The Passion of the Christ

The following will be published in the 3/3 issue of The Recorder

With Christian leaders calling Director Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” perhaps “the best outreach opportunity in 2000 years,” it is unfair to rank this film in terms of an entertainment value. To criticize a depiction of the horribly agonizing and redemptive last 12 hours of one of the most revered religious figures in human history seems sacrilegious.

Actor James Caviezel plays Jesus of Nazareth and had to endure seven hours of makeup each day in order to accurately depict the savagery that Christ’s body endured. “I felt this is what we believe in the Roman Catholic faith and in Christianity as a whole,” he told James Brady of “Parade” about the film. “I didn’t do this for the money but because I love my faith.”

The movie is presented in the original languages that the characters would have been speaking during the time, according to the movie’s official website passionofthechrist.com. Jesus, his disciples, and the Jewish characters speak Aramaic while the Romans speak a common dialect of Latin. Hearing the characters speak these languages brings a degree of realism to the screen. The English subtitles are also easy to read.

Gibson hired cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, whose credentials include “The Patriot” and “The Right Stuff”, to recreate the look and textures conveyed in the paintings of Caravaggio. Gibson wished to illustrate the dark and violent, yet spiritual, context of Caravaggio’s art. According to the film’s background information, roughly 40 percent of the movie was filmed indoors to capture the sense of “light fighting its way out of the darkness.”

Gibson said his “intention for this film was to create a lasting work of art and to stimulate serious thought and reflection among diverse audiences of all backgrounds.”

Whether or not the movie blames Jewish leaders for the death of Jesus Christ is irrelevant. The depiction of Jesus’ crucifixion has been told and retold through many venues and mediums; all of which have numbed the portrayal for suitable family viewing. Gibson has depicted exactly what the death of Jesus Christ was: the savage and barbaric persecution of the son of God.

‘Passion’ illustrates a more vivid understanding of Jesus’ suffering. The movie begins with Jesus praying in the Kidron valley garden. He receives an unsettling and eerie visit from Satan, whose appearance can be described as dangerously luring and strangely appealing: sin in its purest form. The entire scene accurately conveys everything from the betrayal of Judas to the cutting off of Malchus’s ear, which was healed by Jesus.

After the high priests present Jesus before Pontius Pilate, who washes his hands of matter, the movie reveals the ruthless and inhuman treatment of an alleged Roman infidel. It highlights the less savory aspects of human history as Jesus was whipped, gouged, and tortured for every one of humankind’s sins. This powerful representation of Christ’s sacrificial torment for humanity was enough to make even the most casual Christian wince with remorse.

Gibson made the suffering of Jesus incredibly life-like, down to the hammered nails in his hands. Once Christ gave up his spirit after shouting the final words from all four Gospel readings, the earth shook and the clouded sky rumbled. After determining Jesus was indeed dead by disrespectfully stabbing his side with a spear, they took him down. Mary, who witnessed the violent and inhumane torture of her own flesh and blood, cradled the son of God in her arms, looking directly at the camera.

Some people left the theatre in tears; but everyone left with a solemn sense of revelation.