Best Jesus Movies: Vote For Your Favorite Jesus In Film (BRACKET)

Jesus has shined many times on the silver screen, with depictions ranging from sacred to silly to scandalous. Oscar season is a great time to re-visit some of the most famous movies about Jesus and ask the question: which movie has the authoritative Jesus?

Is it "The Passion of The Christ," "Jesus Christ Superstar," "The Last Temptation of Christ?" or one of 13 other nominees for Best Jesus In Movies? HuffPost Religion is announcing a four-round bracket challenge to determine just that! Cast your votes for each bracket and we will announce the winner on Feb. 20th.

What do you like about your favorite Jesus movies of the 16 below? Be sure to let us know why in the comments. If your favorite Jesus movie did not make the bracket, tweet to @HuffPostRelig with the hashtag #bestjesusmovie. At the end of the challenge, we will highlight one people's choice movie.

Voting for Round One has now closed. Click here to move to the second round of voting.

Quick Poll

"The Last Temptation of Christ" or "Superstar"

"The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988)

"Superstar" (1999)

VOTE

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Quick Poll

"Jesus Christ Superstar" or "Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter"

Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)

Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter (2001)

VOTE

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Quick Poll

"The Passion of The Christ" or "Jesus"

The Passion of The Christ (2004)

Jesus (1979)

VOTE

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Quick Poll

"King of Kings" or "Color of the Cross"

King of Kings (1961)

Color of the Cross (2007)

VOTE

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Quick Poll

"The Gospel According to St. Matthew" or "Jesus of Nazareth"

The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)

Jesus of Nazareth (1977)

VOTE

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Quick Poll

"Jesus of Montreal" or "Godspell"

Jesus of Montreal (1989)

Godspell (1973)

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"Greatest Story Ever Told" or "The Messiah"

Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)

The Messiah (1976)

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Quick Poll

"Life of Brian" or "The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ"

Life of Brian (1979)

The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ (1902)

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Comments

[Pandora1]

06:23 PM on 03/10/2012

I guess I'm a little confused here -- I thought you wanted us to comment on the best Jesus Movie, not the best Jesus in a movie. However, I would still have voted for "Jesus Christ Superstar" and Ted Neely as number 1 at any rate, and add my own comment as to why. I believe JCS was the first movie to show Judas as a sympathetic, and perhaps a fellow conspirator of Jesus in his execution -- which was mind-blowing to me as a long-time churchgoer. That new way of thinking has colored my views of organized religion ever since, especially in the past 5 years since new evidence at Nag Hamadi show it may be true.

[bensonwood]

07:57 AM on 02/18/2012

What is wrong with the below. Jesus was Sephardic Jew. Not the light skinned Greek Jew.
Sorry....... more like the North Africa Jew.

List of Sephardic

[Pleonic]

09:49 PM on 02/08/2012

The best one is The Gospel of John (2003) but regrettably it's not included.

[tinkerbell4950]

08:27 PM on 02/08/2012

Season555 Of course God has a son. He has many sons & daughters as we're all his children and he's our father before our earthbound fathers even are. Jesus is the first son & we're all his brothers and sisters. We're all his family. Sad people can't see that and live together on earth as family with God as our father and Jesus as our brother. If we did this would be a much better place to live.Tyrannasaurus. Just because sadly Jesus doesn't exist for you doesn't give you the right to say he doesn't exist at all. If you don't believe in him that's your choice and I respect that but don't speak for the rest of us,please. Those of us who know the real Jesus exists and have accepted him into our lives as our brother know exactly just how much he exists and know the happiness and peace that comes with believing in him and knowing if he didn't exist neither would we.Leon England. Saw your post and agree with you about Mr Powell. I'd follow him too. However, I think it's only fair to let you know his name isn't Richard Powell. It's Robert Powell so if you actually meet him and call out to him he answers you. Of course if he's anything like the real Jesus in person he'll probably know you're following and will turn around and speak to you anyway.lol.

[tinkerbell4950]

07:31 PM on 02/08/2012

I think Jesus Christ Superstar with Glenn Carter in 2000 should be on the list too. I grew up with the 1973 Ted Neeley version and that will always be my favorite of all Jesus movies as will Ted Neeley always be my favorite Jesus. Plus I also had the honor of meeting Ted in person twice at different live shows and he is just as wonderful offstage as a person as he is onstage. However, Glenn's production was amazing as well and Glenn was also a fabulous Jesus. The acting singing and dancing from everyone in this production was incredible. There was only one other person before Glenn that took my breath away and that was Robert Powell as Jesus in Jesus of Nazareth. When Glenns show was done I was head over heals in love. Such passion in this production from every member of the cast. It blew me away in it's own way just like Teds. I can't tweet or would make sure it got on the list but thought I would mention it so maybe someone else will do so. It really should be up there.

[TJ860]

06:28 PM on 02/08/2012

I really like a number of the movies here, but hands down, Jim Cavezial in The Passion of Christ!

[ennui the third]

03:43 PM on 02/08/2012

The best Jesus movie is probably the worst Jesus movie.

[dvglass3]

05:53 PM on 02/08/2012

Explain

[ennui the third]

10:20 PM on 02/08/2012

Simple..,ever hear of the comic Benny Hill?...some thought he wasn't funny, some thought he was hilarious...when a Best of Benny Hill was put out, I heard a commentator say that the best of Benny Hill is the worst of Benny Hill...I hope this clears your confusion...as far as religion goes, to me it is about as far away from spirit as one can get...but that is for another day.

[Mrs Robinsons]

03:15 PM on 02/08/2012

I liked the Silver Chalice with Paul Newman...
Paul Newman played the role of Basil
a Greek sculptor hired to capture Jesus' likeness
on a chalice which also was carved with the images of Jesus' desciples.

Basil had finally carved all of the desciples but could not get a good picture of Jesus...
to come to him in a vision.
He finally succeeded and completed the chalice but it was stolen before it was revealed with a message that it would return in the future.
It made me wonder if Jesus did not trust the world with his likeness...
if he did not wonder if we were not yet ready for it.

[GlassMask]

10:13 AM on 02/08/2012

No nomination for "Hamlet 2?" Sure it was just a movie about an actor playing jeebus in a play, but the song "Rock Me, Sexy Jesus" makes it worth a look...

[MrsFreeze]

09:43 AM on 02/08/2012

There are so many here that I love. Jesus of Nazareth was spellbinding for me as a young Catholic girl. Jesus Christ Superstar is one I love, but mainly for the music (and I prefer the ian gillan version). Life of Brian is so brilliant and hilarious, revealing the truth about just how wrongheaded the so-called faithful can be. Godspell is a little goofy but I loved it as a kid and still love the music. What can I say? I'm just a sucker for a Jesus movie.

[iLdoRight]

07:09 AM on 02/08/2012

The best one would be the one where His presents causes everyone's outer appearance to reflect any inner ugliness they should like to keep hidden.

[DocSyracuse]

11:26 PM on 02/07/2012

I'd like to nominate, in advance, the made-for-current-tv-movie "The Life of Barack Obama".

[ladyjonquil]

09:52 PM on 02/07/2012

Kind of bummed they didn't have Dogma.

[EqualTime]

09:37 PM on 02/07/2012

Not only is Jesus of Montreal an award winning movie, it illustrates a great metaphor for the meaning of the teachings of Christ vs. the institutions which can misapply His simple message of loving one another.

[ionashku]

07:44 PM on 02/07/2012

Very few of these films portray the Jesus found in the Gospels. My favorite films about Jesus are "The Gospel of Matthew" (1993) and "The Gospel of John" (2003), both from The Visual Bible. These are films of substance, dramatizing the Gospels penned by His disciples. As for all this other films, they're more of reflection of the American culture wars, not of Jesus. Conservatives rant against liberals and liberals respond by slandering Christ, yet in the midst of all this the truth is vindicated silence, as the human condition is exposed, just like the day Jesus stood before Pilate, in silence.

[Big0725]

08:23 PM on 02/07/2012

I think you're taking this way too seriously.

[Jesse Boyd]

11:57 PM on 02/07/2012

The Gospel of John was amazing. I agree, it should be up here!