As far as 21st century biblical media projects it
seems like it’s only “The Chosen” TV series and Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of
The Christ” from 2004 that has both the religious reverence and cinematic
quality of production to make them popular.
Objectively speaking I know “The Passion of The Christ” is an incredible
movie masterpiece. The cinematography
is breathtaking. The acting performances
are incredible which they must be in order to communicate the emotions and
feeling of the gospel’s pivotal players while speaking a language [i] approximately 0.002% of the world’s
population understands. I am not going
to deny the fact “The Passion of the Christ” is classic and director Mel Gibson
is an artistic genius.
Having said this Gibson uses that gorgeous cinematography
and epic film making techniques to glorify the most bloody, gory, vomit
inducing depiction of Christ’s passion ever put on the silver screen. There are plenty of moments of unnecessary
violence that didn’t need to be there.
There was the scene where the temple guards nearly hang Jesus on the way
to his Sanhedrin trial. Gibson’s
version of Jesus being scourged at the pilar not only have Roman soldiers whip
Jesus with the traditional Roman flagrum[ii],
but also had them beat the crap out of Jesus with rods as well. The people of Jerusalem threw rocks and
were spitting on Jesus as he made his way to Golgotha carrying a 100 LB cross. The Romans flipped the cross upside down with
Jesus hanging on it so they could bend the nails on the other side of the
cross. Blood was constantly gushing from Jesus’ crown
of thorns. He had a swollen eye. After re-watching “The Passion of The
Christ” for this blog I’m with that YouTuber who referred to the movie as a
splatter film.[iii] The violence of the film was so overwhelming
that Mel Gibson almost killed Jim Caviezel in real life! [iv] (Although I would say the lightning that
struck Jim Caviezel was more God’s doing than Gibson’s). If any Joe Schmo was being tortured this way
the movie would have been X-rated, banned from most movie theaters, and blocked
by most v-chips instead of embraced to the point where, as “South Park”
creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker implied, Evangelical Christians would have
no qualms allowing eight-year-olds to see this bloody nightmare of an R rated film. [v] Even Gibson himself admitted “Of course it
was too much. But that was the point of
it”[vi]
where he was trying to focus on the how much suffering Jesus endured for our
salvation because, as Gibson added “If it was easy, it wouldn’t be worth much.”
I know some have lobbed the criticism that “The Passion of
the Christ” is antisemitic.[vii] I took the way Gibson depicted the high
priests riding on their donkeys in fancy jewel and gold robes more a commentary
on elitism of the Sanhedrin rather than on Jewish people in general but perhaps
I am naive of antisemitic stereotypes.
In the version I watched the line from the gospel of Matthew which has
historically placed the blame of Jesus’ death on the Jewish people[viii][ix]
didn’t appear on screen but I heard a rumor it may be there just not translated
into English. [x] In fact, the second to the last scene of
the movie has Maia Morgenstern [xi]
who portrayed the Virgin Mary, stare piercingly into the camera as she becomes
the center of Gibson’s bloody pieta. She
states without words to look at what we, the sinful human race, did to her
son. Her stare tells us to look at what
her son did for us in the sinful human race.
Gibson talked about this being an experience and yes, it is. I know many people myself feel greatly
disturbed after coming away from it. I
guess the idea is after watching it most people are supposed to realize the
great wonder Jesus did to save humanity from its sins. I, however, have a different reaction. I view Gibson’s gory way of the cross and
fear my going to hell by even thinking about eating a piece of chocolate. I tend to watch “The Passion of the Christ”
and give it the same attitude that I gave the awful frozen fish sticks my mom
and dad forced me to eat during Lent as a kid, something I had to do but I’m
not meant to enjoy. Watching “The
Passion of the Christ” fills me with guilt and remorse and how I’m not good
enough for Heaven and maybe…maybe….we’ll let’s just say there are some dark
random thoughts I’d rather keep to myself.
This is what I, a normal Catholic/Christian woman feels who
knows who Jesus Christ is and believes in the saving power of the cross. In many ways I would say “The Passion of
the Christ” is a film that appeals to the Christian choir. I know those basic Christian tenants the way
all Christians know but obviously can’t always comprehend the great act of love
Jesus did to save the human race. Keep
in mind the word “excruciating”[xii] origins
are in the practice of crucifixion and Gibson’s “Passion” certainly puts that
word on the mind of every Christian who watches.
But what if a Christian wasn’t watching the film.
Here’s another one of my thought experiments.
Say, a bunch of Chinese Christians get their hands on a copy
of “The Passion of the Christ’ and swap out the English subtitles with Mandarin
or Cantonese subtitles depending upon what part of China those Chinese
Christians live in. Being the good
Chinese Christians they are they naturally want to evangelize their fellow
Chinese citizens, so they decide to show the Mandarin and or Cantonese
subtitled “Passion” for free in a local theater with pop and assorted other
snacks being sold for a nominal fee. A Chinese
Buddhist walks by, has nothing better to do that evening and what the heck, the
movie is free. Now, maybe that Buddhist
has a vague sense of what Christianity is about the way I have a vague sense of
what Buddhism is about. The Chinese Buddhist
goes into the theater, sits down, and wonders why this Jesus is so panic
stricken in the garden of Gethsemane, what is this weird being that is stalking
Jesus, why did he feel the need to kill a snake, what the heck was this man’s
crime that a small brigade of soldiers came to arrest him and why didn’t he
want his followers to stop them. Maybe the
Chinese Buddhist is asking to himself Is Jesus a magician? after he watches Jesus restore the ear of the
chief of the temple guard[xiii] that one of Jesus’ followers cruelly sliced
off. The Buddhist then begins to wonder
why on earth this Jesus is being tortured in such a cruel way as the movie
progresses. The accusations the
Sanhedrin hurl at Jesus, along with additional blows, seem to come out of
nowhere and he can’t understand why they would be so mad at Jesus. The only apparent crime of Jesus is that he
claimed to be a king of some kind and that obviously wasn’t true in 33 AD
Palestine. Still, what prompted this
massive beating of this guy? The Chinese
Buddhist would then turn to the Chinese Christians in the audience and ask, “What
did Jesus do in his life to deserve this?” and the Chinese Christians would
answer “Nothing” leaving the Chinese Buddhist to hope that karma comes
back at those Roman soldiers’ big time.
That Chinese Buddhist is still probably confused as to why and how Jesus
endured what he endured for the human race and wondering if the resurrection
was real long after the film ended.
This confusion is perhaps the ironic tragedy of a film like
“The Passion of The Christ” as one YouTube critic I found while researching
this blog stated, “A non-Christian going to watch this film is going to be as
confused as a non-Marvel fan going to watch ‘Endgame’. It’s going to seem like
utter nonsense”[xiv]
a video whose thumbnail claimed, “The Passion of the Christ made me An
Atheist”. You must know the story of
the passion of the Christ (and I’d dare say the Catholic stations of the cross
version of the passion of the Christ) to have any kind of emotional connection
to the film Gibson does not have many
tender moments in the film to make one empathize with what Jesus was enduring
on the screen. There was a cutesy scene
between Jesus and his mother where the Virgin Mary complained about how Jesus
was building a too tall table. There
was a sweet scene between Jesus and Saint John with Jesus passing along words
of wisdom as he washed Saint John’s feet.
There were a few brief moments from the Sermon of the Mount, a confusing
scene involving Jesus saving Mary Magdaline’s life, but nothing really for any
non-Christian to latch onto or care about.
Heck that YouTuber wondered if anyone would accept an authentically middle
eastern Jesus in cinema.
“The Chosen: The Last Supper”[xv] coming in #3 at the box office the weekend of
April 4-6th behind the “Minecraft” movie proved that YouTuber
wrong. There is so much “The Chosen”
gets right about the life and times of Jesus.
“The Chosen” has a predominantly middle eastern looking cast with
Jonathan Roumie being ½ middle eastern himself.[xvi]
“The Chosen” has the disciples celebrate Jewish feast days like Shabbat,
Hanukkah, the feast of booths and Rosh Hashanah. In episode two of season 5 they explained how
everyone had to ditch their pagan money for temple approved non-graven image shekels
with an outrageous exchange rate that people needed to buy the animals to be
slaughtered for their sins from temple approved animals stalls and other taxes
and how everyone had to be ritually 100% purer than an ivory bar of soap from
even entering the interior of the temple.
Heck, Jenkins got the portrayal of Mary Magdaline right for once by
showing her as a demonically possessed woman in trouble instead of casting her
as either the adulterous woman who washed Jesus’ feet in Luke’s gospel [xvii]
or the woman caught in the act of adultery from John’s gospel[xviii]. I love how Jenkins celebrates the Jewishness
of Jesus and the disciples and has laid out in five seasons why everyone who
knew Jesus loved him and why certain people want to kill him.
So, until “The Chosen” season six which features the
crucifixion of Jesus, (Or I suppose if I’m desperate I’ll find Jenkins The Two
Thieves https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io8b9aJiOY0
in which Jenkins takes a “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead”[xix]
approach to Jesus’ crucifixion) I’ll probably
force myself as part of my Good Friday penance to endure “The Passion of the
Christ” so I can remind myself of the wonders of God’s love for us.
Nah, it’s probably better for me to read the gospel of
John’s account of Christ’s passion so I’m not insulting Christ’s passion for us
by vomiting out what little food I had on Good Friday by watching Gibson’s the
slasher of the Christ movie.
[i] how
many aramaic speakers are there in the world - Search and what
is the world's population in 2025 - Search
[iv] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds58Z0HSHQ0
or 'The
Passion' brutalizes audience or Is
Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” a snuff film? What the hell is a snuff
film? : r/TooAfraidToAsk
[v] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP6eDXqLY1g Season 8 episode 3 “The Passion of the Jew”
[viii]
Mt 27: 25- “The people said in reply “Let his blood be on us and on our
children”.
[xi] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRpoLJhibV8
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