Bible and Cinema: An Introduction

In the more than one-hundred-year history of cinema, the Bible has been adapted, referenced, alluded to, and mocked countless times to countless ends. In Bible and Cinema: An Introduction, Adele Reinhartz provides a comprehensive, though not exhaustive, overview of the many ways that the Bible has been used by and in Hollywood films. This task is not an easy one, as Reinhartz herself acknowledges (3). The ever expanding body of film history makes such attempts to summarize the topic of "Bible and Cinema" akin to hitting a moving target. Nevertheless Bible and Cinema fills the niche quite well.There are, no doubt, many ways that one might approach the task of providing an introduction to Bible and Cinema. In this book Reinhartz has chosen a primarily historical approach that looks at the cultural and artistic factors that have shaped cinema history as it relates to the Bible. She also looks at the ways biblically influenced films have shaped culture, and formed the American identity, since America is the primary source and consumer of these films.Bible and Cinema is divided into two parts. The first section contains a discussion of "The Bible on Film," i.e., direct adaptations of Bible stories in Hollywood films. This section contains chapters on Old Testament Epics, Jesus Stories, Sword and Sandal films, and finally allegories of Biblical stories. Part two of Bible and Cinema deals with the "Bible in Film." This section covers Old Testament stories that inform the plot of films, Christ-figure films, morality in film, Apocalyptic films, and a discussion of transcendence in film.Chapter one, The Old Testament Epics, primarily focuses on epic films like Cecil B DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1956) which were produced during the 1950's and 1960's, otherwise known as the golden age for this subgenre of film. These films proved fertile subject matter due in no small part to the Motion Picture Production Code and the limitations it placed on violence and sexuality. Producers such as DeMille recognized the power of sex and violence as major draws to the box-office and were able to circumvent the MPPC's restriction by placing these taboos in the context of a Bible story. (21).In addition to the text of the Bible itself, these films drew inspiration for their look from a number of sources including the illustrations and font of the King James Bibles that most Americans had in their homes at the time. These visual cues lent credibility to the films, imbuing their stories with a "biblical" tone even though, in reality, they were embellishments of the biblical text itself.In Chapter two Reinhartz discusses Jesus on the Silver Screen. Despite "the importance of the Jesus story for western history, society, and culture" (57), Reinhartz argues that very few film adaptations have succeeded in creating a compelling depiction of that story. Part of this is due to the tension between the inherent fictionalization that is needed to create a compelling biopic, and the religious constraints demanding a biblically accurate portrayal of Jesus.Reinhartz spends a significant portion of this chapter discussing the racial identity of Jesus as portrayed in Jesus films. With few exceptions, the Jesus of Hollywood bears a greater resemblance to the Caucasian character depicted by Warner Sallman (62) than the first century Palestinian written about in the gospels. This both undermines the historicity of the films and reinforces racial power structures.Films like Ben Hur (1959) that follow the followers of Christ are the subject of chapter three. These films have much in common with the Old Testament Epics that were produced around the same time, drawing crowds through romance, action, and spectacle. Like Ben Hur, many of these films intersect with the story of Jesus, but since they are not adapted from biblical narratives, these films often feature more compelling characters than either Old Testament Epics or Jesus films. …