Overview
Shocking. Appalling. Amazing. I could sit here and just throw out adjectives all day that would attempt to describe this movie, but not only would it fail to do justice to it, it would be a great disservice to it. I have seen countless movies over the years and have seen about as graphic as you can get, and have never seen anything like what I witnessed tonight. It sends chills down my spine recalling some of the downright gruesome scenes that Mel Gibson used to show what Christ went through during the final hours of his life.

For the last couple years, Mel Gibson has received vast amounts of praise from supporters for telling the story of the last 12 hours of Jesus Christ’s life, as well as an equal amount of condemnation from opposing critics. Gibson tells the story with great precision and draws from the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) for his direction. The movie focuses on a few main stories in Jesus’ life, primarily those that had the greatest impact in his life and what people believe to have happened today. From Judas’ betrayal to Christ rising from the dead, it’s a story that stays with you long after the lights come back on.

Review
From the very beginning of the movie Titanic everyone knew what would happen, we just didn’t know of the adventure director James Cameron would take us on. The very same thing can be said for The Passion of the Christ. Even before it hit theaters, there was an overdose of media coverage, with debates about the film and whether it should even grace the silver screen because of fears of anti-Semitism and extreme graphic violence. Nothing would stop Mel Gibson from realizing his decade long dream of telling the story of the final 12 hours of Christ’s life.  

The movie is entirely spoken in Aramaic, Latin, and Hebrew, giving it even more realism and credibility from the get go. A lot of people think that reading subtitles isn’t easy to do or even fun, but with the way the shots and subtitles are setup, it’s an easy ‘read’ and it doesn’t take away what is going on in the film.  

The story begins with Jesus praying to God in the woods with a handful of his disciples. We see Judas betray Jesus by turning him over to the priests of the temple, and what Judas goes through once he realizes what he has done. The story goes on to show some of the smaller minute details, such as Peter denying Christ, as well as a flashback that shows Christ telling Peter that he will deny him three times. The most famous of all scenes and sequences is when Jesus is tortured and brutally beaten. It goes well beyond the average ‘gory, violent’ movie. It is downright shocking and you could feel the breath being sucked out of the theater with each lashing that Jesus received. The main reason why it is so graphic and people are constantly talking about it is because in most movies, they use cut-aways or camera tricks to show the audience something but at the same time, masking them from what they think they are seeing. I’ve never seen a movie before that actually focuses on what is being done to someone that is being tortured. It actually shows Jesus being whipped and the flesh tearing with each hit. It shows chunks of skin being torn off, causing you to wince and look away. It is done in such a way that it almost makes you feel what he was going through. It doesn’t shock me at all to hear that a woman in Wichita, Kansas died of a heart attack during this scene. The film focuses on the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene as they follow Jesus through town and up to the mountain where he will be crucified, giving it a very real, raw, emotional feel to it. You feel for these women and wish you could do something about it. You wish you could jump in and help Jesus as he is repeatedly beaten by the Romans while they laugh at him and mock him. You praise Simon when he helps Christ bear his cross. You feel a combination of sadness and anger overcome you when the Romans crucify Christ and leave him for dead.  

Acting
If people didn’t know who James Caviezel was before this film, they won’t soon forget who he is after they see it. Probably most famous for his staring role in Frequency, Caviezel was the perfect person for the role of Jesus Christ. As Christ, he goes through a wide range of emotions from feeling the pain of being betrayed to feeling the pain of being tortured to knowing he needs to sacrifice himself and finally to knowing his sacrifice was worth it once he comes back from the dead. What is probably most amazing about his performance is that he learned Aramaic, Latin and Hebrew in order to get the part down perfectly. He also performed quite well despite the fact that he dislocated his shoulder during the film, as well as got hit by lightning (so did an Assistant Director…twice). His role in the film could quite easily garner him a Best Actor Oscar.  

Maia Morgenstern plays the role of the Virgin Mary, and plays it quite well despite her lack of speaking lines. She spends the most of the film crying, and praying for her son, but the most important part of her role in the film is her body language throughout the movie. She shows more with her body language than many actors or actresses could show with a dozen speaking lines. You almost expect her to say more, but she never does. Perhaps this is a bit distracting, but when you think about it for a minute it actually makes sense and is a bit more real. She doesn’t have many scenes where she is in direct contact with her son. For the most part she is a silent observer in the final hours of his death, but given her situation it’s easily understandable as to why she doesn’t say as much. Simply put: she can’t…and she doesn’t have to. The mother/son bond is quite apparent and I think by just adding speaking lines for the sake of it would take away from the unspoken bond they share. 

I thought the role that Monica Bellucci takes on, which is Mary Magdalene, could have easily been expanded upon or eliminated entirely. I understand the need to keep her in, for historical sake, but at the same time, I cannot remember her even saying one word. She spends the entire film crying for Jesus and not much more. Part of her story is told through a quick flashback, but for people that do not know the gospels, I believe they would have no idea about her background and why she is important to the story. She was rather convincing as someone that cared much for Jesus, but I feel that (through no fault of her own) she could have been given a bit more depth as a character and explored a bit more.

Rosalinda Celentano is dead on in his role of Satan. Although he is in the film in only brief segments, it is fantastic because it shows that he is always present, always lurking in the dark corners. Similar to the Virgin Mary’s role, Satan does not speak all that much, save for the beginning when he speaks directly to Jesus. The rest of his scenes rely heavily upon the unspoken word, body language, and music. Celentano’s role is small, but is very important to the telling of the story.  

Directing
We’re not used to seeing Mel Gibson behind the camera, and usually take for granted his presence in front of it because of the wonderful scripts that are just thrown his way. What is probably most amazing about this film is that it was both written (and Benedict Fitzgerald) and directed by him, and has gotten so much attention even though almost no production company wanted to come near the film due to the extreme controversial nature. Because of that, Gibson had to front about $20 million of his own money out of the $32 million it cost to film the movie, and some say it might become the biggest box office hit ever. Only time will tell.

In one interview, Gibson said the sole purpose behind the film was simply to remind people of what Christ went through. It isn’t to convert people from one faith to another, or to place the Jews in bad light. It is merely a more than subtle reminder, and because of the nature of the film it is extremely ‘in your face’, drawing an enormous amount of attention. The decision to go with subtitles and the spoken Aramaic, Latin and Hebrew definitely adds to the authenticity of the film and gives it a lot of credibility. Another element that adds credibility is that Gibson never shied away from gory and extremely graphic shots; in fact, many times you would notice the camera would become even more focused on the brutality, trying to capture all of the violence and torture that was occurring. 

Gibson also relied on a lot of quick flashbacks to earlier in the day or even earlier in his life in order to tell his story, and it worked to perfection. Instead of having a couple long, drawn out flashbacks, he only uses them when it’s necessary to fill in the blanks that viewers may have.

I’m pleased to know that Gibson has only directed three films, because it shows me that he doesn’t just throw himself into anything. He carefully puts himself on the line with each of the films he directs and pushes the envelope more and more each time.  

Final Thoughts
With the wonderful acting, writing, and directing, it’s quite easy to see why millions of people will flock to see this film, regardless of the extreme violence and gore. I encourage those that are interested in seeing this to see it in a packed theater, because I strongly believe that you can feel what other people are feeling, adding to the experience. I, for one, am not that religious and went into the theater knowing a little more than average about the story and the characters. I didn’t feel overwhelmed with any feelings of Gibson trying to ‘convert’ me or trying to convince me or one viewpoint over another. I enjoyed it very much the first time and will most likely catch it a second before it leaves theaters.

HYNDSY Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Planets


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