Drove home yesterday to see The Passion of the Christ in our old theatre. The theatre looks great. If you’re ever near Mercersburg on a weekend and want to catch a flick in a beautiful 1920s theatre check it out.
But on to the movie. Was it as soul-inspiring and mind-bending as the reviews say? No. Was it anti-Semitic? Certainly not. Was it as bloody as everyone says? Sort of, but there were only a couple of short shots where I thought the violence was gratuitous. I loved the Aramaic and Latin and was actually annoyed at the subtitles since you were forced to drag your eyes away from the scene to read the lines of text. Maybe the DVD will offer a choice. It’s not as if anyone out there doesn’t know the jist of what’s being said anyway. A good film, not an excellent one and not much more inspiring or affecting than any of the other cinematic recreations of the events covered.
So why is this film such a big deal? For one thing, I think spirituality and its expression has been growing more permissible in America over the past ten or so years. First it was angels, then aliens, now it’s old-fashioned spiritualists. Religion fills a basic human need and despite the societal strictures against open practicing of religious faith people always find a way to express their belief in something ‘other.’ The film helps fill that need by cloaking the expression of faith in a Hollywood style. You can go and see the film, even cry if you need to, and pass it off as just being affected by a work of art. Very simple and very clean.
Secondly, Mel Gibson has violated the first commandment of the left coast. As noted above, ‘Thou shalt not express thy faith in anything other than the needs of the flesh.’ He made a major faux paus. Here’s a Hollywood headliner making an overtly religious film and offering no apologies. He’s not trying to pass it off as merely art, he’s very candid that it was an act of worship and faith. Heavy stuff and completely contrary to the reigning philosophy in la-la land. I would not be at all surprised if he starts to be quietly black-balled from all but his own films. Fortunately Gibson has enough dough and enough respect he can make his own movies.
If you haven’t seen it I wouldn’t be in any particular rush. You’re not missing the great film of our age or anything like that. It’s not even neccessarily worth going to see as a work of art. I am glad I saw it, I was relatively impressed at the time but I’ve been more affected by other films. It did give me an interesting insight into Jesus’s reason for being though – might have to ponder that one and expound later.