Thread: TeakDOOR Bible Study Class

I am watching Jesus of Nazareth from 1977 this week to get in that Jesussy Christmas mood. I remember watching this on Sunday nights when I was 8.

It is a 4 parter of 1 hour 45 each

So glad that Franco Zefirelli passed over Hoffman and Pacino for the mystically magical gaunt and spooky Robert Powell as the Messiah.

Powell is superb and breathes a new kind of life into the scripture quotations with which we are so familiar. His voice is perfect as well as his appearance and aura.

During the nativity in episode 1 it was only when the wise king Balthazar opened his mouth that I realised that it was James Earl Jones who did Darth Vader's voice. I don't remember making the connection back in 1977.

It was filmed in Morocco and Tunisia and the sets were left in place and then opportunistically re-used in 1979 by Monty Python for The Life of Brian!

It is a good adaptation since it takes minor liberties in conjuring a credible narrative around why Joseph was willing to accept his vestal virgin was up the duff ex Deus. A young Ian McShane also makes good mileage out of the creative narrative around Judas Iscariots politically internecine background and motives.

I finished Part II tonight and it does quite a detailed and biblically accurate narrative around the beheading of John The Baptist, which was Herod's daughter's bargain for performing a dance at Herod's birthday party.

That is why the bible is the most rockinest holy book on the planet... Because it does not shy away from a splash of hardcore gore!