King of Kings

Nicholas Ray's epic about the life of Jesus. The narrative begins with Rome's occupation of Judea and sets out the political situation: the family of Herod, the Roman governor, and the groups preparing revolt. The film places the story of Jesus inside that political frame and brings Barabbas forward as the leader of armed resistance. So the second axis is this: the same people have two roads before them, one revolt and one preaching. The best-known passage is the Sermon on the Mount. Ray builds it not as a single address but as a question and answer moving through the crowd. It was made in widescreen and on a large scale; the location work was done in Spain. Jeffrey Hunter plays Jesus. His youthful appearance was mocked in the press of the time and the film acquired a nickname because of it. Orson Welles narrates; the music is by Miklós Rózsa. One of the important examples of its kind for anyone who likes religious epics and the large productions of the 1960s. It is long and moves slowly, and rather than staying with the text it brings the political frame forward.