Barabbas (1961 film)

Plot

During the Passover festival, Pontius Pilate gives the crowd a choice: free either Jesus of Nazareth or the criminal Barabbas. They pick Barabbas, so Jesus is sent to be crucified while Barabbas goes free. Back with his friends, Barabbas asks about his lover Rachel and learns she has become a follower of Christ. When Rachel returns, she is not glad to see him, and the two get into a physical struggle.

Barabbas then watches Jesus die on the cross; the sky goes dark at the moment of death, deeply unsettling him. He sees Christ’s body placed in a tomb. On the third morning, he finds the tomb open. Rachel tells him Christ has risen, but Barabbas insists it is a trick or that the body was stolen.

He goes to the apostles, who also believe Jesus has risen but cannot say where he is. Rachel preaches about Jesus in Jerusalem and is stoned to death at the priests’ urging. Overcome with guilt, Barabbas returns to crime and attempts to rob a caravan carrying priests. The robbery fails, and he does not try to escape; Roman soldiers capture him.

Because the law prevents Pilate from executing someone already pardoned, Barabbas is sentenced to a lifetime of slavery in Sicily’s sulfur mines. He survives there for twenty years, chained to Sahak, a Christian sailor who initially resents him for being freed instead of “the Master.” They eventually become friends. When an earthquake destroys the mine, only Sahak and Barabbas survive.

Julia, the superstitious wife of the local prefect, sees them as blessed and insists they accompany her husband to Rome.

Production

Yul Brynner was in the running for the lead in the 1961 film Barabbas before casting was finalized, but he ultimately did not play the role. He had previously appeared in biblical epics as Rameses II in The Ten Commandments and Solomon in Solomon and Sheba. The film’s score, composed by Mario Nascimbene and conducted by Franco Ferrara, stood out for its stark, experimental quality. Nascimbene called his work “new sounds,” achieved partly by manipulating tape speeds to create electronic effects.

Its main theme drew from the “Kyrie” of “Orbis Factor: Missa XI,” a piece from the Roman Catholic Ordinary. The crucifixion scene was shot during an actual total solar eclipse on 15 February 1961. Pär Lagerkvist’s novel differs in several ways: Barabbas’ later crime remains unspecified, he is enslaved in Cyprus’ copper mines instead of Sicily, he and Sahak are freed by a Christian-friendly overseer rather than an earthquake, and the book contains no gladiator scenes.