«Jesus of Nazareth» is a good show, but Good Friday is here, and this epic miniseries airing on ANT1 is about to come to an end. The final episode will air on Holy Saturday at 11:00 p.m.—and then what will you do? This year, with Easter being special once again and us not experiencing it with lit candles and egg-tapping at our large family tables, we want to immerse ourselves a little in the feeling of a semblance of normalcy—even if it’s just for show—and realize that we’re getting through this. As always, we’ll rely on pop culture to help us do just that. And it won’t let us down. Because there are movies that, as soon as they start playing, make you realize right away that Easter is here.
Ever since we were kids, what did Easter mean? Lots of TV. And we didn’t just watch anything on TV. Unless it was an epic or a religious drama, it simply wasn’t shown on the channels during that time. And there was no way you’d want to watch a movie like that at any other time of year. And if this thing with the epic movies isn’t one of the oddities of Greek Easter, then I don’t know what is.
Five movies that we remember being shown on a loop on TV every year during Easter will be enough to get us in the spirit. And let’s hope this is the last Easter we spend saying «Christ is Risen» on video calls. And along with our experiences of this year’s successive lockdowns, we’ll be able to recount the plots of our favorite epic Easter movies.
Spartacus
It was filmed in 1960 and directed by Stanley Kubrick. Although it is not a religious film, the epic story of the Thracian slave Spartacus, who in ancient times led a rebellion against the Roman Empire, is closely associated with Greek TV channels’ programming for the movies they show during Easter. This may be the most iconic role of Kirk Douglas, who recently passed away. The film won four Oscars and is the only Kubrick film over which he did not have complete artistic control. In addition to Kirk Douglas, the film also stars Laurence Olivier, Peter Ustinov, John Gavin, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, and Tony Curtis. The film is available for purchase or rental on YouTube.
Ben-Hur
The 1959 epic film was directed by William Wyler and starred Charlton Heston in the title role. The film was based on the 1880 novella *Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ*. *Ben-Hur* won a total of 11 Oscars that year, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor.
Judah Ben-Hur is a wealthy Jewish prince who suddenly becomes a slave when his once-close friend Messala (Stephen Boyd) swears allegiance and devotion to Rome and comes to view him as a threat. Of course, it may also be that they are rivals for the heart of Esther (Haya Harareet). Ben-Hur meets Christ in Jerusalem and again at the end of the film when he sees him walking toward the Cross. In the meantime, he has managed to gain his freedom, defeat his enemies, and reunite with his family and Esther. The film is available for purchase or rental on YouTube.
Quo Vadis
This American period drama was filmed in 1951 by Mervyn LeRoy. Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Leo Genn, and Peter Ustinov star in the film, which is set during the decline of the Roman Empire, in the time of Nero.
Its central theme is the persecution of Christians by the Roman Empire and the transformation of Marcus Vinicius, who falls in love with a Christian woman and manages to put an end to Nero’s tyranny. The film is available for purchase or rental on YouTube.
The Ten Commandments
The life of Moses is dramatized in the 1956 film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, who also served as the narrator. Charlton Heston also stars in this religious film. The film was shot in Egypt and on Mount Sinai, and it was nominated for seven Oscars.
Yul Brynner plays the role of Ramses, while Anne Baxter plays Nefertiti. This movie is to America what «Jesus of Nazareth» is to us. It has been broadcast every year during the Easter season on American television since 1973.
The Last Temptation
Okay, this isn’t a movie that’s part of our childhood memories, since in Greece it was shown very little in theaters due to fierce backlash from groups of Christian fundamentalists. Ultimately, they succeeded in obtaining a court order to halt the film’s screening and ban its distribution in any other form.
For anyone who has read Nikos Kazantzakis’s novel of the same title, on which the film is based, and loves Martin Scorsese’s films, this movie is a must-see every Easter. The film was shot in 1988 and stars Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Barbara Hershey, Andre Gregory, Harry Dean Stanton, and David Bowie as Pontius Pilate. The film’s soundtrack by Peter Gabriel became a huge hit and was nominated for a Golden Globe and a Grammy. In Scorsese’s film, as in Kazantzakis’s book, Christ is portrayed as more human. He stubbornly refuses to accept the mission of his divine nature but ultimately submits to the divine plan.
