When asked by Diane Sawyer in a “Primetime” interview “Who killed Jesus?,” Mel Gibson responded with “We all did.” Well Mel, you sure are punishing us for it, aren’t you? And although Mel’s movie has many powerful moments of the hope and love that Jesus spent his life on earth preaching, everything effective is masked by an overpowering “tisk, tisk” represented in vicious displays of gore and blood not seen since “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” by the man who was seeing “Signs” only a year and a half ago. “The Passion of the Christ” is more like a car accident than a work of art: you can’t help but looking, but its sheer horror rather than genius which compels you.
I don’t claim to be a expert in theology, but I can tell you that “The Passion” documents the last twelve hours of Jesus’ life, and what a bloody twelve hours it was! Gibson shows all the gory details from the graphic scourging, to the crown of thorns, and lest we not forget 20 painful minutes of watching Jesus carry his own cross, which moments later, we see him nailed to in yet more great detail. Just when you think the camera is going to pull away...it doesn’t, which is one of The Passion’s greatest flaws. Gibson alienates his audience with his perverse display of violence. So much so, that when leaving the theatre, you wonder what the point of all that was. Then of course, you feel bad for being filled with nausea rather than love after watching the pictorial of Jesus’ death!
Now for the big controversy. As if making a movie about the death of Jesus isn’t controversial enough, the words “anti-Semitism” have been fluttering around this movie since its conception. Do I think its anti-Semitic? Actually...yes. Of course Mel isn’t dumb enough to put it in the forefront of the movie, but for everyone but the least attentive viewer, its there just waiting to be seen. The problem is in the characterization of the villains. Pontius Pilate is a man forced to choose between the lesser of two evils: crucifying Jesus or face an uprising; the Roman guards get a few moments of redemption at the end by giving Jesus water; even Satan is portrayed as less evil than Caiphas, leader of the Jewish faith! Technically, its the characters and not the faith that are being slandered, but when you consider an audience of the people who have made Adam Sandler an A-List star, will they really see a difference? Again, I don’t claim to be an expert on theology but I do know a bit about movies, and its never a good idea to create a one-dimensional villain...especially when telling the story of the death of Jesus. Speaking of Adam Sandler, another bad joke of The Passion is the portrayal of Satan, and how comically over-done and half-baked it is.
The subtitles might alienate a portion of the audience of The Passion of the Christ, but whatever segment is left, they are sure to be alienated by this pornographic display of violence, which effects the stomach more than the heart or soul combined. I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t gripped by The Passion for a lot of its running time; but eventually I eased my grip off the arm-rest, and slowly took my hand from my mouth, and then the compelling horror of what I was watching was replaced by an appalling contempt for the self-indulgent repetition of Mel Gibson (literally) beating his point to death.
Grade: D+
© 2004 Jacob Sproul
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