Easter Reads: Did You Know? 2014 Was The Year Of The Bible In Hollywood

Hello Folks, Happy Easter to all of you! Now, to commemorate the resurrection of the Christ, here are a few facts that are intertwined between Jesus and Hollywood! The west has had been producing many Bible movies, either from the Old Testament or the New Testament.

There are so many films right from the Ten Commandments, the Orson Welles Starrer David And Goliath, Samson And Delilah, The Son Of God, The Life Of Jesus Christ, The Passion so on and so forth!

However, never in a single year did Hollywood produce as many Bible films as it did in the year 2014!

Mel Gibson’s The Passion of The Christ ruled the roost when it came to Biblical movies. It was after a huge span of 10 years that another Christ movie came to the fore and it was called ‘Son Of God’. This was the first Bible-based movie to release this year and it took the U.S. Box office by storm. The film was largely based on a successful TV miniseries. Unlike The Passion, this film was touted to have a more inclusive approach. The one thing worth noting is, the film has been produced by Mark Bennet and his wife, both devout Christians.

It was during an interview of the making of the film that the producer admitted, “It took a lot of work and a lot of time and a lot of listening over a number of years to see everybody’s point-of-view, and had to not take the teeth out of the story. The dynamic drama of the story. They are very sensitive across groups especially because of the Catholic faith and the protestant faith and the Jewish faith but we made it all work without making it any less dramatic. In the film the Portuguese actor, Diogo Morgado plays Jesus.

Less consensual Big Budget bible epic Noah released at the end of the month featuring a star-studded cast including Russell Crowe, Emma Watson and Anthony Hopkins. This blockbuster film has sparked controversy in the Arab world and it has been banned on religious grounds in several countries. even in the US conservative Christian prompted Paramount Pictures to add a disclaimer to its marketing material saying, an artistic license has been taken in telling the story.

“I think the oldest stories in the world are classics and relate to all of us.There is something about water and there’s something about the flood that we all can understand, that’s deep in our souls, doesn’t matter if you are from the planet, what religion you practise, Noah belongs to everyone,” said director Darren Aronofsky defending his movie. Emma Watson said Noah is much more than a Bible-based movie.

The year ended with the December release of another Bible epic (that followed the trend of such movies) titled Exodus: Gods And Kings that starred the Academy Award, Winner Christian Bale. The film too courted a lot of controversies and it was banned in Egypt (where it was essentially based). The cultural minister of Egypt was then quoted as saying, “It showed history from a Zionist viewpoint and it forged historical events.”

He went on to state that he was present at a Cairo Theatre where he happened to see the trailer and he was shocked even then! Christian Bale who plays Moses in the film, didn’t pay much heed to the controversies and stated, “He was so much more human than I’d ever imagined and all these temptations and indulgences that you are growing up with, absolutely seen as a freedom fighter, Hebrews were terrorists in terms of the Egyptian empire." (Moses was a Hebrew which he realised much later in life).

So, what do you have to say about this? And did you watch any of these films yet? If not binge on them this Easter and tell us how they were.

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