The Passion

Duke NT professor Mark Goodacre has another podcast in his series on Jesus movies, this one about the BBC production, The Passion ... NT Pod 75: The Passion (BBC, 2008) .

Here's a bit about the miniseries from Wikipedia ......

The Passion a television drama serial produced by the BBC and HBO Films in association with Deep Indigo Productions. It tells the story of the last week in the life of Jesus. The serial was first proposed by Peter Fincham in 2006, on the success of the contemporary-set Manchester Passion. Writer Frank Deasy and producer Nigel Stafford-Clark were inspired to make a drama that opened up the story beyond the "vacuum" it is often told in. They did this by expanding the roles of Pontius Pilate and Caiaphas, and exploring the politics of Judea at the time. Deasy and Stafford-Clark were aided by scholar Mark Goodacre, with whom they put together an extensive research manual about the topic.

The part of Jesus is played by Joseph Mawle, who researched the role by reading the Gospels and research papers. Other main roles were played by Paloma Baeza (Mary Magdalene), Ben Daniels (Caiaphas), James Nesbitt (Pilate), David Oyelowo (Joseph of Arimathea), and Penelope Wilton (Mary).

I recall when the miniseries came out in 2008 because Mark had some posts about it at his blog, but I wasn't able to see it then as it wasn't yet showing in the US. It's now at Netflix, I see, and I believe you can also see it on YouTube. One great thing about it was that Mary M was *not* erroneously depicted as a prostitute. The other thing that struck me was the crucifixion scene, in which Jesus was in an atypical posture (Why the BBC thinks Christ did not die this way).

Here's a trailer for The Passion ...