Movies I will watch this Holy Week

To get in touch with their Lord or inner spirituality during Holy Week, some people go church-hopping, others get themselves literally nailed to a cross, and a few more go on a public or private retreat.

Me, if I can't do the last activity (and it's been years), I re-watch a few beloved movies:

Jesus of Nazareth - IMO, the best movie of Jesus Christ of all time.  It's been more than 30 years and the six-hour mini-series still holds up to today and stands scrutiny.  It takes a few dramatic liberties (e.g. Peter the fisherman wants to brawl with Matthew the tax-collector) and skips out on Herod's encounter with the Lord, but under Franco Zeffirelli's masterful hand, the Gospel is brought to life dramatically and powerfully.  The characters in them are humanized and made to act like flesh-and-blood human beings with their own motives and doubts, causing them to act as cowards one moment, and heroes the next.  Each shot carries a sense of grandeur and there are some scenes that, when freeze-frozen, looks like a painting (e.g. when Jesus calls Peter a rock and that He must build His church); to date, the only movie I've seen that comes close is Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings:  The Two Towers (think of Gandalf's last-minute rescue at Helms Deep).

Of course, Jesus of Nazareth can't be mentioned without acknowledging the contribution of Robert Powell, who is the only actor who portryed that role as humanity and divinity personified.  As Zeffirelli acknowledged when he cast Powell, it was the eyes that sold the actor on him.  Eyes that saw everything, were infinitely compassionate, and at the same time seemed to beckon with the promise of eternity.  Nowin his late 60s, Powell says that he portrayed Jesus (he was then in his mid-30s) as millions believed him to be.  Good job, Robert - your act remains untopped,  the challenges of Mel Gibson and the most recent BBC passion play notwithstanding.

Les Miserables - the Tenth Anniversary Dream Cast in Concert:  Sure, it's set in revolutionary France and the entire three-hour performance is sung in costume, but Cameron Mackintosh's award-winning musical theatrical rendition of Victor Hugo's novel makes very real the power of faith and forgiveness in a society wracked by rebellion, anger, discontent, and institutional injustice.  I've seen other more cinematic versions of Les Mis (e.g. the Liam Neeson version), but  nobody can replace Colm Wilkinson and Philip Quast as Valjean and Javert in my mind.

Beyond the Gates:  Based on real-life accounts of the Rwandan massacre.  What would you do if you were this British priest (played by John Hurt) who, after serving the mission field and educating the Rwandans for more than 30 years, finally find yourself in the middle of a tribal genocide - your only option is to either get away and go back to England (supported by a UN more than willing to help you) or stand with the Africans whom you loved and get hacked to them into pieces by their machete-wielding enemies?  It's a dilemma that leaves no easy answers and defies anyone to cast judgment.  John Hurt's Fr. Christopher was all-too human and yet showed remarkable grace under pressure.

Chariots of Fire:  The lifestory of Eric Liddell  (played by the late Ian Charleson), who before consecrating himself as a Scottish missionary in China (and dying in a prison camp there in the 1950s) ran for the U.K in the Olympics in the 1920s.  He ran for his country and his God - and when there was a conflict, God won out.  His last race at the end was simply inspirational.  So were his quiet sharings to a crowd of followers and his preaching at the pulpit.