Category: Film

I watched Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ over the weekend; an interesting endeavour. Although I am an atheist, I do have an interest in all things Christ like. I don’t rule out the possibility that Christ did exist in some form or another, and that current stories about him are a version of the truth, if we remove any obvious Son of God elements etc…
Anyway, it’s hard going. It’s very well made and very gritty; not the clean cut versions that have previously been show. If there is any truth in the story, you well imagine it could have looked something like this. However, this realism has its price; the film is so hard to watch because it is so horrible. I had to watch it in two sittings to ease the pain.

The film doesn’t bring anything new to the story of The Passion it just depicts it very realisticly, so on that basis I have to question the point of the film. I guess if you are Christian then it would cement your feelings for Christ and what he went through to absolve your sins, if you are Jewish then you’re going to be pretty angry about how the film depicts the actions of the Jews.

If we remove the obvious issues about “facts” of the story, it seems to me that much of the film is on dubious territory with regards the facts of what happened. I don’t recall there being any story that depicts the sheer amount of tortue that Jesus supposedly endured. Yes, the way in which he was tortured is likely correct, there is indeed written history that details how the Romans crucified people. However, had any man been tortured so much then I doubt he would have made it to Golgotha let alone be still alive to actually be attached to the cross. Gibson portrays the Roman soldiers as being particularly nasty drunken slobs, again I can’t see where any evidence would be that would hold up his depiction. And then, there are the Jews… if anything would make me consider that Gibson is anti-semitic, then this film is it. Again, there is little evidence to show that the Jews where so full of vile and hatred of Christ, yes they may have wanted him dead, but in such manner and with the huge venom and vitriole that the film depicts.

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