The Nativity Story is a reverent dramatization of Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem, portraying the challenges, faith, and hope leading up to the birth of Yeshua/Jesus. With rich period details, strong performances, and atmospheric cinematography, it offers a faithful and family-friendly retelling. While critics found it visually lush but sometimes slow, many praise its authenticity and heartfelt tone, making it a worthy seasonal watch for those seeking a traditional biblical film.

The Nativity Story is the perfect film to watch during Passover Week, especially with so many references in Scripture of how Yeshua/Jesus came to earth to be our Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7, John 1:29, Exodus 12:3, Isaiah 53:7, 1 Peter 1:19 and Revelation 5:12).

For more than 90 years, the Streit’s matzo factory sat in a low-slung tenement building on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. While other matzo companies modernized, Streit’s remained a piece of living history, churning out 40 percent of the nation’s unleavened bread on pre-War machinery as old as the factory itself. In a neighborhood where the Jewish immigrants long ago moved on, in a nation where progress and profits eclipse all else, where manufacturing has left the cities if not the country, where family businesses are bought out by giant corporations and workers move from job to low paying job, filmmaker Michael Levine captures the Streit’s saga and echoes the American Dream. As a Passover & Feast of Unleavened Bread staple, learning how matzah is made is one of the highlights of this film!

Moses, raised as a prince of Egypt in the Pharaoh’s household, learns of his true heritage as a Hebrew and his divine mission as the deliverer of his people from slavery.

Starring Charleton Heston & featuring the infamous director Cecil B. DeMille’s final film masterpiece, this film is perfect for the whole family!

The Miracle Maker (2000) is a beautifully crafted animated film that tells the story of Jesus through a combination of stop-motion and traditional animation. Presented from the perspective of a young girl and those whose lives he touches, the film offers a heartfelt and accessible portrayal of his teachings, compassion, and journey. A meaningful and family-friendly retelling that emphasizes hope and kindness.

The Fourth Wise Man tells the story of Artaban (played by Martin Sheen), the fourth Magi, who spends his life looking for Yeshua/Jesus his King. Artaban’s journey is marked by acts of selfless charity. Along the way, he encounters people in need and sacrifices his treasures to help them. For example, he sells the sapphire to aid a dying man and later gives the ruby to protect a child from Herod’s soldiers. These delays prevent him from joining the other three wise men, and he never reaches Bethlehem in time to see Jesus as a baby. His travels span over thirty years, taking him across many lands in search of the Messiah, performing good deeds, helping the poor and learning what the definition of serving others truly means.

The Visual Bible: The Gospel of John is a critically acclaimed DVD that presents the Gospel using word-for-word dialogue from the Good News Bible. It stars Henry Ian Cusick as Jesus and features narration by Christopher Plummer, recreating the first-century setting of Jesus’ ministry, death & resurrection.

Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates — including an older prisoner named Red — for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope. Just as with the hope of leaving the bondage of Egypt, this film captures the human struggle to overcome any obstacle without losing faith.

The Passion of the Christ is a 2004 American epic biblical drama film co-produced and directed by Mel Gibson from a screenplay he wrote with Benedict Fitzgerald. It is the first installment of The Passion of the Christ film series. The film stars Jim Caviezel as Jesus, Maia Morgenstern as his mother Mary, and Monica Bellucci as Mary Magdalene. It depicts the arrest, trial and crucifixion of Yeshua/Jesus, largely according to the canonical gospels as well as additional accounts such as the purported mystical visions by Anne Catherine Emmerich and the Friday of Sorrows. The film primarily covers the final twelve hours before Jesus Christ’s death, known as “the Passion”. It begins with the Agony in the Garden of Olives (i.e., Gethsemane), continues with the betrayal of Judas Iscariot, the Flagellation of Christ, the suffering of Mary as prophesied by Simeon, the crucifixion and death of Jesus, and ends with a brief depiction of his resurrection. The narrative is interspersed with moments in Jesus’s life, such as the Last Supper and the Sermon on the Mount, and moments of Jesus’ early life. The dialogue is entirely in reconstructed Aramaic, Hebrew, and Latin.