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Review: The Passion Of The Christ - Alex Cameron (26th Mar 2004 - 18:51:14) Seduced by the idea of getting to argue with Christians outside the cinema, i went to see this movie on its opening night in the capital yesterday. If i'm honest, i'm not sure what to make of it. The critics were all right in different regards. We were squeezed with our popcorn between hoards of local churchgoers, driven to be there by a combination of macabre curiousity and interest in the production's fidelity. There's no doubt that it's painfully violent and extremely moving. The subtitling of the naturalistic language is a refreshing and compelling spectacle in itself. The cinematography is brilliantly done and we couldn't keep our eyes off screen. However, despite all the claims of miracles, stunned silences, heart attacks, crucifixion imitation and spontaneous confessions, it seems to be little more than Mel Gibson's relieving of his own personal guilt and providing a convenient conversion vehicle for the religious worldwide. Conversely, its shock value clearly shows how sanitised the idea of christ's death has become. Several things stick with me though, which have been echoed before. I'd advise anyone to research the Director's influences when understanding of what he has depicted on screen as it helped me immensely. However many claims are made to authenticity, the use of artistic licence exists to remind the viewer that the film is simply an interpretation. An rampantly commercial interpretation that has made its money back 14 times over so far, with no word of how much will be given to charities. I would also argue the charges of anti-semitism are reasonable. True, the romans come off very badly too - the image of drunken, sociopathic guards enjoying the torture of the Judeans is repugnant. But so too is seeing Caiaphas leading the crowd in their chanting for Jesus' death. It is worth knowing that both Mel Gibson and his father subscribe to a politically active traditional catholic sect that 'views the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council as a conspiracy between Jews and Masons to take over the church'. Gibson's father publicly denied the Holocaust as 'fiction'. Those vatican reforms Gibson's sect rejected included the specific official release of charges against the Jews for the persecution of christ. http://film.guardian.co.uk/apnews/story/0,1276,-3767640,00.html The other issue is accuracy and the application of artistic licence, as mentioned above. The grossest violation of history is the portrayal of Pontius Pilate as a thoughtful, mediating character intent on doing the right thing (although succumbing to moral cowardice). History dictates that Pilate was a vicious, amoral, brutal man recalled to Rome for his abject failure to govern Judea - not the tormented philosopher that rebukes the crowd for beating Jesus before they have found him guilty of a crime. Other notable incidents include Jesus inventing the modern table (?), jesus being beaten to a pulp after being arrested, the temple being destroyed by the earthquake immediately after christ's death (it was allegedly 40 years later, and metaphorical), the bizarre andryognous depiction of satan, the haunting of Judas by demonic children and many others. I personally would have liked to have seen slightly more of the resurrection and the reasoning for his execution - more background and philosophy as opposed to the money grabbing gore factor. Even incidents such as Jesus sweating blood in Gethsemane and the Roman soldier under the cross realising he was the son of god at his death would have contributed - but i assume there was a reason for their omission. The net perception at the end of the film is Mel Gibson's obvious desire to elicit as much emotional response as possible from the audience (battering them into submission), consequently helping them to suspend their disbelief in the process. A historically-accurate portrayal is its supposed raison d'etre, but the tendency to employ such graphic scenes raises an eyebrow or two. Overall, a great film that provokes debate and is extremely compelling. Don't miss it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Passion_of_the_Christ

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