Christmas movies that include Jesus?

[Bootstrap]

Are there good Christmas movies where Jesus plays an important role?

I think "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "The Chosen's" 2023 Christmas Special qualify. Are there other movies worth watching that either:

1. Help us experience Christmas as though we were there at the time (like The Chosen, which does so with a lot of creative license), or
2. Help us understand the significance of Christmas to people today (like A Charlie Brown Christmas)

I'm astonished that there are so few good movies that do this ...

[Heirbyadoption]

This might not fit perfectly into your categories, but we occasionally watch The Fourth Wise Man with our children. A simplistic story, but with a powerful lesson.

[Szdfan]

Are there good Christmas movies where Jesus plays an important role?

I'm astonished that there are so few good movies that do this ...

One of the reasons is due to the Hays Production Code, which was a form of self-censorship by Hollywood between 1934 and 1968. While the Code didn’t ban depictions of Jesus directly, it did include strict guidelines on the depiction of religion. It was due to the Code’s emphasis on not offending religious groups that ironically led to filmmakers avoiding direct depictions of Jesus. This is why the 1956 movie “Ben Hur” never shows Jesus’s face.

The reverent depiction of Jesus in later films, like “King of Kings” and “The Greatest Story Ever Told” are signs of the waning influence of the Hays Code in the 1960s.

I think it’s really hard to make a good religious movie that takes faith seriously without being preachy. My favorite Christmas movie is “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which isn’t about Jesus per se, but is about a life of service and sacrifice and the ways we affect other people without realizing it. The film also has enough genuine human darkness to keep it from becoming saccharine.