Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)

What happens when a bunch of hippies get together to tell the story of Jesus? The answer is a movie-musical of bizarre proportions. Free-thinking remnants of the hippie culture think it’s groovy. Some Jewish groups claim it is anti-Semitic. Some Christian’s think it is sacrilegious, if not heretical. Some point out Biblical inaccuracies, while others just take it for the fluffy rock opera that it is. For me, Jesus Christ Superstar is simply one of the silliest movies I’ve seen in a long time.

The film begins with a bus loaded with colorful hippies and movie props storming into the Israeli desert. The principle characters step out and start getting into their costumes while others begin assembling lighting equipment and the set. The hippies surround one of their own, handing him a white robe to change into. Suddenly, we are transported to the completed set and the show begins with everyone in character.

The film loosely follows the Gospel of John’s account of Jesus’ last week alive. The focus is largely split between Jesus and Judas. Jesus frustrates his disciples by answering their questions vaguely and intentionally leaving the door open to questioning of his supposed divinity. This eats away at Judas, who thinks Jesus is just a man allowing himself to be caught up in his rising tide of support. Judas grows increasingly worried that Jesus’ rise in popularity and his refusal to quell the fervor of his followers could threaten the safety of Jewish communities under Roman rule.

The Romans, of course, are also growing concerned over this hotshot named Jesus. While he has been advising his followers against launching an uprising against the Romans, Jesus embraces their worship of him as God incarnate. Eventually, Judas and the Romans connect and make arrangements for Jesus’ capture and death.

There is a lot of weird stuff going on in this film. The mishmash between authentic locations and modern prop pieces (20th century army helmets and machine guns on sale in a market?) confounds me. I can see where the filmmakers may be trying to draw a correlation between Roman and modern imperialism but it’s just odd that these few props are the only crossovers to be seen. They stick out like a sore thumb and are visually distracting.

While some of the character choices work out pretty well (Carl Anderson’s Judas is fantastic), others are pretty wretched. Ted Neely looks exactly like the white-washed Eurocentric depiction of Jesus but his singing voice is cringe-inducing. In fact, about half of the cast used in this film cannot sing very well. Between cracking voices and tone-deaf solos, Jesus Christ Superstar is sometimes an exercise in patience and tolerance. I am also yet to find a reason why King Herod walked around in flamboyant modern threads and wearing a neon-colored wig.

I give some slack to the filmmakers for their interpretation of the scripture but some of their decisions rubbed me the wrong way. I didn’t mind the subplot of Jesus possibly having a relationship with Mary Magdalene. It’s always been an interesting theory to me. What I didn’t like was how Jesus was portrayed as progressively losing his grip and patience as events unfold. I can handle challenging Jesus’ divinity because that’s nothing new. But I can’t really get behind Jesus being portrayed as a whiny, emotionally distraught individual.

The whole point of Jesus Christ Superstar is to challenge the millennia-old view that Jesus was in control of what was happening to him the whole time up to his death. Instead of a quiet, knowing attitude, Jesus lashes out at his followers when they continually fail to “get it.” For me, this isn’t the Jesus of the Bible and is where my ability to tolerate artistic liberty ends. The film also fails to show and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus but that shouldn’t surprise you given the film’s intentions.

As a production, though, Jesus Christ Superstar confuses and amuses more than it frustrates. If this is how the scattered remnants of the hippie culture want to view Jesus, so be it. Most of the ‘controversial’ elements are easily forgotten, dismissed or ignored, so there’s no reason to get your shorts in a twist.

What’s left is a colorful, boisterous Bible story filled with good music and mediocre singing. It’s a very unique and odd mishmash of styles and cultures but Jesus Christ Superstar will almost certainly entertain you in some way. Maybe you’ll get into the story itself or maybe you’ll just laugh at the sight of hippies prancing around Jesus. Count me among the latter.

RATING: 2.25 out of 5