(4 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)
Loading...Here’s a reminder about a first-time-ever blog event, coming soon. Interested? Here’s the original announcement.
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People often ask me what my favorite “Jesus Movie” is, and they almost never expect my answer. For me it’s hands down. A clear forerunner. A movie most people have never heard of, but in my opinion, the best of all time: “Jesus of Montreal.” This is not just my favorite Jesus movie of all time but one of my very favorite movies of any kind of all time.
Want to watch it and then have a discussion about it with me?
This will be our first ever Blog Movie Club event (BMC)!
The main event, the discussion with me, will be on Sunday, January 22, 4:00-5:30 pm EST.
The Movie Club viewing will not be that day, but before; and you have two (well three!) massively convenient options. You can:
- Watch it on your own at your leisure.
- Join other blog members in watching it simultaneously in silence, with a brief introduction and discussion afterward (without me) led by movie club organizer and blog member Lance Boyer, on January 14, 8:00 pm;
- Join other blog members in watching it simultaneously in anything but silence, making comments and giving insights and whatever, led by movie club organizer and blog member Lance Boyer, on January 15, 2:00 pm
As you might imagine, I do NOT recommend doing ONLY option 3; but if you’ve already done options 1 or 2, 3 could be fun. Lance’s descriptions of these options are below.
SO, the basic idea is that you watch the film at some point, by yourself or with others, and then we discuss it on January 22. Interested?
We are asking for a minimum donation of $30 to participate in the event. If you can’t afford it, or all of it, come anyway. If you’re feeling generous (beginning of the year giving!), the sky is the limit. For those who agree it’s one of the best movies they’ve never seen, we suggest multiples of $10 up to and including $30,000. Anything above that, please send small unmarked bills to my private address.
To register for the event, here is the link: Register here
For those who sign up, I will be providing a brief movie-viewing-guide in advance. (That can help for this film in particular. It’s not at all hard to understand on the surface, but there’s a lot more to it than you might expect at first glance.)
I hope you can do it. I’m looking forward to it.
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Here now are Lance’s descriptions of the joint viewing options (#2 and #3) , should you want to go that way (as opposed to watching the film on your own):
Saturday 14 January 2023 8:00pm EST Jesus of Montreal–Silent Movie Watching Only with discussion afterwards!
Lance will give a brief introduction of the film with a short history of Denys Arcand’s conception and execution. Then we’ll roll the film and watch it together in silence. Afterwards, we’ll have a half hour to discuss the movie.
Sunday 15 January 2023 2:00pm EST Jesus of Montreal–Loud Movie Watching with MST3K commentary, discussion, or observations welcome during the film!
Even if you watched it the day before, this promises to be a fun showing that is anything but silent. Anyone is welcome to make comments, stop the film for conversation, or even play MST3K (Mystery Science Theatre 3000) and attempt to tell jokes and get people laughing while we watch. Afterwards, we’ll have some conversation if anyone is left with something to say.
FYI members, the full movie Jesus of Montreal is on Youtube for free.
By now I watched it twice. Also ordered the soundtrack. The text of the Bulgarian song is intriguing, seems to relate meaningfully to the story.
I don’t understand the very end, last scene. I know what I see, but I must be missing something .
Yeah, I’ve never figured it out completely either, except the singers are not in the church but in the subway system, part of the film’s criticism of established religion. But I don’t know what to make of the music per se.
I thought the last scene might mean, on second watching, that the group did not sell out to avant-garde profitable theatre; and the beautiful music (which I don’t know) continues among the most in need rather than in the superficial & maybe corrupt cathedral. Seems like there were a few times that “underground” was mentioned, but I’m not sure — like, did the pundits say that the Jesus character “Daniel” had been “underground” after theatre school before emerging in this play?
Can hardly wait for the discussion tomorrow — thank you for doing this!!!!!
Hi Bart,
I just watched the whole movie on YouTube free. It was interesting but there are lots of questions.
In about 1975 I recall watching an Italian movie titled “The Gospel According to Matthew” and it was memorable because it posed Jesus in a radical light, which I liked. But this movie is quite different from The Jesus in Montreal film, yet similar for losing the traditional image, radical, not orthodox, which in 1975 I found embracing.
The link to “The Gospel according to Mathew is here: https://youtu.be/Ewzr-ioQ_9k
European films are far more atsey and believable than their Hollywood counterparts. In this regard, “Jesus of Montreal” a French film and “The Gospel According to Matthew” may be viewed as similar in nature. Yet both films cherrypick and sensationalize Jesus quotes. Neither film in my opinion makes effort to truly understand the Jesus message; both are off-base.
Yup, Passolini’s film is often considered the greatest film about Jesus of all time. I show it to my students and they just don’t like it. They don’t appreciate art films so much as action, and Passolini is all art. (It was very controversial, as you probably know; he was a Marxist atheist and he dedicated the film, in sincerity, to the pope.
Bart, this is my all-time favorate, Andrew Lloyd Weber’s “Jesus Christ Superstar”, but the 21st Century Rock version not the earlier one, Jesus in the modern age is a smart guy who develops a revolutionary following, and when he begins being called the Messiah it goes to his head and Judas Iscariat warns him to avoid the illusion. In the end, Jesus is crucified on a grand stage on a cross of studio lights, It really brings home the foollishness of stardom and martyrdom. It is a must see — the genius of Andrew Lloyd Webber,
Here’s a song from the film:https://youtu.be/lw5HdK8_p6w
On another note, I never understood the controversy over The Last Temptation of Christ. I meandered through a crowd of protesters to get inside the theater when I saw it in Los Angeles during its first release. Afterward, what struck me was the piousness of the story. Hardly an indictment of Catholicism or Christianity in general. It gave me a more profound desire to understand what Jesus and his sacrifice actually means to people.
A lot of conservative evangelicals didn’t like the idea that Jesus had no idea who he was or that he had had an affair with Mary. Barbara Hershey, btw, was the best Mary ever!
In the after-party chat, the participant who was Denys Arcand’s student (I did not note the name, I apologize!) recommended “Le couer a ses raisons”, featuring Marc Labreche. It turns out to be available for borrowing from my local library, so, going to check it out. Thanks for the recommendation! And thanks to Bart and all who helped make this such an excellent discussion!
Bart,
I have an off-topic question for you. You probably know that I am one of your many fans and I love contributing to this blog as well as doing my part. I also own quite a few of your books. Here’s my question: suppose that one of your fans was so very disappointed in a book that you wrote, say, *Jesus Before the Gospels* that he wrote a book that devoted a chapter to a detailed critique of your book and he was very respectful in his critique. Would you respond to it?
Probably not — I just don’t have time to respond to everyone who doesn’t agree with what I wrote, since I’m working on new stuff all the time. (It would almost certainly take an article of equal lenght to the critique, or even a book!) But if you have some detailed critique, feel free to raise it on the blog itself. What do you disagree with?disabledupes{83c28ce4bb5f87f0df45a141509aedef}disabledupes