The day grows dark, as we see one of the leprous women declare, “I’m not afraid anymore.” They realize that Jesus has died. As the wind howls and lightning and thunder crash down, the women discover they have been healed. Later, Judah confides in one woman, “Almost the moment he died, I heard him say, ‘Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. And I felt his voice take the sword out of my hand.” A shot of a hill with three crosses is the film’s closing image.

KING OF KINGS (1961)

Nicholas Ray directed this 171-minute retelling of the story of Christ’s life, which features narration from Orson Welles. Unlike the cautious treatment of Ben-Hur, which never shows the face of Jesus in close-up, King of Kings shows Jesus at every turn. Played by the blue-eyed Jeffrey Hunter, this Jesus is a matinee idol.

In the film’s garden of Gethsemane sequence, Jesus prays the words “My father” before collapsing to the group, then starting again. “Not as I will, but as you will,” he says, just as the crowd arrives with Judas, who kisses the Lord. There is no comment about the kiss. Peter subsequently denies Christ, and a rooster crows. He denies Christ again, and then denies Jesus face to face. While looking into Jesus’ eyes, Peter hears a rooster crow.

For the trial, Pilate peppers Jesus with aggressive questions. “Are you a king?” he asks. Jesus replies, “It is your own lips that have called me king.”

“Then you are a king,” Pilate says.

“I was born and came into this world to give testimony to the truth,” Jesus says.

“What is truth? … Can there not be more than one truth?” Pilate counters.

“There is only one truth, and it is written in the commandments:  Be true to God,” Jesus says.

In a later scene, Pilate’s wife expresses skepticism of the case against Jesus. We then watch as Jesus is whipped, his face contorted. Workers assemble a cross, and a soldier makes a crown of thorns, which he places on Jesus’ head.

We hear Christ being nailed to the cross (this occurs offscreen). Someone says of Jesus, “The man is dying in my place. Why should he do that?” As Jesus is lifted up, he prays, “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.”

Two thieves also being crucified exchange words with Jesus. The Lord promises the repentant one that he will be with Jesus in Paradise, then looks down to Mary and says, “Woman, behold your son.”