When The Passion of the Christ was in theaters I couldn't find anyone willing to go see it with me. I then decided to wait till it was available to rent. That way if I felt the need to criticize the movie in my own special way the rest of the movie going audience wouldn't lynch me. Only now do I realize how correct I was in my decision to wait.
What the Passion amounts to is nothing more than two hours of a man being spat upon, beaten, and flayed like a piece of meat while others look on. There is nothing remotely spiritual about what is shown, only brief flashbacks to the last supper and the Sermon on the Mount are shown to give any religious feeling. While Jesus is portrayed in his usual pacifistic role other characters are not so lucky. Pilate is reduced to a spineless coward to afraid to make a decision that he turns to his fictional Christian sympathizing wife Claudia for advice. Nowhere in any religious text or historical documents have I ever heard of such a women. It seems she was added to make Pilate less of a villain, which is a false assumption. Satan is portrayed not as a beautiful seductive woman or a charming man but as a bald pale faced figure which makes even less sense.
Perhaps the biggest controversy is whether or not this film is Anti-Semitic. I cannot say for certain if it is or not, people will see what they want to see either way. However I can understand how such accusations can be made. The majority of Jesus' suffering comes at the hands of the Jews, who spit on, beat, and taunt him throughout the movie. The Romans on the other hand merely sit back and watch only a hand full of Roman guards taunt or beat Jesus leaving much of the work to the Jewish crowd. It seems as though Gibson dealt out the responsibility quite lopsided in his production and I can see how many could construe that as Anti-Semitism. Whether or not it was intentional is anyone's guess.
In the end though The Passion is a over the top pretentious and self serving religious flick. Hardly worthy of praise of such classic spiritual movies like The Last Temptation of Christ, King of Kings, or The Greatest Story Ever Told. These movies are critically acclaimed because they not only have great acting and production values but because they focused on the importance of Jesus' teachings and the way he lived his life. To focus on nothing more than on how he was executed is not the way one should base their religious faith. Love the man and his teachings don't focus on the way he was butchered.
What the Passion amounts to is nothing more than two hours of a man being spat upon, beaten, and flayed like a piece of meat while others look on. There is nothing remotely spiritual about what is shown, only brief flashbacks to the last supper and the Sermon on the Mount are shown to give any religious feeling. While Jesus is portrayed in his usual pacifistic role other characters are not so lucky. Pilate is reduced to a spineless coward to afraid to make a decision that he turns to his fictional Christian sympathizing wife Claudia for advice. Nowhere in any religious text or historical documents have I ever heard of such a women. It seems she was added to make Pilate less of a villain, which is a false assumption. Satan is portrayed not as a beautiful seductive woman or a charming man but as a bald pale faced figure which makes even less sense.
Perhaps the biggest controversy is whether or not this film is Anti-Semitic. I cannot say for certain if it is or not, people will see what they want to see either way. However I can understand how such accusations can be made. The majority of Jesus' suffering comes at the hands of the Jews, who spit on, beat, and taunt him throughout the movie. The Romans on the other hand merely sit back and watch only a hand full of Roman guards taunt or beat Jesus leaving much of the work to the Jewish crowd. It seems as though Gibson dealt out the responsibility quite lopsided in his production and I can see how many could construe that as Anti-Semitism. Whether or not it was intentional is anyone's guess.
In the end though The Passion is a over the top pretentious and self serving religious flick. Hardly worthy of praise of such classic spiritual movies like The Last Temptation of Christ, King of Kings, or The Greatest Story Ever Told. These movies are critically acclaimed because they not only have great acting and production values but because they focused on the importance of Jesus' teachings and the way he lived his life. To focus on nothing more than on how he was executed is not the way one should base their religious faith. Love the man and his teachings don't focus on the way he was butchered.
Tell Your Friends