Genre: Adventure, Drama, Religion, Period Piece, Epic, Thieves, Serial Killer
Tagline: The man of violence in whose place Christ died
Plot: Barabbas is a man literally marked with the blood of Jesus. Before being crucified, Jesus is brutally flogged while tied to a post outside Barabbas's cell. When released Barabbas staggers into this post, covering his hands in Christ's blood. His life is never the same again.BARABBAS is a powerful, vigorous movie, unlike most of the slow and reverential, Biblical epics that were being made in the late fifties and early sixties. Also unlike most of those movies, BARABBAS was not directly based on the Bible; this may have been less constraining to Fleischer and his collaborators. The movie is based on Noble Prize winner Pär Lagerkvist's novel, and has dialogue by poet and dramatist Christopher Fry. Visually the movie is very robust. Fleischer and director of photography, Aldo Tonti, use large masses of color against neutral backgrounds—often suppressing brighter colors. Then, when they do allow bright light into the frame, it is dramatically striking. Also, as in most Fleischer movies the camera movements are bold and confident. Given Fleischer's visual style, it is perhaps not surprising that the brutal gladiatorial scenes in BARABBAS were not equaled for 38 years—until the Ridley Scott-Russell Crowe GLADIATOR (2000) was unleashed. This epic biblical drama tells the story of
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| Written by |
Nigel Balchin
The Man Who Never Was, Separate Lies, 23 Paces to Baker Street | |
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