It is impossible to overestimate the important of this 1979 film, for it has made an impact in even the most primitive regions of the earth, places where men and women are only now hearing about Jesus for the first time.  This definitive, rigorously scriptural movie version of the life of Jesus Christ has been seen by over five billion people around the globe, reaching 236 different nations in over 800 languages.  It has helped win innumerable souls to Christ all over the world, and even now, under the aegis of Campus Crusade For Christ, local churches and individuals are coming together in an effort to send a free copy of the movie to every home in the United States.  The movie was a dream over three decades in the making, with five years of pre-production work preceding the seven-month filming that took place in 1978 at a multitude of sites in Israel.  Intense efforts, involving the collaboration of numerous scholars from the whole gamut of Christian churches, went into making Jesus as accurate as it could possibly be - from vintage pottery to historically accurate costuming to sufficient cinders residing behind burning torches, every effort was made to take the audience back to Jesus' time.  It is a non-denominational Christian film; while some churches might quibble about an omission here or a suggestion there, this movie is the story of Jesus and not the story of any particular kind of Christian religion.