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Christopher Plummer, Henry Ian Cusick, Stuart Bunce

The story of Jesus' life as told by the apostle John, narrated by Christopher Plummer.

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89% liked it

519 ratings

PG-13, 125 minutes

Directed by: Philip Saville

Release Date: September 11, 2003

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DVD Release Date: July 22, 2005

Stats: 86 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (86)

  • papkinjackson
    December 15, 2009
    papkinjackson
    This is a true movie that has strengthen the lives of many in the world today. If you have not watched yet I encourage you to spend time to watch and your life will never be the same
  • schoolofsoul
    January 24, 2009
    schoolofsoul
    This is perhaps my very favorite Biblical movie, with the absolute favorite portrayal of Jesus. Henry Ian Cusick is simply outstanding, and the score is beautiful. A truly exceptional ensemble cast as well. Unforgettable and deeply moving.
  • rachelpinkrox
    August 30, 2008
    rachelpinkrox
    this would be good. I think it would be good to see.
  • jfvirey
    August 23, 2008
    jfvirey
    A few years ago, I bought a copy of the Visual Bible's "Gospel of Matthew", which is a word for word reading of the original text with a voice over reading the narrative parts and actors mouthing the dialogues and monologues. I was not very enthusiastic about it, and the DVD has ...( read more)remained mostly unwatched on my shelves since then. So it took quite a lot of persuading by many Internet reviewers to convince me to give this adaptation of the Gospel of John a chance.

    For me, so far, there have been three excellent Jesus movies (and I may have seen a couple you haven't even heard of) : Zeffirelli's "Jesus of Nazareth", Hayes and Sokolov's "The Miracle Maker", and Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ". The rest I would consider to range from mediocre to abysmal. (My perfect Jesus movie would be an adaptation of Anne Rice's "Christ the Lord" series by Hayao Miyazaki, but I don't see that happening.)

    Well, I am pleased to report that I consider "The Gospel of John" to have joined the small circle of brilliant Jesus movies. Of course, it is not perfect. The main problem is that the text the producers chose is that of the "Good News Bible", a modern English translation that is far from being the most accurate or the most literary. Then the actress chosen to play Mary is too old, not half as beautiful as she should be, and devoid of any spiritual aura (it takes a Catholic to get Mary right, maybe because Protestants tend to forget Luke 1, 48 while we pray the rosary), Jesus doesn't walk right (he reminded me of Tony Robinson on a Time Team dig, and occasionally of a belly dancer) and is a bit too sexy (twice women seem about to kiss him), Mary Magdalene (Gormenghast's Linsey Baxter) wears too much make up... but these are relatively minor squabbles, and when you think of all that can go wrong in a Jesus movie (and usually does), it is quite a relief to see that virtually all the rest goes from good to perfect (including the walking on the waters scene, which usually makes me cringe.) And if the violence of Gibson's Passion was too much for you, then you will probably be pleased to learn that the flogging is just shadows on the wall and the nailing to the Cross and the breaking of the legs of the thieves are performed off-screen. Jesus is also much less austere and much more engaging than he seems to be on the movie poster, though he is not as supernatural and ascetic as Robert Powell's.

    What I loved most about the movie was perhaps the acting, which I would describe as the best I have seen outside of "Battlestar Galactica". Three scenes in particular stand out in my mind : the meeting with the Samaritan woman (Nancy Palk) was particularly moving (even though I imagined her as slightly younger and more flirtatious) ; the cure of the blind man (Stuart Fox) was also very well acted ; and I was touched by the inner radiance of Mary of Bethany (Miriam Hughes, who by the way is also very cute) : when the two sisters Mary and Martha are shown for the first time, you don't need to be told which is which, the casting is that good. And I am only mentioning actors who have only a few minutes of screen time.

    The score was also very beautiful, so much so that I am considering buying the CD. Perhaps not all the credit should go to Jeff Danna, the composer, however, as he didn't write the orchestrations, and there seem to have been borrowings from other sources, mostly from Psalms, Christian aramaic chants and other vocal pieces sung by Esther Lamandier (whose work I intend to investigate) but also from a symphony by Valentin Silvestrov (who seems to have written some beautiful music for piano, though his orchestral work sounds a bit too modern to my ears.)

    Fans of 24 will be also be pleased to recognize Carlo Rota (Chloe's boyfriend) hidden under the helmet and beard of the lead Temple Guard, and trekkies will enjoy the perfect narration by Christopher Plummer, though they probably would have preferred the original Klingon.
  • JesusLovesYouYesHeDoes
    June 14, 2008
    JesusLovesYouYesHeDoes
    This also is a very nice portrayel of Jesus. Word per word from the Bible!
  • gretagermino
    April 6, 2008
    gretagermino
    The Gospel of John

    John the Baptist was influential to Christianity. He spoke of man tat was following him and was the messiah that many looked for. Many of the Pharisees asked John if he was the messiah and he spoke of the man that was coming, that chased him. John knew Jesus...( read more) as soon as he set his eyes on him. Jesus meets his disciples and preformed many miracles. He preached in the synagogues and eventually angered most of the Pharisees. Jesus and his disciples traveled the lands. Jesus preformed his first miracle at a wedding when he turned water into wine. As Jesus traveled, and preformed miracles, the people of the lands began speaking of the messiah that the prophets spoke of. There was much controversy that Jesus was the son of God because many knew his mother Mary, and father, Joseph. Every miracle that Jesus preformed happen upon a Sabbath, which many felt was disrespectful because there was no work on the Sabbath. Jesus replied that his Father, God, also worked on a Sabbath. Many considered his view blasphemy. There were many time that the people wanted to throw stones at Jesus and he would disappear. Jesus started to speak of his death and resurrection to his disciples. They did not completely understand until it was happening. All the prediction from the prophets came true in Jesus, making him the King of Jews. This movie brings the gospel and teachings of John the Baptist to life.
  • vincentstjohn
    April 4, 2008
    vincentstjohn
    Henry Ian Cusic (Desmond on LOST)gives an Emmy worthy performance as Jesus.
  • Dead2Self
    September 4, 2007
    Dead2Self
    Well done. Good visualization of John's Gospel
  • kwolf77
    August 22, 2007
    kwolf77
    Incredible and its great to be able to visualize the Gospel of John. You get a better feeling of what it was like.

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