HOLYwood Surprise for 2014

You gotta love that tagline!

I enjoy taking a look at the big upcoming movies for any given year.  2014 has its share of interesting offerings, about 80% of them sequels and remakes (okay there might be some hyperbole there, but check out imdb.com for more info on that.)  In looking through the lists of the most anticipated films of 2014, one thing absolutely shocked me:  there are TWO major biblical epics coming out this year. 

These are not hole-in-the-wall films by nobody filmmakers either.  The first is Noah (The end of the world...is just the beginning) directed by daring and innovative Darren Aronofsky.  He is best known for the films Requiem for a Dream, the Wrestler, and the very weird Black Swan.  The other director, Ridley Scott, has tread the historical territories before in Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven, (as well as the future with Alien, Prometheus, and Blade Runner) but goes back farther than he ever has before with Exodus, the story of Moses.  Together, these guys have rounded up a truckload of Oscar nominations over the years (though neither have ever won), and both have received massive critical acclaim for many of their films.


Russell Crowe as the title character in
Darren Aronofsky's Noah.



Christian Bale as Moses in Ridley Scott's Exodus.

So, why is this surprising?  Well, considering that the last major biblical film, The Passion of the Christ, was released ten (yes, ten!) years ago to massive controversy and even more massive box office with barely a grain of ancient holy land sand since that time, it’s pretty amazing.  The only other bible movie of any note to come out in those ten years is The Nativity Story, which is a nice little movie, but has had very little impact culturally.  Biblical films have not been quite so absent from television, particularly the very successful “The Bible” featured on the History Channel last year.  Personally, I had a hard time getting past the kung-fu angels rescuing Lot and his family from Sodom and Gomorrah, but that’s just me.


A Kung Fu angel in "The Bible" on
The History Channel.

An all-star cast coudn't make The
Greatest Story Ever Told more than mediocre.

Biblical films have been around since the dawn of film making.  A few of them are pretty good.  Most of them are very, very bad.  Even those made by very good filmmakers haven’t always fared so well.  The great John Huston (The Maltese Falcon, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen, and many, many others) made quite a turkey with The Bible:  In the Beginning and George Stevens (Shane, Giant, A Place in the Sun) made one of the worst Jesus films with The Greatest Story Ever Told, starring Swedish Ingmar Bergman favorite Max Von Sydow as the blondest, bluest eyed Jesus ever on film.  Other bits of, shall we say, unusual casting include José Ferrer as Herod Antipas, Pat Boone as the angel at the tomb, Jamie Farr (Klinger from M*A*S*H*) as a disciple, Telly Savales as Pontius Pilate, Charleton Heston (in an especially scenery chewing performance, even for him) as John the Baptist, and...wait for it...John Wayne as the Centurion at the crucifixion.  His big line is- and you have to imagine it in John Wayne's voice, "surely this man was the Son 'a God."  And, let’s face it, even Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments doesn’t hold up all that well anymore, but I suppose that film is still loved by many.


Director John Huston as Noah in The Bible: In the Beginning

Biblical films have often sparked major controversies.  Some of the earliest films about Jesus were condemned for even depicting such a holy life on such a “vile” medium.  More recent controversies have been over content; the two biggest being over Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ and Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ.  I’ll go deeper into these controversies in future posts, but it’s interesting that each of these films essentially put an end to biblical film for years (decades in the case of Last Temptation.) 

Personally, I’m happy to see new biblical films being made.  Whether of not they are biblically accurate, they get people talking and thinking about biblical issues.  This isn’t a bad thing in my opinion.  Even the “anti-christian” films like Last Temptation and The DaVinci Code open the dialogue.  They are great ways to start a conversation.  It remains to be seen what the effect of Noah and Exodus will be, but I’m looking forward to the discussion.