Die Bibel (1966)
43KDie Bibel: Directed by John Huston. With Michael Parks, Ulla Bergryd, Richard Harris, John Huston. Extravagant production of the first part of the book of Genesis. Its main highlights are the Garden of Eden, the first brothers, Noah and his family obeying God to build an ark for the Flood and Abraham’s attempted sacrifice of Isaac.
“Iu0026#39;ve always noticed an interesting trend among critics when they review a Biblical movie. Since most critics are of a skeptical nature, they usually carry with them the bias that unless the movie deviates from a traditional telling of what the Bible says it is somehow dull cinema. That somehow there canu0026#39;t be anything compelling in seeing the stories of the Bible dramatized in a straightforward manner with no inane attempts to u0026quot;humanizeu0026quot; the tales through the lens of a modern, secular society.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWell, I make no apologies for being one of the devout and saying that I prefer my Bible stories straight, without any modernistic elements that are meant to make hidden slams at why the stories are important to begin with. For me, u0026quot;The Bibleu0026quot; is one of the best Biblical epics precisely because it takes its subject material seriously and only alters a few details (Nimrod for instance is not identified as the king at the time of the Tower of Babel) to get a coherent cinematic presentation in place. Christopher Fry, whose uncredited rewrite of u0026quot;Ben Huru0026#39;su0026quot; screenplay helped make that film a literate masterpiece of cinema brings the same touch here. And Huston does a fine job of directing.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThose who bash this film, much like those who are given to bashing movies like u0026quot;The Greatest Story Ever Toldu0026quot; while praising garbage like u0026quot;The Last Temptation Of Christu0026quot; are often saying more about themselves than they are about the film theyu0026#39;ve just reviewed. What they regard as u0026quot;boringu0026quot; I regard as a noble effort to give a visual understanding to the events of the Bible. And u0026quot;The Bibleu0026quot; despite only covering the first half of the book of Genesis succeeds brilliantly at it.”
