This Film About Jesus Is a Near-Perfect Adaptation of Scripture — and Allegedly the Most-Watched Movie Ever -

There are plenty of movies out there that have been made about Jesus Christ. The New Testament story has been brought to life countless times over the years, with varying degrees of faithfulness to the source material. While no adaptation will ever be able to fully capture the brilliance of the original Gospel narratives, there is one feature film that is best known for being considered the most-watched of them all — and that distinction may extend to being the most-watched movie, ever. Ben-Hur, The Greatest Story Ever Told, and The Passion of the Christ are all standard picks to revisit around Easter, but it turns out that only the 1979 picture simply titled Jesus beats out all the rest in terms of frequency of views.

‘The Jesus Film’ Is Arguably the Most Accurate On-Screen Depiction of Christ

Jesus Christ (Brian Deacon) on a boat reaches out his hand in 'Jesus' (1979) — Image via Warner Bros.

According to both The New York Times and BBC One, Jesus (alternatively known as The Jesus Film) is not just the most popularly screened film about Christ, but the most-watched film, period. These outlets note that while Hollywood has largely put The Jesus Film out of its mind, the film has been used as an evangelistic tool all across the globe. Everywhere, from tiny African villages to larger cities in South America, Jesus has been screened for audiences who thought they knew the story of Christ. In the United States, the film was distributed theatrically in the late ’70s by Warner Bros., who uncharacteristically attached itself to the “overtly religious picture,” as recorded by the AFI Catalog. A 2014 report by BREATHEcast noted that there had been over 6 billion screenings of the picture, and that was over a decade ago. But how did The Jesus Film get there?

Surprisingly, This Is the Best Movie About Jesus Ever Made According to Rotten Tomatoes

Even the Vatican considers this the best film ever made about Christ.

Financed largely by Campus Crusade for Christ (aka Cru), an interdenominational parachurch organization focused on missions, the film set out to be the most accurate depiction of Christ on camera. Presented in a distinct docu-drama style, Jesus was shot on location in the Holy Land (largely in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv), where the film followed the New Testament Gospel of Luke almost to the letter. Unlike many other adaptations, the picture doesn’t stray from the biblical narrative. Instead, it has been quite well-received by Christian audiences due to its commitment to bringing scripture to life as close to the text as possible (though perhaps not as violently as Mel Gibson‘s The Passion of the Christ, which accurately portrays the horrors of Roman crucifixion). Jesus became known only after its theatrical run, and continues to be screened around the globe to this day.

‘Jesus’ Is Not Only One of the Most-Watched Movies in History, but the Most Translated As Well

In addition to being perhaps the most-watched film ever made, Jesus also holds the Guinness World Record for being the “most translated film.” At the time the record was awarded in 2012, The Jesus Film had been translated into 817 individual languages, but according to more recent reports by The Jesus Film Project — the Cru ministry directly responsible for the worldwide distribution of the motion picture — that number has shot up to 2,219 since. Whether screened on television, via the organization’s app, on YouTube, home media, or theatrically, the film continues to make a significant impact on many today and offers a recognizable take on Christ, brought to life expertly by Brian Deacon.

As The Jesus Film Project continues to share Jesus around the globe (and is even working on an animated feature with similar goals), the film has become quite famous. No, it may not be as epic as a George Stevens picture, as visceral as Mel Gibson’s attempt, or even as groundbreaking as Cecil B. DeMille‘s silent flick, The King of Kings (which partially inspired Cru’s founder, Bill Bright, to produce Jesus in the first place), but the 1979 take on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is often considered the most accurate — and arguably most important — as it continues to make waves across the globe. While nothing beats picking up a Bible and reading the story for oneself, if you’d rather watch the story of Christ unfold on the screen this Easter, no picture will be truer to the material than The Jesus Film.

Jesus (or The Jesus Film) is available to watch for free on YouTube in the U.S.

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