Matt Page has responded to my top ten Jesus movies list by posting a list of his own at his Bible Films Blog. Six movies appear on both of our lists, and I would add that two of his “honourable mentions” are on my nine-year-old all-time top-ten list.
Incidentally, for those of you who live in Britain, Matt will be one of the interviewees in The Passion: Films, Faith and Fury, a documentary airing Saturday, April 15 at 7pm on Channel 4.
On a related note, also worth checking out is this essay on Jesus films by S. Brent Plate, the editor of the book in which my essay on The Passion of the Christ appeared, at TheRevealer.org.
UPDATE: I just noticed CT Movies posted three letters responding to my list, and asking why certain films were not included.
Interestingly, and as one might expect from a verbally- as opposed to visually-driven subculture, three of the four films mentioned are all word-for-word adaptations of particular gospels — a sub-genre that I deliberately avoided, partly because the films in that sub-genre are not especially good, and partly because I was more interested in how filmmakers have creatively interpreted the life of Christ, as opposed to merely visually interpreting the gospels. I also wanted to make room for older films, instead of stacking the deck with films made in the past dozen years.
As for the fourth film, I love Jesus of Montreal (1989) myself, but it’s more of an allegory than a life-of-Jesus movie, per se.
APR 18 UPDATE: The documentary featuring Matt Page — and “Dr.” Ted Baehr, among others! — has now aired, and Matt has posted some thoughts on it here. Can’t wait to see it, myself.
JUN 7 UPDATE: I just noticed that a revised version of my top ten list — which limits itself to the past 50 years and thus replaces two of the older titles with newer ones — has finally been posted here.
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