Franco Zeffirelli is an Italian film director who gained worldwide fame with his 1968 film “Romeo and Juliet”, which was nominated for an Oscar that year. Endowed with a poetic sensibility in his images, he embarked on a project about the life of Jesus of Nazareth that ended as a television miniseries and which they gave in two parts in theaters in some countries. We refer to “Jesus of Nazareth” from 1977 with an immense cast of both European and American actors.
Both the script and the length of the shooting were due to the director’s desire to cover almost all the passages written in the four Gospels. The episodes are chronicled from the union of Joseph and Mary, the birth of the child god in the manger, his ministry, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, where the Christian world will begin for all mankind.
The setting has come about very well and takes us back to the time and the way the director manages to unite a large number of good actors to make a well-made product and to the taste of the audience that is always attached is to religiosity.
From the time of the silent movies, some producers brought the story of the Bible to the big screen, creating a direct relationship with the cinema. Such are the cases of director Ferdinand Zecca with his 1903 film “The Passion of Christ”. In 1923, “The Ten Commandments” was released, directed by Cecil B. de Mille; King of Kings from 1927; “El ark de Noé” from 1928 etc., from the decade of the 40s, 50s and 60s with great productions that are considered true classics of the cinema.
However, in 1977 this miniseries was released that Franco Zeffirelli wanted to direct as one more sample that although the story is the same, it can be provided with a different perspective and staging, to connect with an audience that likes this type of genre and at the same time contribute to the historiography of the seventh art.
Therefore, in these days of Easter, I invite you to enjoy this mini-series that you can enjoy with friends and family that I know you like.
Curiosities
All curios are from the biobiochile.cl page
• For the role of Jesus, the director first thought of the actors Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman, but the actor Robert Powell was chosen, who was initially regarded as Judas. How ironic.
• When the Catholic Church learned of the scale of this production, it tried without much success to supervise the steps and details of the filming. In addition, conservative sectors began to keep a close eye on Robert Powell (the actor) as they felt he should be someone who could “handle the job” of the character.
• The pressure on the actor, they assure, would have influenced him to decide at that point to propose to his girlfriend.
• Zeffirelli is known as a stubborn and demanding filmmaker. In this context, he remembered that Jesus should not blink in any scene!
• His obsession with this detail was so great that he asked the production to follow the recordings closely. He only gave in to the crucifixion scenes.
• In addition, the costume team was forbidden to make white clothes for the characters. This detail is not unimportant, as most biblical movies use a lot of white.
• The tape lasts a total of 6 hours and 21 minutes. Although it is a feature film, it has been turned into a series for many television networks.
• The film was released on March 27, 1977. The only country to censor it was Egypt, after several pressures from conservative groups questioning the film’s story and the legitimacy of some of its performances.
• The film was shot in the cities of Tunisia and Morocco with a cast of movie stars, both European and American. It premiered on March 27, 1977 on the British television network ITV. The US premiere was on NBC on April 3, 1977, on the occasion of Holy Week.
Technical sheet: Rating: 4/5 (very good)
Nombre Original: Jesus of Nazareth
Year: 1977
Runtime: 371 minutes
From the director Franco Zeffirelli: Outstanding director and producer of Italian cinema, well known in the art world.