SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

JLRVancouver "Barabbas", based on the novel by the Nobel Prize winning author Pär Lagerkvist, follows the life of the thief who was spared by Pontius Pilate, rather than Jesus, at the bidding of the mob. The story begins with the events as told in the gospels, then follows Barabbas as he becomes a slave in the mines, then wins his freedom as a gladiator only to find death and redemption in the aftermath of the fire that destroyed Rome in 64 AD. The cinematography, including the famous eclipse scene during the crucifixion, is excellent. A common theme in the film is darkness (and its antithesis, light) and many scenes have very high contrast, with colours standing out against a black background, reminiscent of chiaroscuro paintings. Even scenes that are more evenly lighted, such as Barabbas' meeting with Lazarus, look like Renaissance paintings. All the spectacle expected in a Biblical epic is there and the stunt scenes during the fights in the arena are excellent. Anthony Quinn does not emote much in the film, but like the character he plays, seems to constantly searching both within and without. An excellent rendition of a great story.

Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Barabbas" is an American/Italian English-language movie directed by Academy Award winner Richard Fleischer, member of the famous Fleischer clan. The screenplay is by Christopher Fry, who adapted Pär Lagerkvist's novel for this movie here. The film is listed on IMDb as a prequel to John Huston's Oscar-nominated "The Bible: In the Beginning...", maybe because Fry wrote that one as well? I am not sure. Story-wise, it is not really a prequel. Anyway, the version of "Barabbas" I watched runs for 2 hours and 12 minutes, so it is a pretty long film, even if not as long as its sequel. In my opinion, the only real reason to watch "Barabbas" is Anthony Quinn, He played his role convincingly, but the story simply could not keep me interested for long, especially not for over 2 hours. Pretty disappointing.I would recommend this one only to great fans of historic and religiously themed movies, maybe also to fans of Quinn. Then again, I like him too, but was rather underwhelmed watching his film here. The rest of the cast includes fairly known names too from its era, people who had won and been nominated for many awards during their long careers, but this film is another example of how even the greatest cast cannot make an uninteresting script work really. I certainly hoped this would be better judging from its IMDb rating. But it really is not. Watch something else instead. Not recommended, unless you are a Quinn completionist. You also do not need to see this one here if you play on watching the sequel I mentioned earlier in my review. That one does not even include Quinn, so connections are almost non-existent, story-wise as well.

SnoopyStyle Pontius Pilate releases the violent criminal Barabbas (Anthony Quinn) instead of Jesus. Barabbas returns to his drunken friends to find his lover Rachel (Silvana Mangano) has become one of Jesus' follower. He goes blind for awhile as Jesus is crucified. Rachel gets stoned to death for blasphemy. Barabbas is arrested again for robbing a temple caravan but Pilate tells him that he is not allowed to sentence him to death again. Instead he is sentenced to the sulfur mines in Sicily. He is chained to a Christian Sahak but he still refuses to believe in Christ. After many years, they are brought to Rome and become gladiators under the famous champion Torvald (Jack Palance).Nobody can claim that the film went cheap on the production. This is a big scale movie of Old Hollywood. The acting is very broad at times. I really didn't like the constant referencing to Jesus in the first half. It becomes too much when he meets Lazarus and the Disciples. Rachel and Sahak are much better conduits for the message. I do like the sulfur mines as a substitute for hell. I would have liked him to find salvation down in the mines. It would be poetic and make the movie shorter.

alexfrag-389-31733 I will give 9 out 10 because this film was well presented. Anthony Quinn, as usual, was a good actor. I do not know how accurate is the historical events regarding Barabbas in this film, but I believe that Barabbas was more a rebel against the State...the State which was and it is up to nowadays million of times more evil than Barabbas.At the end we have some doubts were Barabbas was repent in the cross while Rome was burning.Forgot to mention Jack Palance, another good actor and Ernest Borgnine.I have this film in DVD and I recommend for those who like history and cinema. I will compare this film with Ben Hur, Spartacus, Eld Cid, King of kings...and many classics from the 60's.