Main Cast: Jeremy Sisto, Jacqueline Bisset, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Debra Messing, Gary Oldman
Release Year: 2000
Country: US
Run Time: 240 minutes
Plot
He was a poor carpenter who never traveled further than 50 miles from his home and died at the age of 33, but his teachings changed the world and he's still followed by hundreds of millions of people around the world, 2,000 years after his death. Jesus, originally produced as a television mini-series, offers a glimpse of the human side of the messiah, as well as recounting the story of his life and martyrdom. Jeremy Sisto stars as Jesus, with Jacqueline Bisset as Mary, Armin Mueller-Stahl as Joseph, Gary Oldman as Pontius Pilate, and Debra Messing as Mary Magdalene. The home video release is expanded from the broadcast edition, featuring material that was cut for time purposes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
David Patrick O'Hara - John The Baptist; Jeroen Krabbé - Satan; G.W. Bailey - Livio; Luca Zingaretti - Peter; Gilly Gilchrist - Andrew; Luca Barbareschi - Herod Antipas; Christian Kohlund - Caiaphas; Elena Sofia Ricci - Herodias; Gabriella Pession - Salome; Stefania Rocca - Mary Of Bethany; Maria Cristina Heller - Martha of Bethany; Peter Gevisser - Lazarus; Thomas Lockyer - Judas; Fabio Sartor - James; Claudio Amendola - Barabbas
Credit
Wendy Kurtzman - Casting, Jeremy Zimmerman - Casting, Roger Young - Director, Benjamin A. Weissman - Editor, Patrick Williams - Composer (Music Score), Raffaele Mertes - Cinematographer, Bernard Bats - Sound/Sound Designer, Rachel Griffiths - Script Supervisor
The film is notable for presenting a more human Jesus, compared to more solemn portrayals in earlier films; here Jesus laughs and cries much like anyone else. Among other things, he weeps at Joseph's funeral, throws stones in Lake Galilee when meeting Simon Peter and James son of Zebedee for the first time, dances at the wedding at Cana, and starts a water-splashing fight with his disciples at a well.
Satan is portrayed as a man in modern dress (and as a woman in red, but the former guise is more prominent). During his temptation of Jesus, he shows him the Earth from the vantage point of space.
The film adds an apocryphal Roman historian named "Livio" who watches and comments as events unfold; he is presumably named after Livy.
