you're staring at me
like I need to be saved
in your jesus christ pose
I went and saw The Passion of the Christ the other night. And with a few caveats, it'd be fair to say I liked it.
Editor's Note: Let's first get out of the way the fact that I'm an athiest. As you'll see below, although I think it's a decent movie, I wasn't particularly moved by Passion; if you do believe in any of it, you might be moved. Who knows.
First off, the film is very bloody. There are graphic shots of jesus being whipped, scourged, and otherwise beaten, and of course there's the crucifixion itself. The only part that really got to me was the stigmata; for what it is, the violence is really pretty tastefully done. And as someone said during the ride home, the point really isn't that it be pleasant. But know what you're getting into, if that sort of thing bothers you.
It's hard to see Passion as anything but anti-semetic; the couple jews that protect jesus' arrest seem thrown in almost as a technicality, with most of the movie depicting a howling mob ready to put down the insurgent prophet by any means necessary.
I thought jesus himself was played quite well, despite a few problems with the script. The sermon from the mount comes across really badly, not at all like the seminal event I was expecting. I also must have missed the part in the bible where jesus invents the modern dinner table, too.
The movie is tense throughout, which I always enjoy. The first half builds up to the brutality you know is coming, and second half uses the ultraviolence to continue the tension. I wasn't actually on the edge of my seat, but you know what I mean.
Ahh, my point has all become garbled in the writing. Big finish time; forget the first half of this post happened, I guess.
There are things I like about Passion, but for my money the film ultimately fails. I don't have any real connection to the spiritual side of christianity, so the film became an orgy of gore with no context attached. It's powerful, but it doesn't use the power to achieve anything meaningful. Suffering, apparently, is an end in and of itself.
Maybe if you believe jesus was the messiah you get more out of it. If you don't, you probably aren't missing much by not seeing Passion.
Posted by slade at March 01, 2004 01:52 AM