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The Ten Commandments (1956)

Cecil B. DeMille's final extravaganza is the alpha and omega of lavish biblical epics, as Charlton Heston as Moses lets his people go. —Lisa Schwarzbaum

Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)

At once an outrageous religious farce and a spry commentary on cant, hypocrisy, bigotry, and turning the other cheeky. —L.S.

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

Forever controversial, Martin Scorsese's meditation on Jesus and his message rewards the serious viewer. —L.S.

The Decalogue (1988)

Ten Commandments, 10 magnificent linked short films set in a Warsaw apartment complex, made for TV by the late master Krzysztof Kieślowski. —L.S.

The Prince of Egypt (1998)

By way of the Book of Exodus, this beautifully animated musical is forthrightly earnest about its source material, and lively, too. —L.S.

The Passion of the Christ (2004)

Mel Gibson's controversial Aramaic-language, torture-porn marathon was hung out to dry by critics, yet validated with three Oscar nominations. —Lanford Beard

Ben-Hur (1959)

The Roman-era slave saga features another fine performance from Heston, factors in Christ's Sermon on the Mount as a plot pivot, and delivers one heck of a chariot race that makes up nine of the epic's 212 minutes. No wonder it's the Academy Awards' winningest film of all time, earning 11 Oscars (an honor shared with 1997's Titanic and 2003's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King). —L.B.

Quo Vadis (1951)

Golden era MGM takes on Christ! The lavish story of Roman-Christian conflict was universally loved, thanks to star turns by Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, and supporting players Peter Ustinov and Leo Genn. Beloved composer Miklós Rózsa would later go on to score Ben-Hur. —L.B.

Barabbas (1962)

The film that ''begins where the other big ones left off'' explores the existential crisis of the thief (Anthony Quinn) for whom Jesus took the rap. It's a reverse Hitchcock meets Gladiator (2000), with a spiritual happy ending. —L.B.

The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)

Gay socialist atheist director (Pier Paolo Pasolini)? Check. Vatican-issued stamp of approval? Check. What more do you need? —L.B.

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