Line #32 Series/JesusOfNazareth


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8	->''"Now it begins. It all begins."''
9	-->-- '''Zerah'''
10
11	''Jesus of Nazareth'' is an Anglo-Italian mini-series made in 1977 about the life of UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}. Co-written and directed by Creator/FrancoZeffirelli and produced by Sir Lew Grade, it stars Creator/RobertPowell in the titular role and has an exceptionally strong supporting cast making up the rest of 1st-century Judea. Zeffirelli made the project after he was asked directly by Pope Paul VI to make a film about the life of Jesus from his birth to the crucifixion and all the way to his resurrection. In order to make a more accurate film, various religious authorities were consulted besides the Vatican, including the Leo Baeck Rabbinical College in London and the Koranic School in Meknes, Morocco.
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13	''Jesus of Nazareth'' is shown on television in several countries around the world at least once every year.
14	----
15	!!Tropes:
16
17	* ActuallyPrettyFunny: When Peter sets off his first MotiveRant, Jesus has a lot of fun, and it shows.
18	* AdaptationExpansion: The miniseries expands upon the Zealots, the main anti-Roman LaResistance organization of 1st-century Judea. One major subplot has them trying to co-opt John the Baptist (and later Jesus) to their cause and incite Jews to declare open revolt. Simon and Judas are both members who infiltrate Jesus's inner circle for that purpose, though the former fully commits. Barabbas is also an active member who interacted with Jesus a few times. The subplot culminates in a failed assassination attempt on Herod Antipas, for which Amos, leader of Simon and Judas's cell, and several of his comrades were immediately executed.
19	* AdiposeRex: Herod the Great, played by Peter Ustinov.
20	* AffablyEvil: King Herod the Great, initially. His son Antipas seems to have traces of this, screaming at John the Baptist not to force him to have him executed.
21	* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Until she met Jesus, Mary Magdelene was given a hard time by the townspeople, including a band of [[TeensAreMonsters juvenile delinquents]], for being a prostitute.
22	* AlwaysWithYou: Jesus directly responds to Peter's PleaseDontLeaveMe speech, assuring him that he will always be there for him and the rest of his fellow disciples until the end of time.
23	* AscendedExtra:
24	** The Roman centurion played by Creator/ErnestBorgnine, whose servant Jesus heals, also appears at the crucifixion.
25	** Both Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus (Creator/JamesMason and Creator/LaurenceOlivier, respectively) appear more often than they do in the Gospels.
26	* AsideGlance: Doubles with LeaningOnTheFourthWall, when Joseph and Mary exchange marital oaths early in the movie. One of the witnesses looks straight into the camera at one point with the following words (while showing a broad smile):
27	---> Beautiful!
28	* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Mary (Creator/OliviaHussey) does not appear to age until during Jesus' crucifixion.
29	* BeleagueredBureaucrat: Pontius Pilate is shown to be stressed out provincial governor struggling with the position.
30	* BibleTimes: Of course, but with the additional bonus of multiple scenes which highlight life as it was back in 1st-century Judea, [[ShownTheirWork the result of extensive research]].
31	* BlindSeer: Herod the Great has one in his palace.
32	* CanonForeigner: Creator/IanHolm's Zerah does not feature in any of the Gospels but instead was made up for the series in order to give Judas motivation to betray Jesus.
33	* ColdHam: Caiaphas does not say much in his two scenes, but his slow [[Creator/WilliamShatner Shatneresque]] delivery and moments of quiet anguish definitely have a trace of this.
34	* CompositeCharacter:
35	** Both Roman centurions who appear in the Gospels (the one with the ill servant and the one who stands at the foot of the cross) are made into the same character.
36	** Mary Magdalene is equated with the unnamed sinful woman (who anoints Jesus with perfume, washes his feet with her tears and dries it with her hair) as seen in Catholic tradition.
37	* DeadpanSnarker: Zera. Both snarky and pretty deadpan to boot.
38	* DeathByAdaptation: There is a scene that shows Joseph dying despite the fact that this is not mentioned in the Gospels. It's generally accepted by scholars that Joseph must have died in Jesus's youth, though, [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome since the Gospels never mention him again after Jesus's childhood.]]
39	* DemandingTheirHead: The story of the Beheading of John the Baptist is depicted in the miniseries. Salome dances, King Herod promises her whatever she wants, and, at the behest of her mother, she requests the head of John the Baptist. Herod obeys and executes John the Baptist.
40	* DrivenToSuicide: Judas hangs himself after he realizes he has led Jesus to his death.
41	* DyingMomentOfAwesome: It is about UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}, so what did you expect?
42	* {{Facepalm}}: Even here. Judas does a double one when Jesus insults pretty much the entire Sanhedrin with his TheReasonYouSuckSpeech in part two. And then there is Pontius Pilate, who seems to facepalm quite a lot when he rubs his forehead, pondering how to ever govern such people.
43	* FingerTenting: Zerah does this in the scene where he tells Judas how much the Sanhedrin knows about Jesus' ministry.
44	* GameChanger: Much of the miniseries focuses on the impact of Jesus's ministry in 1st-century Judea.
45	* TheGhost: Tiberius Caesar, who is mentioned many times throughout the mini-series, but is not actually seen.
46	** God Himself, as well as his various angels. The words they speak in the Gospels are conveyed by the characters, but their presence is only indicated by lighting and changes in the music cues.
47	* GhostExtras: There were literally thousands in this mini-series.
48	* GoryDiscretionShot: When Jesus is flogged by the Romans.
49	* HeelFaithTurn: Unlike his fellow Zealots who wish to co-opt Jesus's message to their ends, Simon becomes convinced that he was never meant to incite a revolution with arms, but that of hearts.
50	* HeroicBSOD: After Jesus dies, Peter is briefly shown weeping in regret over unintentionally fulfilling Jesus's prophecy about him denying him thrice before daybreak.
51	* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: Jesus warns Barrabas that if he responds to the Romans' violence with violence, they'd be no different.
52	* InvisibleToNormals: The Angels, to mortals. During the Annunciation scene Mary's mother is woken up when her daughter knocks some pots over, and sees what appears to be Mary talking to herself, since we only hear her side of the conversation with (what we presume to be) Gabriel.
53	* JewishComplaining:
54	** In a movie set in first century Palestine. In this case, a farmer who has ordered Joseph to make him a new plow, who fits the trope as a FunnyBackgroundEvent while the child Jesus climbs a ladder to get closer to the skies.
55	** Peter, who sets off his EstablishingCharacterMoment as a man who has a ''lot'' to complain about.
56	* LargeHam:
57	** John the baptist. Michael York runs on scenery chewing most of the time. He only quiets down when he meets Jesus. His bellowing even disturbs king Herod´s exquisite banquet and has to be shut down by loud music.
58	** Herod the Great has some moments as well.
59	* MookLieutenant: Quintilius, a Roman officer who is Pontius Pilate's subordinate.
60	* OhCrap: When Antipas is asked to deliver the head of the Baptist, his face drops and he descends into meaningless sobbing and babbling.
61	* OccultBlueEyes: Perhaps the most notable thing about Powell's Jesus are his extremely clear blue eyes. He also barely blinks. He does blink once, and it's a "look away and you'll miss it" type thing. This technique was deliberate on the part of the director; he wanted to add an air of divinity to the character by calling attention to the actor's [[WhatBeautifulEyes gorgeous eyes]].
62	* {{Omniglot}}: In this iteration, Judas is a linguist whose pre-apostle career was translating documents.
63	* OutOfFocus: After the execution of the failed assassins, Herod Antipas is out of the story, his scriptural audience with Jesus omitted from the series
64	* PietaPlagiarism: Rubbing off the "plagiarism" part of the trope, as it is meant to show the real thing: Mary holding the dead Jesus in her arms post Crucifixion. Averted, however, in that this depiction avoids the usual serene and pensive scene, instead depicting a hysterically shrieking and sobbing Mary throwing herself onto Jesus' body in the midst of a violent rainstorm.
65	* PleaseDontLeaveMe: Peter's pleas to Jesus at the very end of the movie:
66	-->"Please, stay with us, Lord, for the night cometh, and the day is far spent."
67	* PunchClockVillain: Pontius Pilate.
68	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Both Pilate & Quintilius are reluctant to sentence Jesus to death, given he has not broken any Roman rules. Pilate even gives the crowd the choice between having either Jesus or Barabbas released. Caiaphas too, at the hearing before the Sanhedrin, is explicit that his intention is to understand Jesus's mission, rather than to treat him like a criminal. Averted in the case of Zerah: when he first meets Jesus, he appears to meet this, but then turns out to be the main villain.
69	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Jesus does this to the scribes and Pharisees in the Temple when he has his UnstoppableRage moment towards the end third part of the mini-series.
70	* RuleOfSymbolism: The "Five breads and two fishes" scene. Note that Mary Magdalene is one of the many receiving from the bread basket. When she visibly breaks down crying after her first bite, we ''know'' this is not ordinary bread, but serves as a {{foreshadowing}} to the last supper. Mary visibly changes clothes after this incident as well.
71	* ShownTheirWork: To ensure the accuracy of the setting with regards to 1st-century Judea, the production team also consulted Jewish and Muslim scholars.
72	* ThisIsGonnaSuck: Zerah's reaction at the end upon discovering that Jesus's grave is empty (despite heavy Roman security), realizing that this could be the beginning of drastic changes in Judea.
73	* TokenGoodTeammate:
74	** [[Creator/ErnestBorgnine Ernest Borgnine]]'s centurion for the Romans
75	** Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea for the Sanhedrin.
76	* UnstoppableRage: Jesus rants at the Pharisees in the Temple and later destroys the moneychangers' tables on the Temple grounds.
77	* VillainRespect: Habakkuk, the lead priest who throughout the series has been one of Jesus' harshest critics - marvels that even as he is being crucified, Jesus still quotes the Scriptures.
78	** Herod Antipas is a great admirer of John the Baptist and is mortified when he is manipulated into having him executed.
79	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Judas's portrayal in the miniseries -- he sincerely believes that Jesus will lead an open revolt against the Romans (unlike Simon, a fellow Zealot-turned-disciple, who believes Jesus meant something else) and only betrays him to the Sanhedrin to force him to explain himself. [[ForegoneConclusion It doesn't go well]].
80	* YouAreNotAlone: Peter when he tells Jesus that he will stick by and protect him no matter what happens.
81	* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: The Zealots.

Context Series / JesusOfNazareth