The Roman tribune Pontius Pilate then runs Jesus Christ and then, never mind, allows Christ to be executed after being scourged. Crucified and dead, Jesus Christ promises to the faithful that would be resurrected three days after his earthly death. From this point Pontius Pilate begins to be opposed and hated by the Roman people that he realizes his mistake and that the Jews, who in turn are severely punished by the Emperor Tiberius.
Le film raconte la naissance, la vie, la mort et la résurrection de Jésus, à travers le regard de sa mère, Marie de Nazareth, la sainte Vierge Marie, humble femme, sans péché, honorée d'être la mère du Christ.
Satan has been cast out from hell and banished to Earth under decree of heaven. He can return, only through a series of temptations. However, for every soul who gives in to his tempting, one hundred years are added to his sentence. For every soul who resists, one thousand years are removed from his sentence. The film follows Satan throughout much of recorded history.
Un anarchiste emprisonné pour une tentative d'assassinat se voit raconter le récit de la Passion par l'aumônier de la prison, qui cherche à le convaincre qu'il vaut mieux se sacrifier que de prendre la vie de son ennemi. Ce cadre, tiré du roman, aurait eu pour fonction de donner un sens anti-bolchévique au récit biblique et aurait été ajouté à l'insu des acteurs principaux.
Ponce Pilate, le procurateur de Judée, revient à Rome pour se défendre devant ses accusateurs, Caligula, le nouvel empereur, et le Sénat tout entier. Pendant son procès, Ponce Pilate revoit les dernières années de sa vie, depuis son arrivée en terre palestinienne, jusqu'à l'exécution d'un prophète poursuivi par la haine des Pharisiens, Jésus de Nazareth.
Le curé d'un sanctuaire et d'un lieu de pèlerinage (qui n'est pas nommé mais ressemble fortement à l'Oratoire Saint-Joseph) engage le jeune comédien Daniel, nouvellement de retour à Montréal, afin de monter une version rafraîchie de la Passion du Christ dans les jardins de ce lieu de culte. Ce dernier réunira une petite troupe de comédiens et en fera une interprétation libre, grandiose et sensible. Lors d'une représentation, des forces de l'ordre interviennent et la lourde croix tombe sur lui. Daniel est transporté en ambulance à «l'Hôpital St.-Marc», un endroit bondé et impitoyable, mais n'y reçoit aucun soin. Il quitte l'hôpital en état de choc et descend dans le métro. Inquiets, deux condisciples l'accompagnent... Daniel, en train de mourir, tient un dernier discours sur l'amour humain qui reste si inaccessible aux gens et qui finit par les tuer: «C'est le manque d'amour qui tue les gens», dit-il. Daniel perd encore connaissance dans le métro. Il est reçu avec humanité et professionnalisme à l'hôpital juif, mais il est trop tard. Ses condisciples donnent «son corps» aux fins de la transplantation. Hautement symbolique, un homme reçoit le cœur et une femme les yeux.
The film begins with Professor John Oldman (David Lee Smith) packing his belongings onto his truck, preparing to move to a new home. His colleagues show up to give him an impromptu farewell party: Harry (John Billingsley), a biologist; Edith (Ellen Crawford), an art history professor and devout Christian; Dan (Tony Todd), an anthropologist; Sandy (Annika Peterson), a historian who is in love with John; Dr. Will Gruber (Richard Riehle), a psychiatrist; Art (William Katt), an archaeologist; and his student Linda (Alexis Thorpe).
The film Parable is presented through action and music alone and has no dialogue. It tells the story of handful of people working in an old fashioned circus under the rule of Magnus, a puppeteer who strings up human beings as living marionettes and controls their every move. Christ (Clarence Mitchell) is represented as a clown dressed in white, riding atop a donkey. The clown travels around the circus helping people with their problems and gaining followers until he finally takes the place of Magnus's human puppets and is strung up and murdered. Transformed by the clown's sacrifice, Magnus smears his face with white greasepaint and takes the clown's place on the donkey as Christ resurrected.
The film starts with animated visualizations, film segments and stock footage, a cartoon and audio quotes about spirituality by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, then shots of war, explosions, and the September 11 attacks. Then the film's title screen is given. The introduction ends with a portion of a George Carlin monologue on religion accompanied by an animated cartoon. The rest of the film is in three parts with narration by Peter Joseph.
The film opens with the outbreak of a war in the previously peaceful kingdom of Wredpryd. Count Ferdinand is the inventor of a new submarine who is assigned to command the new ship in battle. The King of Wredpryd orders the Count to sink the "ProPatria" ("for my country"), a civilian ship that is believed to be carrying munitions as well as civilian passengers. In his mind's eye, the Count sees a vision of what would happen if he sent a torpedo crashing into the liner, and he recoils. He refuses to follow his orders, saying he is "obeying orders -- from a Higher Power." Realizing his crew will carry out the orders, the Count fights with the crew and blows up his submarine, sending it to the bottom of the sea.
King Herod has ruled Judea for over 37 years and believes himself to be supreme. When three wise men from the Far East come to visit him, he is initially pleased, but this pleasure turns to anger when he finds out that they have traveled all the way to witness the birth of the son of God. After they depart, he instructs his Prime Minister to kill all children under the age of 2 years. Herod's instructions are carried out, but they don't find the baby Jesus, born in a stable in Bethlehem. Jesus, son of Joseph and virgin Mary, has been destined to lead mankind to a better path but must face many challenges, temptations, betrayal from ones he trusted the most, humiliation, torture, crucification, and resurrection.