KING OF KINGS tells the story of Jesus of Nazareth with the subtle genius of Nicholas Ray completely intact. Ray doesn't portray Jesus as "magic", but rather as Jesus the rebel, poet, passive resistor and prophet, while still telling the story of a shepherd of men. Note the touches Ray adds. All the miracles Jesus "performs" either come from secondhand (and therefore questionable) accounts or offscreen suggestions (when Jesus passes his hand over the boy and he stands, that hardly seems like a miracle to get someone to stand up. it is only the implication that it was some type of miracle). Jesus is the people's leader. Pilate, on the other hand, is seen making decisions from his sauna or at the hair salon. Towards the end, Pilate's wife asks, "What crime has he committed?" Pilate responds, "He is different! He won't act like the others." Perhaps the greatest scene in the film is the sermon on the mount. Jesus is in white with a bright red covering, framed against the deep blue sky--directly recalling James Dean in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE. So we have Jesus as the intellectual ostracized by the wealthy, greedy rulers. Kind of a common subject for most auteurs, Ray goes straight for a most ancient formulation. While not Ray's best film, KING OF KINGS is still wonderfully intelligent and beautiful.
Review of King of Kings
