Jesus Christ Superstar Review

Jesus Christ Superstar Review

David

Ms. Moore

Humanities 8B

Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera which came out in August 7^th, 1973. Up until this day it has won an Oscar award for Best Music, Scoring Original Song and Adaptation, a Golden Globe award, and many others that have to do with the costumes and music in the movies. This film, directed by Norman Jewison was made in Israel, some scenes directed on real Roman ruins. The main characters are Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Judas, and Pontius Pilate. The actor who played Pontius Pilate also starred as one of the main characters in the old version of the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. The movie begins in a desert, with a camper van full of tourists wearing modern clothing. They are all given semi automatic machine guns and swords, and immediately start unloading the wooden cross from the roof. This half modern theme continued throughout the movie in the form of guns, clothing, and the fact that all the buildings the film was made in were ruins where the events would have happened all those years ago.

This movie/rock, opera was showing the life of Jesus, starting from when he is walking on his way to Jerusalem, and ending when he dies on the cross. The movie created much controversy when it came out because of some of the things that happen; the modern weapons and attire, the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, and how Judas dies.

In the movie Jesus is creating problems with the Jewish religious leaders, not fulfilling the prophecy and claiming that he is the son of God. Because of this the Jewish leaders send him to the Romans, asking him to be crucified. However the judge, Pontius Pilate had already dreamed about this happening, and everyone blaming him for killing Jesus. He attempts to get out of it by sending him to King Herod, who is pictured as a rich party boy. In the end, Jesus is brought to Pontius Pilate once more, and this time Pilate tries to punish Jesus by whipping him 39 times, but he is still forced to condemn Jesus because of the shouting crowd.

This movie is unique in a way because the characters never talk, they sing. Everything that they say is converted into songs, and while at first this might be interesting, it gets very annoying after a while. The idea was unique in its own way, having the movie filmed in ancient ruins while having the actor’s use modern clothing and weapons.

I would not recommend this movie because it is out of date. Maybe in 1973 this movie was considered one of the greats and everyone loved rock opera, but nowadays most people would find this movie quite annoying and at times quite boring. I can’t think of many people who would enjoy this movie, and none of them are in my age group.

Sources:

"IMDB - Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)." The Internet Movie Database (IMDB). Web. .v

"Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) - Awards." The Internet Movie Database (IMDB). Web. .

"Barry Dennen - IMDB." The Internet Movie Database (IMDB). Web. 30 Jan. 2012. .