is ripped through the middle. Joseph of Arimathea buries Jesus in a tomb. Jesus rises from the dead on the third day. Before ascending back to Heaven, Jesus tells his disciples that all power and authority has been given to Him and commands them to go and make disciples of all nations.
Cast
Production
Development
Bill Bright, founder of the Campus Crusade for Christ, spent a lot of his early career in Los Angeles trying to convert Hollywood celebrities, and he aspired to make a compelling film about the life of Christ. In 1976, British Jewish producer John Heyman approached Bright to fund his Genesis Project to put the entire Bible on film and to obtain financing for his feature-length film on Jesus. After meeting Heyman, Bright asked then campus ministry director Paul Eshleman to consult with the filmmaker.
Eshleman was pleased with Heyman's short film on the first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke and convinced Bright to endorse the project despite objections from other Campus Crusade leaders who objected to a non-Christian making a film about the Bible. Most of the film's dialogue comes from Luke, which was chosen after Heyman sought advice from clergy and scholars. On his motivation about the Jesus film, Heyman said: "I believed the best-selling book in the world would sell a lot of 8-millimeter and 16-millimeter films." Instead of creating a parallel story for the film or embellishing the biblical account, as is the case with other biblical films such as The Ten Commandments or The Greatest Story Ever Told, the filmmakers chose to adhere as closely as possible to the Gospel of Luke. Almost every line spoken by Jesus in the film is quoted directly from the gospel of Luke, with over 450 leaders and scholars who had reassessed the script for biblical accuracy. Historical accuracy also was assured by implementing clothing, pottery and other props made with 1st century techniques to depict a 2,000-year-old Galilean culture. Because Deacon developed pneumonia during principal photography, doubles were used in certain scenes. Deacon's dialogue mostly comprises full-length passages of scripture, and he is scarcely depicted doing anything other than making miracles and uttering speeches. To promote the film, Eshleman worked with both evangelical and Catholic churches to arrange group trips and discounts. Four million viewers reportedly watched the Jesus film in late 1979–80. Though popular with Christian audiences, it failed to attract mainstream viewers. It was not financially successful, and left John Heyman's Genesis Project US$4 million in debt.
In Australia, it was released on April 3, 1980; in Portugal on April 9, 1981; in Sweden on November 1, 1985; in Finland on March 14, 1986; in Hungary on 13 December 1990; and in Czechoslovakia in 1991. The film has been screened in 229 countries. In the United Kingdom, it was granted a A rating by the British Board of Film Classification.
Later versions
thumb|170px|2004 DVD poster
1999-2002
To make the film more relevant for younger viewers, new footage for The Story of Jesus for Children was shot in 1999. Being less violent than the original, it was interwoven into an edit of the original film and released in 2000. In 2001, a new opening sequence depicting the creation of humans, the expulsion from Eden, Abraham's blocked sacrifice of his son, and the prophesies of Isaiah was filmed to show, as Paul Eshleman states in the audio commentary, how Jesus' life fits into the span of history. In 2002, a special edition of Jesus commemorating the September 11 attacks (83 minutes) was distributed in the VHS format. It contains introductions by New York City firefighters and police officers.
2003
An edited DVD edition was also packaged with JESUS: Fact or Fiction?, produced in 2003 by Inspirational Films. This features a section called the "Journey of Spiritual Discovery". Biblical scholars, historians, philosophers, authors, and ministers answer specific questions relating to God, Jesus, Christianity, the archaeological, scientific and historical accuracy of the Bible, and testimony from many Christians. Viewers can browse the numerous topics individually or they can watch the film and, when prompted by a "discovery glass" icon, can access relevant comments. Once finished, the viewer is returned to the scene they were watching.
The version was promoted to Muslims of Iraq during the hardships of the Iraqi War, where its website featured a banner advert that said "Send videocassettes of 'JESUS' to Iraq". The 2003 version premiered in a politically unstable and fundamentally Islamic region in northern Egypt. Documentarian Deep Sehgal filmed the screening as part of a six-month project. Featuring a new score by John Bisharat and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, all voices were dubbed over by unknown British voice actors, though Brian Deacon reprised the voiceover for Jesus. With a runtime of 128 minutes, the remastered version includes several bonus featurettes: "The Making of The Jesus Film", "The Impact of the Jesus Film", and "Historical Notes".
Reception
While praising its "meticulous attention to authenticity", critics maligned Jesus for being "painfully monotonous" and "little more than an illustrated gospel, with nothing in the way of historical and social context." <!-- On Rotten Tomatoes ZERO critic reviews -->
Despite Bright's endorsement, Heyman's relationship with his former Campus Crusade collaborators deteriorated due to his perception that the latter overlooked his contributions. Heyman also objected to Campus Crusade making multiple different versions. When Campus Crusade produced The Story of Jesus for Children, which included new footage, Heyman sued Crusade on the grounds that the new version damaged his reputation. Though the dispute was settled by the parties out of court, relations between Heyman and Campus Crusade remained poor.
Regarding the foreign reception, Seghal said "The events we witnessed were often bewildering," he says. "But what struck us most was the utter normality of those who were willing to risk their lives for Christ."
Statistics
Jesus Film Project leaders state that as of May 2020 it has been viewed over 8.1 billion times by over 4 billion people, making it overwhelmingly the most watched movie of all time. This claim, however, has detractors such as Evangelical leader Vinay Samuel, former executive director of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Mission Theologians, who claimed: "These numbers are, to say the least, not gathered in a social-scientific way", and "They have no way of knowing this".
It is officially accredited by The Guinness Book of World Records as the "Most Translated Film" in history, having been translated and available for download in 1,977 languages as of May 2022, with many others in process. By the end of 2023, the Jesus film was available in 2,210 languages.
Regarding the film's popularity, Schenkel said that foreigners and non-believers "saw Jesus speaking their language, they understood that Jesus saw them and loved them... And so we saw movements of people coming to Christ in every one of these people groups." Furthermore, he said, "[In t]hirty-five years, there have [been] 6 billion viewings of the film and over 200 million people have indicated they wanted to become followers of Jesus after seeing the film. So the reach is just more than we could have asked and it really has been a privilege to see how God has used this tool."
International versions
In 1980, Bright created the Jesus Film Project organization with the goal of accurately translating Jesus into other languages and showing them around the world. The first translation was done for the Tagalog-speaking people of the Philippines. One of the group's first projects, they ordered for the broadcast of a Hindi version in Indian television. The organization works with thousands of missionaries around the world to show the film, sometimes to audiences who have never seen a motion picture. The Mandarin Chinese version of the film is widely distributed in China by the government-linked China Christian Council's Amity Foundation in Nanjing, both on VCDs and DVD.