Jesus of Nazareth (miniseries)

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Jesus of Nazareth

Robert Powell as Jesus of Nazareth
Approx. run time 371 (UK: 2x 180mins)
Genre Biographical film
Distributed by ITC Entertainment
Written by Anthony Burgess
Suso Cecchi d'Amico
Franco Zeffirelli
Directed by Franco Zeffirelli
Produced by Lew Grade
Vincenzo Labella
Starring Robert Powell
Anne Bancroft
Ernest Borgnine
Editing by Reginald Mills
Music by Maurice Jarre
Cinematography Armando Nannuzzi
David Watkin
Budget Estimates vary between $12 million to $18 million
Country Italy / U.K.
Language Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
English
Release date April 3, 1977 (1977-04-03)

Jesus of Nazareth is a 1977 Anglo-Italian television miniseries dramatizing the birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus based on the accounts in the four New Testament Gospels.

The miniseries was directed by Franco Zeffirelli, and produced by Lew Grade through his ITC Entertainment company. Zeffirelli co-wrote the screenplay with Anthony Burgess and Suso Cecchi d'Amico. It was filmed entirely on location in Tunisia and Morocco. The total runtime is nearly six hours, twenty minutes.

The origin of the miniseries dates back to a conversation Zeffirelli, who is Roman Catholic, had with Pope Paul VI some time earlier in which the pope asked the director to make a film about the life of Jesus.[1]

Jesus of Nazareth premiered March 27, 1977 on British television on the ITV network courtesy of ITC's parent company, Associated Television; it made its American premiere as an NBC Easter special, on April 3, 1977. The miniseries is now broadcast every Easter and Christmas, sometimes on the History Channel, and currently, in rather edited form, on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. (Strikingly enough, the TBN telecast omits the moment during the Last Supper when Jesus announces that one of the twelve apostles will betray him, and that it will be "he who dips his hand in the dish with Me". A moment later, in the complete version of the miniseries, Judas dips his hand and Christ says to him "What you must do, do quickly." Judas then leaves. The TBN version merely shows him running out of the doorway furtively, after which the Supper proceeds without him.)

For its fifth airing on American television at Easter 1987, TV Guide called Jesus of Nazareth "the best miniseries of all time" and "unparalleled television".[2] Today it is considered one of, if not the most accurate portayal of Jesus on film.

Ironically, the standing sets of the film were used by the British comedy troupe Monty Python's Flying Circus for their religious satire The Life of Brian

Contents

[edit] Awards and nominations

Jesus of Nazareth received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Special Drama or Comedy. James Farentino, who portrayed St. Peter in the miniseries, received a nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Special. The miniseries won neither award. Its unique cinematography, apparently modeled on Renaissance paintings, failed to win a nomination, as did the performance of Robert Powell in the demanding central role. The year's most nominated miniseries was Holocaust, which told the story of the Nazi extermination of Jews from the viewpoint of both a Jewish family and an SS officer's family[3].

Holocaust is seldom shown today, while Jesus of Nazareth is shown at least once annually.

Jesus of Nazareth, oddly enough, was not Emmy-nominated for Outstanding Miniseries, but for Outstanding Special Program, so it was not in competition with Holocaust in that category. It lost the Outstanding Special award to the two-hour Ed Asner - Maureen Stapleton Christmas-themed film The Gathering.[4]

However, Jesus of Nazareth did win awards for Best Cinematography (Armando Nannuzzi), Best Costume Design Lucia Mirisola and Best Production Design ( Lucia Mirisola again) from the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists.

[edit] Controversy

Jesus is a venerable prophet in Islam, and the portrayal of religious icons can be seen as prohibited by the Koran. A cut version of the miniseries was withdrawn from Egyptian cinemas after 6 days, due to fear of possible agitations in the wake of blasphemy. As a consequence, a decree was added to Egyptian General Censorship Law prohibiting the screening of dramatic personifications of all of 'the prophets'[5], although The Passion of the Christ has since been screened.

[edit] Cast

Starring

Guest Stars

and

Also Starring

With

Co-Starring

[edit] Ratings

[edit] Robert Powell's portrayal of Jesus

Robert Powell rarely blinks throughout the entire film; he mimics H.B. Warner in 1927's The King of Kings, and Max von Sydow in 1965's The Greatest Story Ever Told. The effect, according to the Internet Movie Database, was a deliberate decision by Franco Zeffirelli "... as a means of creating a subconscious visual mystique about the character that not only differentiated him from all other characters". [1] The boy playing Jesus as a child, Lorenzo Monet in his only known credited film role, blinks twice in the temple, while Powell blinks once.

Makeup was also used to accentuate Powell's piercing blue eyes.

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

  • Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus: A Spiritual Diary (1984, Harper & Row) by Franco Zeffirelli ISBN 0-06-069780-6, an account of the film from conception (and Zeffirelli's main motivation for making it - removing sole responsibility for the death of Jesus from the Jews) to final edit, and audience reactions to it
  • Man of Nazareth: A Novel (1979) by Anthony Burgess. Full-length novel based on his screenplay for the movie but containing much additional material.
  • Jesus of Nazareth (1977, Collins) by William Barclay ISBN 0-00-250653-X, An adaptation of the screenplay, illustrated with color photos from the film.

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/news07/20071203.html
  2. ^ https://www.tbn.org/index.php/7.html?nid=237
  3. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077025/awards
  4. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076067/awards
  5. ^ http://www.egypttoday.com/printerfriendly.aspx?ArticleID=4390

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Films directed by Franco Zeffirelli
1960s
1970s
Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972) · Jesus of Nazareth (1977) · The Champ (1979)
1980s
Endless Love (1981) · Pagliacci (1982) · Cavalleria rusticana (1982) · La Traviata (1983) · Otello (1986) · Young Toscanini (1988)
1990s
Hamlet (1990) · Sparrow (1993) · Jane Eyre (1996) · Tea with Mussolini (1999)
2000s
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