| Summary: | Representations of the Passion and the Life of Jesus Christ were a popular topic in early cinema. Retrospective criticism, especially in the 1960’s, was judgmental towards the first religious films, insofar as they were regarded more as commercially driven reenactments than inspired works. Interest in early cinema deepened in recent decades, and has led to a different reading of productions from the period 1895-1920. By restoring the universe of visual references in which these films arose, we are able to relate representations of biblical subjects to movements in historicism and Orientalism. Beyond their close relationship with painting and photography, these early films also reproduced the narrative effects of Passion plays or projections of fixed images that were still widespread at the turn of the 20th century. A focus on figurative conception will help us reconnect with the "need to see" and the effect of christic presence that were manifest in the first filmed Passions.
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