Loading...A number of you have signed up to come to our Blog Movie Club discussion this Sunday, January 22, 4:00-5:30 EST, to discuss my favorite Jesus Movie of all time, “Jesus of Montreal.” Some of you who have not yet signed up may be interested in coming once your learn what the movie is about.
Below is a note we sent to all those who have already signed up, where I describe the movie and suggest how to watch it.
If you decide you want to come to the event after all, there is still time! Here is the link: Register here
And this is the link to my post describing the event more fully: My All-Time Favorite Jesus Movie. Wanna Discuss It With Me? – The Bart Ehrman Blog
Watching Notes for “Jesus of Montreal”
Blog Movie Club, 2023
I’m glad you’ll be joining me on Jan 22 for a discussion of Jesus of Montreal — my all-time favorite Jesus movie. Some of you have seen it already, other not. No matter, these brief notes may be of some help for you once you’ve seen it, prior to our discussion.
To start with, I strongly suggest you see it more than once. The first time through viewers can fairly quickly start to get the hang of it; but the second time through they get much more; third time surprisingly more; fourth time…. There aren’t many movies like that. I bet I’ve seen it probably fifty times (more?). I’m STILL getting more out of it and there are things I JUST DON’T GET.
That’s one of the brilliant things about a film like this. It’s entirely enjoyable the first time: if you’re attentive it doesn’t need a lot for you to “get” it and really enjoy it. My undergraduates see it once and have a lot to say about it. Fantastic. But this kind of film really pays watching and rewatching. For me, at least, I don’t know many films like that. (Among Jesus movies, for me, it’s really only Jesus Christ Superstar; and a lot of that is because I adore the music and dance. But it too is really powerful) (my students don’t know the first thing about it! I find that SO hard to believe)
As you do or will know, Jesus of Montreal is not a traditional Jesus movie that recounts what Jesus said and did in his own day, and it is not in the least pious, although it is the deepest and most thoughtful Jesus movie out there (imo). It’s about a funky theatre troupe in Montreal that is commissioned to put on a Passion Play at a Catholic Cathedral. The old play the church had used for many years was pious and boring and simply no longer worked or attracted an audience. So the priest, a one-time amateur actor himself, asks a young, incredibly talented, but unknown actor to come up with something different.
He gathers up a group of other actors – none of them in the least religious (I have to issue trigger warnings these days) – and they come up with a Passion Play based on their historical research. It is cool and amazing and … it completely scandalizes the church establishment. But … Well, but you’ll see.
So, by way of watching notes. I’m not going to give away the game and talk about specifics. But I will say this: if you’re watching the film for the first time, you need to be aware of how the movie works from the very outset. If you’ve seen it once, you almost certainly didn’t notice that it was working this way at the outset. The way it works: The life and passion of Jesus (that is, what happens to Jesus in the Gospels) is reflected in the lives of the actors. Their real lives mirror the life and ministry of Jesus.
Often this happens in ways that are hilarious e.g. at the call of the disciples/actors (trigger warning!). Sometimes in ways that are very subtle (the opening scene). Sometimes in ways that don’t hit you till they conclude (the temptation; the cleansing of the temple). And sometimes in ways you (I) can’t figure out, or that can be interpreted in a large number of ways. The gags are often subtle but hilarious (temptation scene again) (and, well, Hamlet’s soliloquy).
One very important point. This play is not an allegory. It is a HUGE mistake to think everything that happens in the story has to correspond exactly, in some kind of one-on-one way, with what happens in the biblical stories about Jesus. There are similarities, overlaps, distant echoes, differences, important distinctions: it is not the kind of thing that “this must be exactly that.” It is more like “this reflects that” or “this calls that to mind” or “whoa, that is clearly that” – but the reflections of the Gospel accounts do not consistently work the same way and rarely as an exact replication.
A related but more obvious thing: you can’t object to this movie (as people obviously do to normal Jesus movies that try to depict things “as they really happened”) that this or that is NOT like the Gospels. Nothing in this move HAS to be like the Gospels. But lots of things are. And understanding the parallels, the allusions, the nuanced similarities, in light of the differences given time and place is key (20th century, capitalist, Montreal in the context of entrenched Christian institutionalized religion instead of 1st century, Roman dominated, Israel in the context of institutionalized Judaism).
OK, I hope you enjoy the show. Watch it again if you can! I will. (Twice this semester, since I’m teaching it in my class on Jesus in Scholarship and Film!) And I look forward to talking with you about it.
Dr. Ehrman,
You have expressed a love for JC Superstar on your podcast. As a theatre teacher and director, I certainly share that affection. I also adore Godspell, and have portrayed John The Baptist/Judas numerous times in many productions over the years. I’m curious: What are your thoughts on Godpsell? Do you like the narrative decision the writers made to have John the Baptist become the Judas figure as part of a dynamic, and tragic, character arc?
Ha! I waas just thinking this afternoon, in connection with something else, that I’ve never really liked it! I loved the idea of it when it came out, but I don’t think it’s a compelling flim and I’m not that fond of the songs (except Day by Day). But we all have our preferences. I was more puzzled than impressed by the JB/Judas thing.
Haha, yeah Godspell is not everyone’s cup of tea. Ironically, I recently watched JC superstar and Godspell back to back with my wife, who had never seen either. She hated Superstar, but adored Godspell. If you knew my wife, you’d have guessed that would be her reaction!
Ha!
Jesus of Montreal was one of my late mother’s favorite movies. It’s brilliant.
I enjoyed watching the movie (Jesus of Montreal) and the discussion.
I vote for The Last Temptation of Christ as the next one. I only heard about that movie initially because of the publicity surrounding the protests/boycotts. So of course, I had to see it for myself. I was not expecting much and probably wouldn’t have bothered if not for the controversy. I ended up liking it, even though I found some aspects of it confusing. That was decades ago. I will need to watch it again regardless.
After reading this post, I was interested in watching Jesus of Montreal (twice!). I joined Bart’s Movie Club discussion about it today. What a grand way to make money for blog expenses!
Glad to see you there!
Dr. Ehrman,
could you please tell me again of the two books about Jesus in the movies, that you introduced at the Blog Movie Club?
Ah, sorry not to catch your question first time around. Jesus at the Movies by Barnes Tatum and Jesus of Hollywood by Adele Reinhartz
I never even heard of “Jesus of Montreal.” Now I’m on a mission from God to get ahold of it (“Don’t you blaspheme in here!” says Mrs. Murphy 😠) as there is no one whose insights on Jesus I more highly value than yours, professor. Plus, anyone who recognizes the brilliance of “Life of Brian” also has a surpassing appreciation of the art of filmmaking, as well!
All the Jesus biopics I’ve seen have been pretty underwhelming.
Zeffirelli’s miniseries is probably the best — though it’s riddled with cliches (not least, a blue-eyed, aryan Jesus. 🙄) At least the portrayal of his ministry is quite good. Especially the bacchanalia at Matthew’s house that culminates in what is IMHO the most moving portrayal of the parable of the Prodigal Son ever done.
I did find some value in “Last Temptation,” but couldn’t bring myself to suffer through “Passion of the Christ.”
As for “JC Superstar,” I think my chances of enjoying it were sabotaged by the incredible performances of the original broadway cast. In a musical the quality of the music is kinda important. 😉
All the rest have been dreck (unless you classify “King of Kings” alongside “Life of Brian” as farce.)
I finally got ahold of and watched “Jesus of Montreal.” I can see why it has become your favorite Jesus movie!
Better appreciation of it will, as you suggest, require additional viewings. But my initial impression is that its power comes from the reassociations of setting the story in contemporary Montreal instead of 1st-century Palestine.
The #1 issue I encounter in talking with fellow Christians is that they are SO familiar with the gospels — and so hopelessly indoctrinated (literally) with official creed, i.e., the one and *only* way they are to be understood — that the meaning and relevance of what Jesus actually taught has become utterly lost on them.
If I had a dollar for every time a Christian made some imperious pronouncement, based entirely on unquestioned church doctrine — that I easily challenged by quoting the very words of Jesus, himself — I could probably have covered the production cost of the film!
Can you recommend any other movies with a spiritually powerful message? They don’t necessarily have to be Jesus/Christian specific. A couple that come to mind for me, for instance, are “Field of Dreams” and “Mr. Holland’s Opus” (or even “Groundhog Day” which has a more Buddhist milieu.)
I actually like Cool Hand Luke! But, more intriguing, Babettes Feast.
“Jesus of Montreal” unburdens viewers of all the pious baggage accumulated over a lifetime of having his story preached at us. By washing away the “covered by the blood” nonsense, it finally circumvents the disconnection, giving viewers the opportunity to actually *hear* what Jesus was trying to tell us!
Of the many insightful points I have taken from your lectures and books, perhaps the most powerful and important was your observation that “Christianity went from the religion *of* Jesus to a religion *about* Jesus.”
That degeneration was already well underway even before the unholy marriage of church and state in the early 4th-century.
Once imperially-empowered Christianity became driven by political expedience and armed with secular power, it inevitably reduced the most influential spiritual master who ever lived — who showed the way to enlightenment, a.k.a. “salvation” — to a marble icon.
A millennium-long Dark Ages followed.
I’d like to thank God for the Enlightenment. But my deist inclinations lead me to believe that it was on us to crawl out of the abyss we created. Humanity did that on its own. Which probably explains why it took 1,000 years to do it. 😉
Was a recording ever made of this event? I really enjoyed today’s Life of Brian discussion and would like to see the one for this movie even if I can’t participate in it. 🙂
I think so! I need to see what’s happening with it….disabledupes{40bb5d8993e9331dac048063f4313ef4}disabledupes