As soon as the credits rolled for The Passion of the Christ, my first thought was, “Hmm. Okay.” I couldn’t really come up with a whole lot more than that.
I heard it was gonna be gruesome and it was. Maybe it is more true to life (not like we have the remotest clue of knowing whether or not it is), but what am I supposed to do with that information? “Oh fuck, he really did suffer. I guess I better repent a little harder.”
I didn’t think it was a particularly great piece of filmmaking. Maybe Yeshua’s body makeup artist should get a little shumpin’ shumpin’ for all that loose flesh after the scourging. Some strategic flashbacks and a few cheesy cinematography tricks. The temple crashing after Jesus died looked totally fake.
Jim Caviezel grunted and groaned a lot and one of his eyes wasn’t even open for half the movie. The thing is, it’s SO bloody you sort of get used to it. “Oh, look, he’s squirting again.” From the FAQ:
Q. Who plays the role of Jesus? I heard he suffered during filming.
(A) Jesus is played by American actor James Caviezel. Mr. Caviezel is himself a Christian, and also happened to be 33 years of age when he played the role of Jesus (His initials are J.C.)…. He was struck on his back (left a 14 inch scar) and he suffered a dislocated shoulder during the filming of the scourging scene, he was struck by lightning, and suffered hypothermia during the filming of the crucifixion scene.
Q. Was Jim Caviezel really struck by lightning?
(A) Yes! The actor that plays Jesus was struck by lightning during production. A witness to the event said he saw bolts of light shoot out from his ears when it happened and that his hair was all frizzy afterward. He wasn’t hurt.
The Stations of the Cross started coming back to me. Jesus Falls the First Time. Simon Helps Jesus Carry the Cross. Man, I hated doing those during Lent. I did get a little verklempt in two spots, and they were both because of Mary. The first was when Jesus fell with the cross right in front of her and she went up to him. The second was at the end, during the whole crucifixion scene. It was mostly because I couldn’t fathom how agonizing it would have to be to watch your child go through that, and she portrayed that agony pretty well.
WTF was up with creepy transvestite demon thing with the midget/baby? Was that supposed to be the devil? (Okay, yeah, it was Satan.) I was disappointed with Judas’ suicide. It was pretty boring. A band of kids chases him up a hill, yadda yadda yadda, he’s hanging from a tree. Meh.
The Herod part was retarded. Hardly even with showing if that’s all they were gonna do with it. I think Herod and the transvestite demon were sharing wigs.
I agree with Engima’s sentiment that if you don’t know the story, you will have no idea who anybody is. I was trying real hard throughout the whole movie to remember who the guy hanging around with Mary and Mary Magdalene (that was Monica Bellucci?) was that they kept referring to as Mary’s son. (It was John.)
We were ten minutes late getting there so it had already started when we sat down (there were no previews!). I have no idea what we missed. They were already in the Garden of Gethsemane and Jesus was strategically kneeling in a shaft of light. Peter and some folks were watching, puzzled, and the transvestite demon was hanging around.
Peter’s thrice denial was different from anything I’d ever seen. He did it while bouncing around in the madness of the crowd after Jesus’ arrest. I always thought he was gone from the temple (or arena or wherever) and was off wandering around.
The Roman soldiers were stupid oafs. Not unlike anything you’d see on Xena. All cackling and comically cruel. “Yargh, I hammered a thorn into his head! Yar har! Nyuk nyuk!” And like Pontius Pilate up on the platform could possibly hear Caiaphus down in the crowd well enough to have a conversation.
Bottom line, if you don’t see it, you’re not missing anything, and if you don’t know the story you won’t get it anyway. And if my word isn’t enough, consider this, also from the FAQ:
Q. Is it true that Billy Graham was moved to tears while watching the movie?
(A) Yes. Not only that, but he states, “I doubt if there has been a more graphic and moving presentation of Jesus’ death and resurrection.”
I witnessed a discussion on the anti-semitic nature of the film, and now I can’t remember what came out of that. I take it the gist of it is that it portrays the Romans brutally executing a Jewish guy. I mostly look at it this way:
Is “The Passion” anti-Semitic? That depends on whether it is anti-Semitic to reenact the story told by the Christian Bible…. But there is no getting around the fact that the parts of “The Passion” that are the most unflattering to Jews — the bloody-minded and hateful Temple priests, the Judean mob howling for Jesus’ death — come straight out of the Gospels. I shudder at those depictions and reject them as historically false, but I cannot call a Christian anti-Semitic for believing in the truth of his Bible.
Fine line between artistic license and malintentioned misrepresentation, I guess.
