Artivels Undescribable Perfection

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

TheLittleSongbird Who cannot resist seeing a film with a cast like Anthony Quinn, Jack Palance, Ernest Borgnine and Harry Andrews? The cast and my general interest in biblical epic films were my reasons for seeing Barabbas. It's imperfect and could have been better, but there are also a lot of fantastic things. And when it comes to biblical epics, while not definitive or masterpiece status Barabbas is towards the better end of the spectrum.Barabbas is very grand in scale visually. The sets and costumes are very lavish, the use of amber-orange gives the film a very soothing look and there's some truly breath-taking cinematography. The music score is incredibly powerful and the very meaning of stirringly epic. Also in terms of how it's orchestrated and recorded it's quite innovative with its experimental sounds. The script has its foibles but is a vast majority of the time intelligent and thoughtful, Richard Fleischer directs with a fine sense of period and an understanding to using the action and set pieces to their fullest potential and the story has many compelling moments. Especially true to this are the crucifixion set against a real eclipse of the fun, easily the most striking image of the film, and the climax in the arena, which is the most dramatically compelling and entertaining Barabbas gets.Rachel's stoning(a heart-wrenching moment), the burning of Rome and the sulphur mines collapse are equally unforgettable scenes. The action is very exciting, so much so that it outweighs the film's dull stretches, and emotionally Barabbas is genuinely heartfelt and sincere. The cast is a uniformly talented one and all performances(despite the characters varying in how well-written they are) range from solid to great. Anthony Quinn portrays titular character Barabbas as a tortured, guilt-ridden soul and portrays this very movingly and with a great deal of intimacy. Not many actors succeed in bringing humanity to a criminal but Quinn manages to do that. Of the supporting cast, the standout is Jack Palance, whose performance as the snarling villain Torvald is an evil-incarnate powerhouse.The film is let down chiefly by its pacing however. Not all of the time, mind, but the first half in particular is very stodgily paced and not always very eventful before properly coming to life in the stoning scene. There are a lot of references to Jesus which were dealt with rather heavy-handedly at times, some speeches ramble on a little too much and lose flow. 137 minutes is actually reasonably short compared to other biblical epics, but because there are some very draggy and not so eventful parts Barabbas to me did feel a little overlong in places. Barabbas is hardly the first biblical/historical epic to have these problems though, and others have done them much worse this said, and I'm usually tolerant of slow pacing and long lengths dependent on the execution of everything else.And while a lot is done right in Barabbas, other areas are patchy. Also as gently sincere and pretty Silvana Mongano is, she has very little to do in a particularly clichéd and thinly sketched role in a film where only Barabbas has any proper development. To the film's credit, the idea of people being brought up and living life in tumultuous times is portrayed with much riveting realism, so while development is sketchy it is easy to get emotionally engaged and empathise with what the characters are going through.Overall, overlong, at times heavy-handed in the script and with its dull spots, but with the wonderful production values, powerful music score, emotional resonance, some visually striking and dramatically compelling scenes and strong acting Barabbas still manages to be a good film and one of the better biblical epics. 7/10 Bethany Cox

krocheav While at first you could possibly be forgiven for thinking Barabbas might look like a cheap Italian epic, it is far, far from being so. The person I saw it with described it as a sword a sandal epic with some religion thrown in to cash in on the genre. If you also thought so, then maybe you need to look again. This has to be one of the most literate screenplays given to a 'Biblical' (yet non-Biblical epic). Bristol born Sceenwriter Christopher Fry, regarded by many as the Shakespeare of the 20th Century, has crafted a perceptive adaptation of Swedish Nobel Prize winner Par Lagerkvists' novel of the same name. The film wreaks of stunning atmosphere. Striking images created by award nominated Cinematographer Aldo Tonti conjure up the best art of the dark age masters. Pay special attention to the Crucifiction scenes, these were filmed during an actual eclipse of the Sun, as it occurred on 15th Feb 1961! The production design by Mario Chiari was also award nominated, and deservedly so, leaving you gasping for air amid astoundingly realistic sets. The National Board of Review awarded Barabbas the Best Foreign Film of it's year.Mario Nascimbene caps the eerie moods with an innovative haunting music score. While the action scenes are violent in their recreation, they serve to force us to realize the shocking inhumanity of the Roman Arena, a severe denouncement of the repugnant, decay riddled Roman Empire. Anthony Quinn, Vitorio Gassman, Harry Andrews, Silvana Mangano, Ernest Borgnine, et-all, give convincing performances that should sweep the discerning viewer along a tour de force journey. Jack Palance is truly menacing in a larger than life performance as the arena's maniacal killer. While it's mostly impossible to fully translate a novel into a screen play, it seems Fry has worked hard to keep much of the poetic prose of Lagerkvists' 50's original intact.American Director Richard Fleischer (son of famous animator Max) demonstrates full command of this difficult project and infuses it with the same intensity he imparted to several of his other gripping works: Compulsion '59 ~ 10 Rillington Place '71 ~ The New Centurians '72 and Edward G. Robinson's impressive 'swan song' Soylent Green in '73. If you can patiently follow as a tortured soul journeys into self discovery, then you should be rewarded by the experience of Barabbas. Recommended for the viewer who can 'read' a film like a book. It seems Columbia have recently re-mastered this film on DVD, I look forward to seeing it.

tomsview Of all the epics made during the 50s and 60s, this is one of the most memorable and certainly the most unusual - it hasn't dated all that much mainly because of its almost surreal quality.The film is based on Pär Lagerkvist novella, which tells the story of Barabbas, the bandit the people of Jerusalem chose to save instead of Jesus Christ. It is a haunting work; a chronicle of survivor guilt as Barabbas comes to terms with why he was spared.The screenplay by Christopher Fry, the playwright regarded by contemporaries as the 'Shakespeare of his time', follows the novel to a point: the crucifixion of Jesus, Barabbas meeting with the disciples in Jerusalem, his time in the mines; and finally, his anguished days in Rome.However, the filmmakers added other elements, especially the brilliant scenes in the arena and the gladiatorial sequences. The film also changes some of the characters. The emaciated woman referred to only as 'the girl with the hare-lip' in the novel, whose fate so troubles Barabbas, becomes the beautiful Rachel played by Silvana Mangano, but her end is the same; stoned to death for her beliefs.Despite the changes, the film captures the strangeness of the novel and adds a surreal touch that even Fellini would have approved of. In fact, it was Fellini who first thought of making the film, and felt that Anthony Quinn would be right for the part. However this is director Richard Fleischer's film. He made some good ones including "The Vikings", but this film is far removed from others such as "Ashanti". "Barabbas" is his masterpiece. Somewhere along the way he tapped his inner Fellini.Many factors give the film its power. Anthony Quinn is hardly off the screen and brings his unique intensity to the role; you feel his torment as he believes his death has been stolen. Harry Andrews makes a thoughtful Peter, Arthur Kennedy likewise an erudite Pontius Pilot, but Jack Palance just about steals the film as the psychotic gladiator, Torvald.One of the most powerful aspects of the film is the music. This was the era of impressive epics with monumental scores to match - Tiomkin's "Land of the Pharaohs", Rozsa's "Ben Hur", North's "Spartacus"; all brilliant, all employing massive orchestras. However Mario Nascimbene's score is different. He was experimental and combined orchestral instruments with sounds created electronically, gongs recorded at half speed etc; standard stuff these days but right off the wall in 1961. Anyway, the score he created still sounds avant-garde - just listen to it during the whipping of Christ or accompanying the scenes in the mines. This was also Mario's masterpiece, because a lot of his other scores sound pretty ordinary in comparison.The art direction and costumes were also off-centre for this kind of movie. The Romans with their plumed helmets and furled cloaks smack of paintings of the Neo-Classical or Romantic periods of art rather than the functional realism of "Spartacus" or "Fall of the Roman Empire".All those talents combined to make this the most haunting of epics; it has another quality above spectacular sets and scenes. It's a film that is hard to forget.

T Y This movie was a pleasant surprise. I'm an atheist but if you grant the story whatever you grant other stories you can take it as it is; a better than average narrative. Choosing Barrabas as the protagonist allows this movie to avoid the simpleton, heraldic treatment of good Christians vs. bad pagans. Though it certainly falters here and there. As with all Biblical epics the movie does have one or two Christian dullards who are mad at the Romans for killing Christ. Well yes, and if you're a believer, his death is the foundation of your religion and man's salvation. How could you not understand something so fundamental? How could you miss the point so completely? Well... because people can't reason to save their lives.Barrabas takes forever to figure it all out. He is a true dullard, as his character would be. And Anthony Quinn keeps his performance in check (No hamming). The movie is shot beautifully/naturally, without a lot of arid prettiness to let your mind stray from the point. In the end, it is admirably true to grave matters of theology. Rather than vanquish some two dimensional baddie (which means zero in the grand scheme of things) the real finish of this movie has to do with the condition of Barrabas' tortured, oblivious soul. As I viewed the ending I was quite surprised, since as I watched I was thinking, "ten to one Hollywood and the writers miss the point and off some irrelevant villain." You will not be whistling a happy tune, and ordering a pizza after the final images.