A foray into the world of platforms is also this weekend the only possible option for cinema lovers and the coincidence with the Easter holidays becomes an almost obligatory choice from a thematic point of view.
Obviously the biographies on the last days of Jesus of Nazareth triumph, but some exceptions will be used to color otherwise an otherwise predictable "top ten".
- BRIAN DI NAZARETH by Terry Jones (1979). The irresistible parody of Monty Python does not age and marks with great and original personality a story that never ends in blasphemy and makes surreal irony its key to success.
The protagonist is the naive Brian, born on the same day as the Nazarene and condemned since childhood to be mistaken for the Messiah, especially when he meets the real Jesus during the discourse of the Beatitudes.
In the throes of an inner crisis, Brian joins an anti-Roman rebel organization and will end up on the Cross, despite an extreme attempt by the crowd to free him in the place of his most illustrious co-religionist.
The satire on modern times runs through the entire third feature film of the English group and is now a cult film.
In the Netflix catalog.
- JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR by Norman Jewison (1973).
Three years after the triumphal success on Broadway of the musical by Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, Canadian Jewison adapts it for the screen focusing on the dramatic confrontation between Jesus and Judas Iscariot, photographing the inner torment of the latter, forced by fate to assume the role of the traitor.
A company of excellent singing actors (almost the same as the original with Ted Neeley and Carl Anderson in the lead) guarantees the success of a film that, also thanks to the soundtrack, seems to have been shot just yesterday.
A great version is available on Chili.
- I LOVED YOU WITHOUT KNOWING by Charles Walters (1948).
It is the only film in which Fred Astaire and Judy Garland have acted, sung, but above all danced together and is an authentic gift for cinephiles with a close Easter connection.
In fact, it narrates the conflictual working relationship between Don and Hannah who is ill resigned to replace the previous partner of the dancer with whom she has in the meantime fallen in love.
It ends in glory on Easter Sunday when Hannah, with the help of her friend Jonathan (Peter Lawford, Hollywood's quintessential heartthrob at the time), decides to let Don know that she really is in love with him.
An Easter egg, a bouquet of flowers and a rabbit in a cylinder are delivered to Don's house, not accompanied by a ticket;
Hannah shows up soon after.
Available in an accurate DVD edition (in home video) and also on Google Play or Playstation Store.
- THE KING OF KINGS by Nicholas Ray (1961).
One of Hollywood's most personal films dedicated to the story of Jesus, in clear contrast to the glossy hagiography of "The Greatest Story Ever Told" (George Stevens, 1965).
Struggling with a classic biopic, Ray decides for a very humanized cut that accompanies all the stages of Christ's life as an anticipation of his martyrdom.
The film was shot entirely in Spain and can be seen both on Rete4 (Good Friday) and on Mediaset play.
- CHOCOLAT by Lasse Hallstrom (2000).
If you want to avoid hagiographic indigestion, but prefer glucose indigestion, this is the ideal romantic comedy, with the thwarted love between chocolatier Juliette Binoche and charming gypsy Johnny Depp.
Set during the period of Lent in which the small local community of the French province is scandalized by the sugary seduction brought to the village by the woman, the love story ends right at Easter and is narrated by the daughter of the protagonist in a long flash back.
See it for a good price on Timvision.
- BARABBA by Richard Fleischer (1961).
Both for the original point of view (the story of the thief who was chosen by the crowd in place of Jesus to obtain the clemency of the Romans) and for the powerful portrait that Anthony Quinn, a zealot revolutionary, gives him, the film remains a classic of the stories. Palestine at the time of Jesus. Great spectacle and great actors (among other things Jack Palance and Ernest Borgnine) from the Swedish novel Pär Lagerkvist.
It is found in the home video.
- JESUS by Franco Zeffirelli (1977).
The Italian director confirms himself as a great set designer and inspired illustrator of the synoptic gospels in this mini-series (a blockbuster produced by Rai) which is best found in the full version - available on Raiplay - rather than in the short version for cinemas.
With Robert Powell in the role of Jesus and an all-star cast: Olivia Hussey, Anne Bancroft, Michael York, Peter Ustinov, Valentina Cortese, Christopher Plummer, Ian McShane, Claudia Cardinale, Anthony Quinn, James Earl Jones, Donald Pleasence, Ernest Borgnine, Laurence Olivier.
- THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST by Martin Scorsese (1988).
Despite the prizes at the Venice Film Festival and the Golden Globes, this "apocryphal" reinterpretation of the agony of Christ who, at the point of death on the Cross, projects himself into a normal life alongside Mary Magdalene, caused a scandal.
The director is reconciled with his contrasted faith and brought to doubt and gives us a fresco of extraordinary power.
It is seen on several platforms including Chili.
- THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW by Pier Paolo Pasolini (1964).
To be seen, if Easter is not only an occasion for celebration but also for reflection, combined with "Il Messia" by Roberto Rossellini (1975).
Two free spirits, imbued with Catholic culture, but capable of restoring profound humanity to the legendary and painful story of the Redeemer, reveal the torments of man.
Pasolini shot in Matera (like Mel Gibson who more recently devoted himself to the same theme), Rossellini in Italy according to the most rigorous codes of Neorealism.
Pasolini's film can be seen on Amazon, Rossellini's on Raiplay.
- THE GARDENS OF EDEN by Alessandro D'Alatri (1988).
A Jesus in a new age version with Kim Rossi Stuart and Jovanotti can be part of the rediscoveries of this hit parade., In truth, the days of the Passion come after the story conceived by D'Alatri which focuses instead on the discovery by the Nazarene teenager of his messianic vocation.
Seen on Infinity.
Finally, the Easter atmosphere leads to the parts of two other titles that cannot be included, by chronology, in this list but which are perfectly suited to the spectacle of the holidays: "THE FIRST CHRISTMAS" by Ficarra and Picone (2019), projected from an unlikely journey in the time in Palestine where Jesus is born and the very American PETER RABBIT by Will Gluck (2018) from the novel by Beatrix Potter with the Easter rabbit most loved by children all over the world.
(HANDLE).