They show up in a bus, put on this performance, and then get dressed and back on the bus after the Crucifixion. Maybe I'm too simple minded, but I don't understand the point of that. Was there any?
If someone could explain this, that would be great.
"Hey kids, let's put on a show!"
To me, it was just an artistic presentation that this story was going to be a modernized take of the same old hokey Jesus story. It's one of my favorite parts, actually- indicating a kind of pilgrimage to connect to the places and times of Christ. A hurried, and efficient unloading of the props and dress, all ending in the dressing and exaltation of the Jesus character.
And then to not have Jesus reboard the bus at the end as if to say, "You're either on the bus or you're off the bus" (a popular phrase from the hippie movement) - and relating Jesus' message of peace to the same message from the 60's. After all, one could see how Jesus was just one prophetic hippie.
And so it is with Jesus. You're either on the bus or you're off the bus.
You know you're creating God in your own image when He hates all the same people you do
How clever!! Thank you for breaking that down. I thought I saw him getting on, bus but they all had similar haircuts lol. I like the movie a lot more understanding the beginning and end. I've gotta say, Judas had the best voice in my opinion. Hate the character, love the voice :D
shareAw...Judas is just misunderstood. His heart was in the right place. Unfortunately his good intentions are just part of the pavement on the road to hell.
You know you're creating God in your own image when He hates all the same people you do
Is it wrong that I giggled after reading that? It's so ironic I find it funny.
shareJudas' REAL problem began when he became embodied by Satan. Then it was all downhill from there. Tradition says that Judas wasn't "saved" and that he is indeed in hell, but we don't know for sure. Someday we will.
shareOy. Judas's real problem is that too many people think the Bible is literally true. It ain't.
shareBy saying Judas became the embodiment of Satan is saying that Jesus didn't die because of God's will but actually died because of Satan. I've never seen any denomination take the stance that Christ died because of Satan so it is rather hypocritical to say Judas became an embodiment of Satan because that would mean all the events were not from God but Satan.
I think early churches just wanted a villain and that's why they say that Judas went to hell when he was essentially just fulfilling God's will. As much as I believe in Christ, the Bible isn't entirely honest and it's very clear that some people put certain things in the New Testament in order to use fear to convert others.
In all that I forgot to say what I wanted to say about the actual topic... And that's that the great thing about this film is that it can be interpreted many different ways. I choose to interpret the beginning and ending as them arriving to Israel to do this play but because they are walking the same paths as the real Jesus they get into it even further and by the end it becomes too real and that's why Jesus doesn't get on the bus. The others look longingly out into the desert as if they had that set path and prophecy to fulfill and they all just had to play their parts.
Essentially I feel as though they are equating a play with the actual biblical story- that in the biblical story everybody just had to play their parts as if they were given a script for a play.
It's sort of like you and me going to the Holy Land and basically walking the same path, walking on the same ground as the real Jesus did 2000 plus years ago.
It's like a pilgrimage but not a pilgrimage.
That was a good analogy... have you been to Israel? It is an amazing experience!
That was a good analogy... have you been to Israel? It is an amazing experience!
shareAnd then to not have Jesus reboard the bus at the endJesus, Ted Neeley, rejoins the bus at the end. What remains is the crucifix that many of them look back at as they are getting aboard.
The distance is nothing. The first step is the hardest.share
Oh, he does ? I always wondered if he did .
shareNeely doesn't reboard the bus, nor did he ever get off it in the beginning, either. Trust me, I've watched this film dozens of times. You may be confusing one of the apostles for Ted Neely (a lot of them are long-haired with scruff).
The idea is that they "summon" or bring forth Jesus at the beginning when the group does that little circular shuffle, and he rises out of the center when he wasn't there before, nor was he ever seen getting off the bus and into costume. Then at the end Jesus is left on the cross. It makes the whole experience more mysterious and shows the timelessness and legendary aspect of the story.
The war is not meant to be won... it is meant to be continuous.
I've also seen this film dozens of times, my most recent viewing was last Friday night at a 40th anniversary screening that was preceded by a Q & A with Neely and Barry Dennen. Someone asked them about Jesus not getting on the bus at the end and Neely pointed out that there is a little something there at the end that has been traditionally hard to make out on screen, but is now a little easier to see with the new print of the film they have. He told us to focus during the last shot for a little surprise.
Anyway, I saw what he was talking about, something I'd never noticed in all my many viewings; In the last shot of the film, after everyone but Neely has reboarded the bus, we see the cross standing on the hill in a wide shot that is held for a very long time. Faintly, near the bottom of the screen, you can see Jesus walking across the hill being followed by a flock of sheep.
You're right; I remember recently being alerted to that end bit as well. ;) Nice touch, though I seem to remember the director mentioning that it was totally accidental, but they decided to keep it.
Still, no Jesus on the bus. ;)
The war is not meant to be won... it is meant to be continuous.
Yeah, I saw somewhere else on this board that the director had said it was a happy accident, but Neely definitely made it sound like it was on purpose and it was at least partially his own idea. Who knows what the truth is.
shareThat made the movie seem like a play when an ordinary theatrical group recreated the events. When the "performance" was over everyone (but Jesus and the other two thieves) went home.
shareI thin one thing it may do is to blur the lines between fantasy and reality, as the crowd seems to conjure up Christ, and put the story in a realm of its own. As another person said, it's also a good representation of the approach and themes of this version of the story, setting it apart from the more traditionalistic tellings.
"Sometimes it's right to feel a fool"- Cleggy
When the groupies arrive on the bus they are celebrating a SuperStar. When they leave they are contemplating a god. The story is a parable of dangers of choosing style over substance.
shareWhen the groupies arrive on the bus they are celebrating a SuperStar. When they leave they are contemplating a god.
===
I doubt that. Originally, The Players were expecting Jesus, "the right horse" to be a superstar. When they leave they no more think of him as a god than as a celebrity: they are shaken, ashamed of the part they had in his "messy death, a record breaker", they still don't know "who" he is, why he died ("I just wanna know"), they leave him dead.
The filmmaker did not, however, wish that puzzlement to end the film on this note of "WTF just happened?" Rather, the last shot, with its silhouetted shepherd walking against the background of a now-empty cross, is highly suggestive that there is more to the story than the disillusionment of the Players. It stops short of implying a resurrection, but it takes the sombre tone of pointlessness and grounds it out with an implication that Jesus' message, if not Jesus himself, has not run its course.
I'm going to disagree a bit. I think Jesus was resurrected in that he meet Judas after Judas was obviously dead. Jesus wore the white robes that he would have been buried in. Obviously Judas asks a lot of questions with his title song. I may have a messed up memory but I think that a large rock that would have been put in front of Jesus' tomb was moved after he had died.
Here's the thing that gets me. I've seen no one post it so it kind of makes me doubt myself. The huge consensus is that the actor playing Jesus never gets back on the bus. Many say he never got off. I don't remember. The Director of the movie has often said that the shepherd walking across the desert was a very lucky accident. They show a cross and I think someone is on it. There was only one person left when the bus pulled away. Am I nuts?