The Passion of Christ, by Mel Gibson, starring James Caviezel
Also see my rebuttal to the Andrew Webb article.
Finally an honest critique of
Mel Gibson’s Passion movie, by one of the best critics around… ME.
First of all, the movie was
quite accurate. From the disciples sleeping while they were supposed to be on
watch with Jesus, to the Judas kiss, to the hitting and flogging, taunting, and
heckling of Jesus, to the Jews demanding Pilate to crucify Him (upon the urging
of their priests), everything covered in the gospels about this was also
covered in the movie. The words spoken
in the movie are also how they are written (in languages which I don’t
understand).
The director did take some
artistic license in some places. This is probably due to the accounts he got
from those nuns that have been mentioned in other reviews. These included some
Satan sightings and some actual tempting words spoken by such, things that are
not mentioned in the Bible. At
Also according to Mel, Judas
gets heckled by demon boys. Maybe this
is his interpretation of “it would be better for this man if he were never
born”. At any rate, none of these
embellishments seem to divest the movie of its rightful calling. They could or
could not have happened, but they do not change the meaning of the story or
detract from the definite factual portrayals. I consider them supplemental
scenes that do not interfere with the story.
Violence: yes it is violent.
We see people getting killed by the dozen on other movies and tv shows, but
rarely this much blood. Only 3 people I
saw get killed in this movie, but one of them was beaten and whipped senseless
beforehand. I believe this is in keeping
with the scriptures also. Some people may sugar coat that section of the
gospels, but the reality is, it wasn’t pretty.
Probably not for young children, not sure if they can handle that. The
violence is for the right cause, but little kids may not understand it. High school age, definitely.
There are some people saying
it didn’t emphasize this or that enough, not enough of Jesus’ life, etc. That’s not the point of the movie. The movie
emphasizes the Passion, the specific period of time finalizing the human life
of Jesus. It does provide flashbacks to happier times to show some previous
deeds of the savior.
As depressing as it was, the
movie had a happy ending. Everybody likes that! My recommendation is to go out and see it,
being careful about the young children.
The movie is not anti-Bible, not anti-Christian, and not anti-Jewish. It may, however be anti-Roman. I actually agree with the pope for once, when
he supposedly said “it is as it was.”