Golgotha (Das Kreuz von Golgotha)

The most unusual Jesus film: from Palm Sunday to the resurrection in just under an hour and a half, in which Duvivier short-circuits the monumentality of Hollywood's famous biblical spectacles à la Cecil B. DeMille with a dynamism that anticipates Pasolini's Gospel of Matthew by decades. Duvivier's directorial signature is first evident in the simply breathtaking crowd scenes. At the beginning, the people are in rapt ecstasy as Jesus (Robert Le Vigan) enters Jerusalem, where he remains hidden from view for a long time: The camera splits his perspective or places him in distant long shots. Later, the crowd becomes a lynch mob (foreshadowing the dark Duvivier thriller Panique), only to be visibly seized by remorse at the Stations of the Cross. However, the stylized scenes - unforgettable: the daring camerawork during the cleansing of the temple - alternate with underplayed moments of disarming simplicity and spirituality. Nevertheless, Duvivier also emphasizes the political dimension, culminating in the conversation between Jesus and Pontius Pilate (unconventionally cast with Jean Gabin). (Christoph Huber)