Maria
Los
Ms.
Moore
Humanities
8B
1/30/12
Jesus Christ
“Superstar”, not so super
Jesus Christ Superstar is such a
particular type of movie that you either decide to fall completely in love with
it, or dislike it strongly. Twisted into a more “modern” retelling of the
religious Bible story of the last weeks of Jesus Christ’s life, this movie is
truly unlike anything I have seen before. First of all, it’s a rock opera. This
means no talking, at all. The entire movie consists of songs, not all very
pleasing to the ear, all written by both Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber with
the exception of Herod’s Song. Even though the storyline is supposed to follow
the religious telling in the Bible, there are factors which created controversy
among Christians. Such as when Judas is depicted wearing white, coming down on
a silver cross to talk to Jesus after his death. This gives the illusion that
he is perhaps an angel, which many Christians found offensive. Also, the movie
is left hanging at the end, not showing the audience Jesus’ resurrection,
almost as if questioning if it ever occurred. Supposedly this was to leave the
audience to “interpret the ending their own way” yet I did not find it
satisfactory.
Jesus Christ Superstar was released on
the 15th of August in 1973, explaining the quirky and absurd choice
of fashion throughout this film. Directed by Norman Jewison, along with writers
Melvyn Bragg and Tim Rice, this movie was produced by Universal Pictures. Ted Neely, Carl Anderson and Yvonne Elliman
are main stars in this movie which is filmed mainly in Beit Guvin, Israel. This
film is American, “spoken” in English and is supposedly “family-friendly” being
rated at G. Jesus Christ Superstar
gives us a small insight into the last few weeks of Jesus’ life, from his
teachings to his crucifixion.
The
movie opens, and a group of what appears to be tourists, but are in fact the
cast of the musical, exit from a van, dancing and singing, while parading a
giant cross around. For me, this was a
confusing area of the movie, not a promising way to start. Yet as the first
scene ended and the next started I was still hopeful. In the following number Judas is obviously
mad at Jesus for losing sight of the message he is preaching and making his popularity
based on himself and his image rather than the teachings he offers. Played by
Carl Anderson, I can honestly say that for me Judas’ character was the least
aggravating out of this cast. His character’s songs were an improvement, not
repetitive like others, and his portrayal of the character was true to the idea
and got the emotion that was necessary across to the audience. This though
cannot be said for the rest of the cast, neither for the songs. The movie
continues to tell of Mary Magdalene’s (Yvonnes Elliman) feelings for Jesus, and
whose song “Everything’s Alright” was something that regrettably I could not
get out of my head for while, yet in a way that was quite bothersome. Scenes
that show the Jewish Priests discussing that Jesus must die. Pontius Pilate
telling about his dream of a man that shall be Jesus, Judas’ betrayal of Jesus
and the Last Supper follow. All of this leads up to the surprising and
controversial ending, which could not have been more insufficient and
inadequate. To further give my view upon this movie, the main character should
be mentioned. Jesus Christ, played by Ted Neely. Directing no offense to Ted
Neely, fathoming that he has most probably done other movies where his performance
was okay. Though this definitely was not one of them, this performance was
whiny and actually made me dislike the Jesus portrayed in this movie.
Something
that completely, utterly confused me throughout this movie, were the props and
the costuming. Even though I fully understand taking an idea and modernizing it
the director of Jesus Christ Superstar,
did not get the idea. If you leave half of the movie to be done in the middle
of a desert around ancient ruins, this is not modernization-it is
indecisiveness. If you were modernizing this tale it would make sense to
include modern weaponry, such as tanks, guns, etc. but not against a backdrop that transports you back around 2,000 years.
Going along with this, some of the
costume design for this movie rendered me, at times, quite speechless. The most
out of place, were the purple muscle t-shirt worn by soldiers throughout this
film. Along with the strange ensembles worn by King Herod’s backup dancers for his dance number and
Judas’ outfit when he comes down to speak to Jesus after his death. Maybe
though, for these fashion horrors, we cannot blame Ron Beck, from the costume
and wardrobe department, but the “out there” 70’s style during the filming of
this movie.
So,
what shall be the final decree of this movie? For me it was 180 minutes of distress,
peppered with some moments where I found myself overwhelmed, wondering what
had just happened and why. Saying this,
I would not recommend this to anyone, unless you are perhaps studying
Christianity, and wish to delve deeper on the view that the entertainment
industry had in 1973 of the Christian religion. All in all, I found this movie
un-enjoyable and would not, ever watch again under my own free will. My opinion
is this because of the music in this film, which I find irritating but humorous
in a degrading way, along with the fact that not showing Jesus’ resurrection
left it to be an unsatisfying ending, letting the plot line leave bitter
feelings from the audience towards the film.
Bibliography
"IMDb
- Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)." The Internet Movie Database (IMDb).
Web. 30 Jan. 2012. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070239/>.
"Jesus
Christ Superstar - Rotten Tomatoes." Movies | Movie Trailers | Reviews
- Rotten Tomatoes. Web. 30 Jan. 2012.
<http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1011028-jesus_christ_superstar/>.
