This is one of my all-time favorite movies and I watched it again for the second time this past weekend. I like to watch this movie at times when I feel like I am undergoing spiritually significant transformations because it gives me a sort of mythical ammunition to deal with these difficult situations.

The movie, as you may have guessed, is a re-telling of the story of Jesus and his ministry, and it is not to be confused with Mel Gibson’s splatter gore-fest, The Passion of the Christ. The story is centered around the conflict between the spiritual and the human aspects of Jesus’ existence. On the one hand, he is (or at least strives to be) an ordinary man. On the other, he is tormented day and night by the Voice of God urging him to rise up and become the Messiah of the Jewish people. Possibly my favorite scene dealing with this rending personal conflict is when Jesus goes to the desert to pray with the monks. He is having a conversation with a monk who says that he wishes he could hear God’s voice, because he never knows for certain if God is really there. Jesus responds saying that knowing God’s will is constant awful torture.

That is, until he finally gives in to it. But giving in to God’s will is no easy task. Just because Jesus eventually decides to go ahead with God’s plan, he isn’t really given any instructions on how to do so. He is only told to open his mouth and that the words - God’s words - will come. From there is an excellent depiction of a man, a leader, coming to terms with himself and understanding how to teach something of value to people and actually have them understand it. Easier said than done as this movie (and the also excellent Monthy Python flick Life of Brian) aptly illustrates.

I also love in this movie that Jesus simply (and often) changes his mind during the course of it, and that it drives his followers - especially Judas - a little crazy trying to keep up. We often look at great figures in myth and history as these monolithic characters who are always at all times 100% logically consistent. But really, who lives like that? Nobody. Speaking of Judas too, the relationship between Jesus and him is awesome. Judas is portrayed as a soldier and an assassin of the radical Jewish sect, the Zealots. Originally sent to kill Jesus, he ends up following him and becoming best friends. Which makes it all the more bittersweet when Jesus ultimately asks Judas to intentionally betray him so that he can fulfill his destiny. This closeness and the reluctance of Judas to betray his master are excellent renditions of this story which are also born out by the recently popularized gnostic Gospel of Judas.

Without giving away the end of the movie, the climax of the story happens on the cross, when Jesus is tempted by the Devil to come back down and live a normal man’s life with the pleasures of a wife and children. Also wait till the very end of the movie at the final moment of Christ’s triumphant crucifixion for some strange camera effects which director Martin Scorsese swears happened naturally on his film reel during that exact moment of filming. He was apparently so taken by these colors and shapes and their correlation to the rest of the film that he decided to leave it in as perhaps evidence of the miraculousness of the story. One other note: don’t miss Peter Gabriel’s absolutely amazing soundtrack to this movie. It is exceptionally well done - as is everything else in this movie, start to finish.