Barabbas

(Richard Fleischer, US/Italy 1961, 137 min., 35mm)

Ernest Borgnine. Anthony Quinn is Barabbas, the bandit who was chosen to live while Jesus is condemned to the cross. Spiritually haunted, Barabbas bears the cross of his own guilt and the ire of the nascent Christian community. The self-proclaimed un-killable Barabbas returns to his barbarous ways, inevitably sentenced to decades of strife. He is tortured by the question “Why me?” before his redemption comes to pass. In an uncanny parallel to Biblical legend, the crucifixion scene was filmed during an actual solar eclipse.