Thoughts on 'The Passion of the Christ'

On Saturday, March 6, 2004, I attended a showing of The Passion of the Christ with a group from Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church. We had decided to make this an evangelism event with a discussion following the movie followed by a chili fellowship. A group of 50 (half guests of Salem) attended the afternoon matinee. Flyers announcing the discussion were distributed and several viewers joined us for the discussion. All in all it was a good afternoon and all involved were able to sort out thoughts and feelings following the watching of this movie.

In a word, the movie was breathtaking. Some scenes the audience literally jumps. The theater was quiet-one didn't hear the munching of popcorn!

Artistically the movie portrayed the suffering as no one has seen it portrayed before. Many at the discussion admitted that it got to a point where they said to themselves, "Enough already!" One person even left the movie (but did re-join us for the discussion). My advice is to know yourself. If you feel you cannot handle violence or blood, don't go. If you do desire to see it, consider waiting until the movie is released on video or DVD and rent it-you can always stop the tape if the action becomes too intense.

Mr. Gibson remained for the most part close to the Gospels. There are some Catholic add-ons, such as I believe Veronica wiping Jesus' face which is not found in the Gospels but is part of the chronology of the Stations of the Cross. Some thought Mary may have played too prominent a role, but she was the mother of Jesus; what mother wouldn't be there to comfort her child?

Amazingly, I was able to understand about half the spoken dialogue (all that Latin, Hebrew, and Aramaic training finally came in handy). The scenes with Pontius Pilate were interesting. Sometimes the dialogue between Pilate and the Jewish leaders was in Latin, other times in Aramaic/Hebrew. I will try to watch it again to try and detect a pattern. The subtitles were somewhat close to the Scriptures. Not knowing what translation of the English Scriptures Mr. Gibson used I cannot verify if the passages were verbatim. I did enjoy the opening scene of a black background with a verse from Isaiah in white text. It set the tone for the movie.

There was, indeed, violence. How can there not be when a man is whipped and then crucified? Here the movie did disappoint. Having studied the Roman methods of torture and crucifixion I believe Mel Gibson held back in this area. And this might be the right call. The horrific violence that was on the screen was too much for some. Add to that the fact that the mental and emotional suffering Jesus endured weren't portrayed. (If you can stay awake through it, watch The Last Temptation of Christ and keep in mind throughout that this was a temptation as envisioned by the artist. This might give you a taste of what Jesus endured internally in this suffering.) The scene at the cross was a tad short. Mr. Gibson could have had Jesus pushing himself up gulping for breath just to give the audience a taste of the cruel discomfort on the cross. The arm being pulled did add realism to the effect just before the nail being driven through the right hand.

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