icholas Ray's lavish and beautifully constructed widescreen epic about the life of Jesus of Nazareth. "King of Kings" is built upon a series of narrative parallels and contrasts between Jesus and Barrabas. The film portrays the thief as a rebel leader of the Jewish resistance; unlike Jesus, who preaches a message of peace, Barrabas advocates violence as a means to an end. By building his drama around this religious and philosophical conflict, Ray establishes a tension that defamiliarizes this well-known story. Highlights include the Sermon on the Mount and the scene in which Salome asks King Herod for the head of John the Baptist.
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