IMDb RATING
7.5/10
937
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After WW1,ordinary citizens of a small Greek village plays the Passion Play in order to rebel against Turkish rulers during Turkish-Greek relations in 1920's.After WW1,ordinary citizens of a small Greek village plays the Passion Play in order to rebel against Turkish rulers during Turkish-Greek relations in 1920's.After WW1,ordinary citizens of a small Greek village plays the Passion Play in order to rebel against Turkish rulers during Turkish-Greek relations in 1920's.
- Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
- 2 wins & 3 nominations total
Gert Fröbe
- Archon Patriarcheas
- (as Gert Froebe)
Joe Dassin
- Shepherd
- (as Joseph Dassin)
Panos Karavousanos
- Seizis
- (as Pannayotaros Karavoussanos)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDespite the film's title, it's not about Jesus nor is it set in Jerusalem. It was filmed in Crete, Greece, the story has to do with Greek people and is set in Asia Minor in 1921, during the Ottoman Rule. This region had been historically inhabited by Greeks for millennia until 1922, when over one million Greeks were forced to move to Greece, and is now part of Turkey.
- Quotes
Priest Fotis: Why should human kindness be a miracle?
- ConnectionsReferenced in O Dassin stin kriti (1956)
Featured review
Brilliant allegory of religious morality in our times.
Let's suppose Jesus Christ returned to modern times. What would be the fate that befalls him? That is the question that the great writer Nikos Kazantzakis (1883-1957) poses in his deeply moving novel "The Greek Passion", brilliantly realized by black-listed director Jules Dassin in the film "He Who Must Die".
The story's answer to this question was not to the liking of the Greek Orthodox Church, who promptly excommunicated the author Kazantzakis, who also wrote the novels "Zorba the Greek", "The Last Temptation of Christ", and "Saint Francis", among other works. (He is rumored to have been nominated 5 times for the Nobel Prize for Literature.) This tale is about much more than a religious passion play put on in a Greek village towards the end of the 400-year Turkish occupation. In a century in which religious morality and the church's real-politics have been severely criticized, this tale hits us right between the eyes. Definite food for thought. Could the church's silence in the face of so much unspeakable evil during the 20th century be one reason that religious thought has become largely irrelevant in our daily lives (politics, business, diplomacy, etc). A solid philosophical perspective is found in Robert Boldt's brilliant review (above).
Why this film has not been released on video is totally beyond me -- a nice DVD would certainly be appreciated--especially now, when more and more of Jules Dassin's work is being restored and released (especially on the Criterion label).
The story's answer to this question was not to the liking of the Greek Orthodox Church, who promptly excommunicated the author Kazantzakis, who also wrote the novels "Zorba the Greek", "The Last Temptation of Christ", and "Saint Francis", among other works. (He is rumored to have been nominated 5 times for the Nobel Prize for Literature.) This tale is about much more than a religious passion play put on in a Greek village towards the end of the 400-year Turkish occupation. In a century in which religious morality and the church's real-politics have been severely criticized, this tale hits us right between the eyes. Definite food for thought. Could the church's silence in the face of so much unspeakable evil during the 20th century be one reason that religious thought has become largely irrelevant in our daily lives (politics, business, diplomacy, etc). A solid philosophical perspective is found in Robert Boldt's brilliant review (above).
Why this film has not been released on video is totally beyond me -- a nice DVD would certainly be appreciated--especially now, when more and more of Jules Dassin's work is being restored and released (especially on the Criterion label).
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Onaj koji ce umreti
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $14,568
- Runtime2 hours 2 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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