In the past years, biblical movies and TV shows have made a comeback, appearing at a pace unseen since the 1950s, when the genre reached peak popularity.
Back then, movie studios were forced to compete with the new medium of television. Desperate to keep movie theaters full, producers were looking for stories with grand scope that would fill movie screens with specular tableaux in bold colors and outlandish costumes. Bible stories fit the bill perfectly, leading to a series of expensive religious epics. They include David and Bathsheba (1951), Quo Vadis (1951), The Robe (1953), Solomon and Sheeba (1959), and King of Kings (1961).
“So let it be written, so let it be done!”
The most famous of all Bible movies is certainly Cecille B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (1956). It’s a remake of the same director’s 1923 silent hit, with spectacular special effects and an all-star cast. In a prologue shown before the film, DeMille explains that “the Holy Bible omits some 30 years of Moses life.” He assures audiences that he and his team have consulted the texts of “ancient historians” to assemble an accurate depiction of events.
“Our intention was not to create a story, but to be worthy of the divinely inspired story,” DeMille concludes.
Of course, DeMille actually set out to create an entertaining and spectacular movie – even if that meant taking liberties with the Bible story to fill in the gaps. At the center of the film is a romantic triangle involving Moses, the princess Neferteri, and Ramses. Alas, there is no hard evidence that Moses lived at the same time as Ramses and Neferteri. The Book of Exodus does not name the Pharoah that Moses confronted. And it is doubtful (though not impossible) that Moses was ever in love with an Egyptian princess. DeMille made up the romance to make the movie more fun.
And, if nothing else, the movie is tremendously entertaining. My favorite moment: Yule Brenner as the Pharoah Ramses glaring haughtily as he orders his army to pursue Moses and wipe out the slaves. “So let it be written, so let it be done!” The line isn’t taken from the Bible, it’s just a great, expressive line.
Morally unobjectionable
Audiences did not object; in fact, they made The Ten Commandments the highest grossing movie of 1956. The Catholic Legion of Decency apparently had no problem with the romance plot either, since they gave the film their “A1” rating, meaning it was “morally unobjectionable for all.”
The Legion gave the same rating to The Robe, a film about a Roman soldier named Marcellus who is instrumental in Christ’s death and who becomes a missionary disciple of St. Peter. Don’t bother to look for the character in the Acts of the Apostles because the filmmakers invented him and his martyrdom.
Catholics of the time accepted these liberties because they understood that Hollywood movies are forms of entertainment, not catechetical documents. As long as Bible movies remained relatively reverent and not too outrageous, they would be tolerated and even applauded when the movies were especially artistic or entertaining.
A Bible movie renaissance
Today we are in the midst of a Bible movie renaissance not seen since the 50s. Thanks mostly to the success of The Chosen, film and TV studios are eager to put the lives of biblical figures and saints onscreen. The upcoming Netflix movie Mary and the series Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints, which is streaming on Fox Nation, are two of the latest examples.
To me this trend is heartening. It shows that people are still fascinated by the Bible and stories of faith – and major studios are willing to spend millions of dollars to serve that desire. Not every production is a masterpiece, of course, but like 1962’s Sodom and Gomorrah, the stinkers will soon fade away in obscurity. (And even a bad or wildly inaccurate movie may spark curiosity and inspire people to pick up the Bible.)
Unfortunately, some Catholics are less enthusiastic than me. Some naysayers even seem determined to outdo the old, defunct Legion of Decency. As each new religious film or TV show comes out, these critics dissect and nitpick them frame by frame, objecting when creators diverge from the Bible by changing a detail or adding imaginary scenes. In some cases, these critics even urge people to boycott the films they deem objectionable.
Chosen for criticism
Even The Chosen, wildly popular, has not been immune from criticism. An editorial from 2022 criticized the show’s depiction of the Nativity because it depicted Mary having labor pains – which might raise questions or confusion in viewers' minds about the truth and nature of the Virgin Birth:
What might seem like a trivial detail in the film depictions mentioned above thus carry significant consequences for a correct understanding of what God has revealed to us. If we get Mary wrong, there’s a good chance we’re going to get Jesus wrong. His painless birth is no isolated curiosity. Rather, it forms an essential part of God’s saving work: how and why he came and dwelt among us, and, as Mary exemplifies, how he plans to restore us, make us whole, and lead us home.
The author seems to have a valid point, but I also think his concerns are misplaced. People don’t watch movies about Jesus, Mary, Moses, etc. expecting to receive a theology lesson. They simply want to watch these people brought “back to life,” fully aware that the onscreen action is just pretend, and that many details will be inexact, inaccurate, or entirely invented in the service of good drama and rousing entertainment.
A long tradition of making stuff up
It’s a tradition that has long been part of the Church, of course, going at least as far back as the medieval mystery and miracle plays, where scenes of great piety could be mixed with low comedy and spectacle. Some clerics were appalled by the displays, but the Church was wise enough to allow and support them as expressions of popular piety. It wasn’t until the Protestant Reformation that the mystery and miracle plays were tragically banned in England and other previously Catholic places, along with religious images and many other things that were undeniably gaudy, but also highly imaginative and beautiful.
I hope that Catholics will be more charitable toward today’s Bible movies and TV shows than the Protestant reformers were toward the mystery plays. If we see something inaccurate, we should point it out, of course – but with charity, cutting the creators a little slack and hopefully expressing gratitude that someone has devoted time, money, and creativity to bring these holy, wondrous stories back to life once again.
View the PHOTO GALLERY below to see how the Bible has been brought to life on movie and TV screens.
