CREDIT: THE BIBLE

I don't make movies but I can appreciate the difficulty of creating one, especially one about Jesus Christ. It would have to capture the appeal and depth of Jesus. And it would have to make the setting — the times, locations and other characters — believable to today's audiences. The BBC miniseries, The Bible, succeeds in these areas where, I think, earlier productions have fallen short.

Until sometime last year, the Jesus movie that helped me most to encourage discussion about Christ was Jesus, starring Jeremy Sisto. Made in 1999, it is dated but still helps convey Jesus' words and actions and their effects on people.

Dozens of films about Jesus have been made during the past 100 years. According to film historians, the first one, The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ, surfaced in 1905. Expect no sound with this one, and expect the special effects to look shaky by today's standards. From the 1950s on, makers of Jesus films have created many versions of the life of Christ, some taking significant artistic liberties, and others staying close to the biblical accounts. Some of the more famous films are Jesus Christ Superstar, Jesus of Montreal and The Passion of The Christ.

The BBC production seems to me to have broken new ground. In some Jesus films that have tried to stay close to the actual stories, Jesus comes across as being too other worldly, with his feet not sufficiently on the ground. The Bible, however, shows him engaged with the politics, the religious debates, and the struggles of the Jewish people around him. It shows him caught in a life-and-death struggle with religious as well as military authorities. This is completely in keeping with the written accounts of Jesus. There, a reader can find people who trusted Jesus immediately, those who worked for his execution, and those at many points between those two extremes.

If there is one fault with the portrayal of Jesus in this production it would be that he is still too Caucasian. And good-looking, too — according to comments that I have heard audience members make. I'm just sayin'. His language accent also seems to shift through the movie. Sometimes he speaks with what to my ears is an educated British accent. But that seems to switch to something more Scottish sounding to me, and then to something that has an Eastern European edge. Maybe this was deliberate — a way of showing that Jesus Christ is for people of every cultural, racial, and religious background. But some will find it irritating.

Still, I would highly recommend The Bible. The acting and production to me are beyond what can be found in other Bible or Jesus films — and for that matter what can be found in most TV shows and movies. For those who are unfamiliar with the Bible, I would say, start with the stories of Jesus (disc three of the four DVDs). Then go back and view discs one and two as the prequel to Jesus. I think that viewing it in that sequence may make the whole narrative more understandable.

About the “prequel” as I call it: You will find that the early stories of the creation, the flood and other parts at the beginning of the Bible are treated without any comment as to whether they are historical or symbolic. Getting acquainted with some commentary, say from the Catholic Church, about how to understand those first bits — extremely important bits — of the Bible can acquaint the viewer with discussions about those sections.

A second thing about the prequel is that as it moves on there are stories of violence. Again, it may be helpful to find someone such as a priest or pastor who can talk with you about those sections of the biblical narrative. They can be troubling, but do not need to become roadblocks to discovering the God of the Bible as true, and to discovering Jesus Christ as the key to life.

And this brings me to my final point. Perhaps the best setting in which to view The Bible is with at least a few others who are familiar with the stories and their meanings. In the end the most important contribution that The Bible can make is to rekindle discussion between those who are persuaded and those who have yet to be. After all, as the film claims, the Bible has the power to change the world. And this is exactly what Jesus, in the film, claims he is up to. Many of us, I hope, will experience the film as a life-changing encounter with God.
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