Jesus Christ, cine-star!

MARQUEE

Crowd: The Messiah! The Messiah! Show us the Messiah! Brian's mother: There's no Messiah in here! There's a mess alright but no Messiah. Now go away!

"" from Monty Python's Life of Brian

For all the controversy it's generated, Ron Howard's movie version of The Da Vinci Code (a.k.a. The Book That Nearly Outsold the Bible) is scarcely the first film to present Jesus in a way that has been deemed offensive or inappropriate.

In fact, strictly speaking, this new movie doesn't depict Jesus at all (apart from in views of Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Last Supper"). But here are some of the earlier films that did:

Jesus Christ, Superstar: The film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's affectionate rock opera was one of two major "Jesus musicals" made in the early 1970s (the other being Godspell).

This one has, among other highlights, first Mary Magdalene and later Judas singing "I don't know how to love him", which became one of the most popular ballads of the decade. Jesus is blond and blue-eyed, Judas is black, and there's a hint of political incorrectness in there "" but it was all too good-natured to stir up much of a storm.

The Last Temptation of Christ: Martin Scorsese's powerful telling of the Nikos Kazantzakis book drew screams of protest, mainly for its sexual content: the scene where Jesus sits outside the prostitute Mary Magdalene's bedchamber while she services a number of customers, and especially the fantasy sequence (crucial to the vision of his hard struggle to renounce worldly affairs) where Christ and Magdalene make love, beget children and grow old together. This scene was presented as the Devil's attempt to weaken Jesus's resolve, but context didn't much matter to the protestors.

King of Kings: Nicholas Ray's remake of a Cecil B DeMille silent film of the same name was easily the least controversial of Jesus movies "" a straightforward biography told in standard Hollywood Biblical epic style.

However, critics dubbed this film "I was a Teenage Jesus", a snide reference to pretty boy Jeffrey Hunter (a B-movie matinee idol) in the title role, and it has a certain Unintended Humour Quotient today. (Hollywood censorship norms dictated that Hunter had to shave his armpits and some of his chest hair before he could get up on that cross!)

Life of Brian: Produced by the always-irreverent Monty Python, this uproarious comedy uses the story of Brian (a contemporary of Jesus Christ, whose life closely parallels the Messiah's) to skewer all kinds of sacred cows "" from public stonings to crucifixions.

But one of the film's most brilliant tactical decisions is to be completely respectful of Jesus himself (in the couple of scenes where he appears), even while depicting the disaffection of other people with his methods (a leper complains because Christ has effectively deprived him of his livelihood by curing him). But then, the Pythons could be even more effective in faux-restraint than in all-out attack.

The Milky Way: Luis Bunuel featured sanctimonious Christ-like figures in many of his movies, but this odd, episodic film is the only one to briefly show the Son of God himself. It's an uncharacteristic depiction to say the least: Jesus prances about merrily, smoothens his hair, talks to his mom like any teenager. After all, he's just an ordinary guy.

(jaiarjun@yahoo.com )