Jesus (1999 film)

Jesus is a 1999 American biblical historical drama television film that retells the historical events of Jesus Christ. It was shot in Morocco and Malta. It stars Jeremy Sisto as the titular character, Jacqueline Bisset as Mary of Nazareth, Debra Messing as Mary Magdalene and Gary Oldman as Pontius Pilate.

Overview
The film's chronology entails a cinematic blending of the Four Gospels with the addition of extra-biblical elements not found in the New Testament accounts. It provides a down to earth approach through its focus on the human aspect of Jesus. Compared to more solemn and divine portrayals in earlier films, Jesus expresses emotions weeping at Joseph’s funeral, throwing stones in Lake Galilee upon meeting Simon Peter and James son of Zebedee, dancing at the wedding at Cana, and starting a water-splashing fight with his disciples.

While the film mainly presented familiar Christian Episodes, it provides extra-biblical scenes such as flashbacks of his first trip to Jerusalem with John as well as scenes of war and destruction waged in the name of Jesus during the medieval and modern times. Likewise, the film's Satan comes in two different forms: a visual exemplification of a modern man and a woman in red, instead of the traditional snake that can be found in most films. The film also adds a composite character, an apocryphal Roman historian named "Livio" who watches and comments as events unfold; he is presumably named after Livy. The film has been generally well received but it also been criticized for having an unrealistic Crucifixion scene as the person nailing Jesus to the cross is not a Roman Soldier but a Jew from the crowd. It has also been criticized for having a highly unsympathetic portrayal of Pontius Pilate, who appears to deliberately do everything to annoy the Jews, which is unlike most other media works in which he is usually depicted as an unwilling gentile participant dragged by the Sanhedrin into the unjust proceedings. As it appears in the credits, it was dedicated in memory of Enrico Sabbatini.

Cast

 * Jeremy Sisto as Jesus
 * Jacqueline Bisset as Mary, mother of Jesus
 * Armin Mueller-Stahl as Joseph the carpenter
 * Debra Messing as Mary Magdalene
 * David O'Hara as John the Baptist
 * G. W. Bailey as Livio
 * Luca Barbareschi as Herod Antipas
 * Christian Kohlund as Caiaphas
 * Stefania Rocca as Mary of Bethany
 * Luca Zingaretti as Simon Peter
 * Ian Duncan as John, son of Zebedee
 * Elena Sofia Ricci as Herodias
 * Gilly Gilchrist as Andrew
 * Thomas Lockyer as Judas Iscariot
 * Claudio Amendola as Barabbas
 * Jeroen Krabbé as male Satan
 * Gary Oldman as Pontius Pilate
 * Gabriella Pession as Salome
 * Maria Cristina Heller as Martha
 * Manuela Ruggeri as female Satan
 * Peter Gevisser as Lazarus
 * Fabio Sartor as James, son of Zebedee
 * Sebastian Knapp as Matthew
 * Sean Harris as Thomas
 * Karim Doukkali as Philip
 * Said Bey as Jude Thaddeus
 * Abedelouhahad Mouaddine as James, son of Alphaeus
 * El Housseine Dejjiti as Simon the Zealot
 * Mohammed Taleb as Bartholomew
 * Omar Lahlou as Nathanael
 * Roger Hammond as Joseph of Arimathea

Soundtrack
A soundtrack, Jesus: Music from and Inspired by the Epic Mini-Series, was released on March 8, 2000, for the series. "I Need You" was released as a single for the soundtrack by American country music recording artist LeAnn Rimes. "Spirit in the Sky" by dc Talk was also released as a B side with "I Need You".