THE MESSIAS is one of the best Jesus-Movies ever. It is not a big budget production like Mel Gibsons nightmare of it or Scorseses movie. Rossellinis film is reduced to one point. There are no action-scenes, no gore or blood - it is the spoke word which contains the high concentration of this special movie work. Minimalisem. The story of Jesus is taken from the bible, the dialogs are near to the holy word. The camera-work is only a long-shoot. It looks like the typical work of the Italian cameramen for the spaghetti-western...but in THE MESSIAS is the camera-work a brilliant long-shoot work, inspired by the icon-painters. Some people don't like this wonderful movie because they felt bored. The reason is maybe the high concentrated work of the director. He always get the scenes to one minimalism point. The actors are great, especially the actor of Jesus. But be warned: There is no big scene, no action! The cast has only a few extras but 80 scenes. And my favorite scene is when Jesus meets Johannes the baptist and there is only one sentence spoken - the first for the Jesus-character in this movie.This is a good, very fantastic moment, a really great for the movie. Here you can feel the consequence of the perfect work Rossellinis. And his true work to the bible without any pathos!
It is maybe the best Jesus movie ever. The movie tells from the WORD and the message is the deep love to the mankind.
