The Passion of the Christ

File:The-passion-of-the-christ.jpg

The Passion of the Christ promotional poster

The Passion of the Christ (2004) is a film about the last twelve hours of the life of Jesus Christ, financed and directed by Mel Gibson. After months of pre-release controversy, it opened in the United States on February 25 (Ash Wednesday), 2004. Within the first five days of its release, it earned $125.2 million, surpassing the five-day opening revenue of films such as the first Harry Potter movie and The Return of the King.

Overview

Gibson's film was produced in Italy, on scenic locations that were selected to evoke Caravaggio's paintings.

In a departure from previous films depicting the life of Christ, the dialogue is spoken entirely in Aramaic, Latin and Hebrew. This has led to criticisms of the film's historical accuracy, with many scholars pointing out that the Roman soldiers in Judea would have spoken mainly Greek, not Latin. After a lengthy internal debate, Gibson finally decided to include subtitles for all but one Hebrew line of crowd dialogue: "His blood be upon us" (see blood curse).

Great attention was paid to historical detail such as the traditional clothing of the period, and Jewish dietary customs. The crucifixion sequence is exceptionally violent and graphic, earning the movie an R-rating in the United States. These scenes required Jim Caviezel, who portrays Jesus, to endure seven hours of makeup sessions daily. He even had his shoulder dislocated at one point during the filming of the scourging scene.

Gibson's religious beliefs, which inspired the film, are those of traditional Catholicism, which rejects most of the pastoral reforms set by the Second Vatican Council, commonly referred to as Vatican II. Many scenes in the movie are inspired by Catholic tradition, and are not present in the New Testament. A few scenes in the movie have no traditional source whatsoever, and are purely Gibson's artistic inventions. Gibson intended the movie to be faithful to the New Testament texts as well as Catholic tradition, but some religious scholars [1] state that it departs from the New Testament in a few minor areas. See the end of this article for a listing of scenes either not in the Bible or in conflict with it.

Some reviewers who had read early drafts of the script charged that significant parts of the movie would depart from the New Testament by incorporating material from The Mystical City of God by Mary of Agreda (a 17th century nun), and the writings of Anne Catherine Emmerich (a 19th century stigmatic). The latter is a highly controversial work, as it contains material that is considered highly violent and, by many, both Jews and non-Jews, anti-Semitic.

Cast and crew

The film's principal cast and crew are as follows:

Cast:

• Jim Caviezel - Jesus Christ
• Monica Bellucci - Mary Magdalene
• Maia Morgenstern - Mary, the mother of Jesus
• Hristo Naumov Shopov - Pontius Pilate
• Mattia Sbragia - Caiaphas
• Rosalinda Celentano - Satan

Crew:

• Mel Gibson - director, co-producer, co-screenwriter
• Benedict Fitzgerald - co-screenwriter
• Caleb Deschanel - director of photography
• Francesco Frigeri - production designer
• Rev. William Fulco - translated script into Latin and reconstructed Aramaic

The film was shot at Rome's Cinecitta Studios and various locations in Italy on a budget of $25 million, personally financed out of Gibson's pocket.

Title changes

On October 17, 2003, Gibson's film production company announced the name of the film had been changed from The Passion to The Passion of Christ, because the title The Passion had already been trademarked by a different motion picture. This was then further amended to The Passion of the Christ. The following week Gibson announced a distribution arrangement had been reached with the independent Newmarket Films.

Reactions

Columnists who had previewed the film

In Newsweek, David Ansen wrote:

Caviezel gives an eloquent physical performance, but he has little opportunity to show the Messiah's spiritual charisma; this Jesus' most noteworthy trait is his ability to absorb pain. [2]

Sharon Waxman of the New York Times wrote:

The film features agonizing passages as Jesus, played by Jim Caviezel, is mercilessly beaten by Jewish and then Roman guards, and jeered and hounded by a Jewish mob on his way to his Crucifixion. It is unclear how close this version is to Mr. Gibson's final film.

In this version, the Roman leader Pontius Pilate is depicted as being reluctant to harm Jesus, who Pilate's wife warns is holy. Largely to mollify a restive Jewish mob outside his window, Pilate agrees to a severe lashing and scourging of Jesus, but the crowd and the high priest demand more.

Pilate says in Latin: "Ecce homo" — "Behold the man" — displaying the broken and bleeding Jesus to the crowd. But the high priest insists, in Aramaic, "Crucify him." Pilate responds, "Isn't this enough?" The mob roars, "No," and only then does the Roman leader agree to the Crucifixion. [3]

Peggy Noonan wrote:

It is the story of a Jew who was the Messiah; it is the story of his loving Jewish mother, his ardent Jewish followers, and his Jewish opponents, who saw him as heretical and dangerous. He is brutally put to death by non-Jewish Roman soldiers, who are portrayed as sadistic in a businesslike way, on the acquiescence of a tired, non-Jewish cynic who then sought to wash his hands of culpability. It is a film that leaves the viewer indicting not Jews and not Romans and not cynical bureaucrats. It leaves you indicting yourself: it leaves you wondering about what your part in that agonizing drama would have been back then, and what your part is today. [4]

The Catholic Church

Msgr. Kevin McCoy, the rector of the Pontifical North American College, arranged for the movie to be shown to hundreds of seminarians at the school after attending a screening by one of the movie's producers, Steve McEveety

Mr. McEveety also succeeded in getting a copy of the movie to Pope John Paul II at the latter's request. Shortly thereafter, writer Peggy Noonan in a column for Wall Street Journal's Web site, quoted Mr. McEveety as saying that the pope had declared to him regarding the movie that depicted Christ's death: "It is as it was." "Inside the Vatican" quoted Mr. Mceveety the same way. Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, secretary to the Pope, denied that the pope offered a personal endorsement the movie, "the Holy Father told no one his opinion." Dr. Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the Pope's spokesman, neither affirmed nor denied the quote, saying "After consulting with the personal secretary of the Holy Father, His Excellency Mons. Stanislaw Dziwisz, I confirm that the Holy Father had the chance to view the film 'The Passion of the Christ'. The film is a cinemagraphic representation of the historical fact of the Passion of Jesus Christ according to the Gospel account. It is customary for the Holy Father not to express public judgments on artistic works, judgments that are always open to differing valutations of an aesthetic character."

Praise

Those who have screened the film, prior to its official release, have had mixed comments as the film has evolved.

Some evangelical Christians have considered the release of the movie to be a crucial moment for evangelism. Stated Marta Poling-Goldenne, Minister for Outreach of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Grand Canyon Synod in a 2004 email to pastors:

Seize this mission moment, friends! God is providing "the best outreach opportunity in the last 2,000 years" [sic] for us to witness about the gospel story to people for whom it may be very unfamiliar or unknown.

Charges of anti-Semitism

As much as a full year before the film's projected release, a heated controversy arose over whether or not it would depict Jews as responsible for Jesus' death, thus inspiring anti-Semitic reaction.

When Gibson was asked if his movie would be offensive to Jews today, he responded, "It's not meant to. I think it's meant to just tell the truth. I want to be as truthful as possible. But when you look at the reasons Christ came, he was crucified - he died for all mankind and he suffered for all mankind. So that, really, anyone who transgresses has to look at their own part or look at their own culpability."

In an interview in The New Yorker, Gibson charges that he trimmed a scene from The Passion of the Christ involving the Jewish high priest Caiaphas because if he did not, "they'd be coming after me at my house, they'd come to kill me." In response, Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Jewish civil rights group, publicly charged Gibson with anti-Semitism, and New York Times critic Frank Rich openly accused Gibson of "Jew-baiting".

In an apparent effort to stem the tide of criticism, Gibson arranged for screenings of the film; yet these merely caused more criticism, as his audiences included prominent Christians and Jews known for their political and social conservatism. Requests for a screening by the ADL were declined. American film reviewer, Michael Medved -- a secular Jewish author, columnist and film reviewer -- praised the movie's Biblical accuracy. However, one statement by the ADL read:

"For filmmakers to do justice to the biblical accounts of the passion, they must complement their artistic vision with sound scholarship, which includes knowledge of how the passion accounts have been used historically to disparage and attack Jews and Judaism. Absent such scholarly and theological understanding, productions such as The Passion could likely falsify history and fuel the animus of those who hate Jews." [5]

The ADL recently made a web page illustrating anti-Semitic attacks that are linked to their criticism of this project. [6] Critics of the ADL retort that it couldn't possibly be the film that caused any hateful e-mails to the ADL because the film isn't in theatres yet; it is, instead, the ADL's attacks against a film on the life of Jesus that was the motivation. The Catholic League has responded to the ADL by accusing the organization of "seeking to poison relations between Catholics and Jews," contending that the "attacks on Mel Gibson have little to do with some off-the-cuff quips and everything to do with waging a frontal assault against all those people - Catholics, Protestants, Jews et al. - who have seen 'The Passion' and love it." [7] Other commentators who have seen the film - such as Cal Thomas and Roger Ebert - have also categorically denied that the film contains anti-Semitic material. [8]

Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos, a senior Vatican official who has seen the film, addressed the question at length:

"Anti-Semitism, like all forms of racism, distorts the truth in order to put a whole race of people in a bad light. This film does nothing of the sort. It draws out from the historical objectivity of the Gospel narratives sentiments of forgiveness, mercy, and reconciliation. It captures the subtleties and the horror of sin, as well as the gentle power of love and forgiveness, without making or insinuating blanket condemnations against one group. This film expressed the exact opposite, that learning from the example of Christ, there should never be any more violence against any other human being." [9]

Some commentators have added an element of confusion into the debate surrounding the film. Fox News talk show host Bill O'Reilly, for instance, charged that much of the controversy surrounding the film was the result of "secularists" attempting to "demonize" Gibson for his faith. However, no prominent American secular organization — including the Council for Secular Humanism, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, or American Atheists — has issued any kind of statement to the media expressing a position on the film, either pro or con. Most of the controversy appears to arisen from within the Jewish and liberal Christian communities.

Gibson's own view on whether the film is anti-Semitic

In an interview in the Globe and Mail, February 14 2004, Gibson said:

"If anyone has distorted Gospel passages to rationalize cruelty towards Jews or anyone, it's in defiance of repeated papal condemnation. The Papacy has condemned racism in any form".

"Jesus died for the sins of all times, and I'll be the first on the line for culpability"

Further social criticism

In November 2003, The New York Post screened the film for a handful of reviewers including Robert Levine, vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis; Mark Hallinan, a Catholic priest [10] with the St. Ignatius Loyola Catholic Church; Elizabeth Castelli, a professor of religion at Barnard College; and others. This marked the first time the film had been screened for viewers not hand-picked by Gibson himself. For the most part their reactions to the film were extremely harsh.

Rabbi Levine wrote that "It hurt me as a Jew to watch it. It was the most appalling depiction of Jews in a film in my recollection. It was painful and inaccurate. My eyes burned. My hair fell out. Nevermind that Toledoth Yeshu behind the curtain!" He stated the film "undermines the 1965 Vatican II declaration that the human element of the Church is no longer Catholic and no longer believes that Jews were anywhere near the crime scene as they were much too busy at the time debating whether walking around with a mote of dust on your coat constitutes carrying something on the Sabbath."

Father Hallinan, perhaps facetiously, claimed that the film focuses too much on Roman responsibility. "Unsophisticated people viewing the film will see Romans as cold, heartless people. Italians everywhere should be on guard and report anti-Italian sentiments immediately. I wouldn't be surprised at all if anti-Italianites started burning down Italian restaurants and randomly attacking anyone whose name ends in a vowel, and when they do, it will be Mel Gibson's fault" he seethed. No other Christian or Jewish group takes such charges seriously however; there is currently no evidence of anti-Italian hatred being stirred up by the movie.

Professor Castelli added that "[Gibson] had an opportunity to reflect on the long history of the theology of suffering, and he got a greater opportunity when he dared make a Gospel-true movie about Jesus in today's world."

The Post’s report drew cries of outrage from Gibson's representatives, who accused the Post of stealing their copy of the film, and the FBI announced it would begin an inquiry into how the newspaper obtained a copy of the film to begin with, hinting that its doing so could constitute an act of piracy. Gibson's lawyer George Hedges said, "Our biggest concern here is that a major media organization would become involved with pirates to concoct a news story to sell newspapers."

Details in the film not present in the Gospels

• During Jesus' period of intense psychological distress in the Garden of Gethsemane a personification of Satan is shown speaking to him. No Gospel places Satan in the Garden.
• The Temple guard sent to apprehend Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane subjects him to punches, kicks, slaps and a drop from a small bridge suspended from a chain. No Gospel relates this.
• After Judas tries to return the thirty pieces of silver he accepted for betraying Jesus' whereabouts, he is tormented by children whose morphing facial features suggest they are demons. The Gospels merely state that Judas fell into great mental pain and commited suicide.
• When Jesus is first brought before Pontius Pilate, Pilate beholds his bloody, bruised condition and asks members of the Sanhedrin if they always beat prisoners prior to trial. No Gospel has Pilate saying these or similar words.
• Herod is portrayed as a mincing, lisping effeminate homosexual, complete with a toy-boy. This is the traditional caricature from Medieval Passion Plays, does not appear in the Bible, and is historically inaccurate.
• Pilate orders a severe scourging of Jesus in the hope that the Jews clamoring for his death will be satisfied with this lesser punishment. Jesus comes before Pilate again after the scourging and again Pilate tries to dissuade the Jews from demanding execution. In the Gospels the scourging immediately precedes the crucifixion and Pilate gives no orders as to the severity of the scourging.
• Pilate is shown discussing with his wife the fragility of his relationship with Tiberius Ceasar, emphasizing orders Ceasar gave him to avoid uprisings in Judea. No such discussion is found in the Gospels.
• During the extended scourging scene Jesus is nearly flayed alive, back and front, by a variety of whip implements, some with embedded shells, glass and nails. The Gospels merely state he was lashed.
• Along the Via Dolorosa Jesus is whipped almost constantly by a trailing Roman soldier. No Gospel relates this.
• Along the Via Dolorosa the image of Jesus's face is transfered to a cloth given to him by a woman. This is an illustration of one of the Roman Catholic Stations of the Cross, and does not appear in any Bible narrative. The woman's name, in Catholic tradition is Veronica.
• When Jesus' right arm does not extend far enough to reach a nail hole on the cross, a Roman soldier dislocates his arm at the shoulder by pulling it with a rope until his palm is over the hole. No Gospel relates this.
• After Jesus is nailed to the cross but before it has been raised, Roman soldiers flip the cross and Jesus over so both land with high impact on the ground. No mention of this is in the Gospels.
• Caiaphas, the high priest who tried Jesus, taunts Jesus on the cross. No Gospel says he did.

Most of these details have been taken from the visions of venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich, who vividly described Jesus' passion in the book "The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to the Meditations of Anne Catherine Emmerich"(Sulzbach, 1833).

Details in the film present in the Gospels

• After his arrest and delivery to the Temple, Jesus is slapped, punched and spat upon in the presence of the Sanhedrin before any trial is held. Both Matthew and Mark relate this.
• Pilate is reluctant to condemn Jesus to death. The Gospels unmistakably hint at this reluctance.

Public reaction

On December 7, 2003, The Passion of the Christ had its first public screening in Austin, Texas at the annual 24-hour movie marathon "Butt-Numb-a-Thon 5", sponsored by Harry Knowles and his website Ain't It Cool News. Gibson was in attendance and followed the screening — which reportedly drew a five-minute standing ovation — with a 90-minute Q&A session. None of the attendees who have written about the event believe the film is anti-Semitic, with some taking the view that its critics are promoting "agendas".

The movie took the top spot in box office takings in its first weekend, taking US $76.2m from Friday to Sunday (and US $125.2m from Wednesday to Sunday), the seventh highest weekend takings in US cinema history.

Promotion through blog spam

Some bloggers claim that the film's promotional campaign has used blog spam [11] [12], mainly on LiveJournal, in an attempt to increase the Google ranking of the film's web page. No one has identified the source of such spam, which could be the studio, Christians who see the film as a means of evangelism, or someone deliberately trying to cast the film in a bad light. [13] Bloggers who conclude this to be a commercial device by the studio are debating the morality of seeing the film and supporting spammers [14], and even to attempts at retaliation [15].

Trivia

Jim Caviezel was reportedly struck by lightning during the shooting. [16].

See also

• Fictional portrayals of Jesus Christ
• Stations of the Cross

References

1. Official site - The Passion of the Christ
2. http://www.passion-movie.com/english/
3. http://www.adl.org/presrele/mise_00/4275_00.asp
4. http://www.adl.org/anti_semitism/anti-semitic-responses.asp
5. http://www.catholicleague.org/03press_releases/quarter3/030918_adl.htm
6. http://www.townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/ct20030805.shtml
7. http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-gaspari091803.asp
8. Apologetics Index entry on The Passion of the Christ
9. A critique of special effects used and factual accuracy

External links

• The Passion of the Christ IMDb listing
• FAQ from official movie website
• Vatican Cardinal praises 'Passion' - CNN
• The Passion Debacle: Mammon Meets the Gospel-Haters - Remnant
• Christ Crucified: An update on the controversy - Remnant
• Who are these Catholics anyway? -Remnant article at seethepassion.com
• 'The Passion' & the Talmud - American Jewish Committee, stored at Apologia
• Frank Rich - Mel Gibson's "Passion": publicity juggernaut - International Herald Tribune
• Mel Gibson vs. "the Jews" - Salon.com
• Divided over "The Passion" - Salon.com
• Mel Gibson Christ film is branded anti-Jewish - Daily Telegraph
• Matt Drudge's verdict - Drudge Report
• Mel Gibson's 'Passion' causes a stir - Lumberjack Online
• The Cardinal and 'The Passion' - National Review Online
• Thumbs-up for Mel Gibson - News 24 (South Africa)
• Responding to Mel Gibson's Critics - Newsmax
• The Dishonesty of Mel Gibson's Critics - Newsmax
• Hosannas for Mel - NY Daily News
• The Gospel According to Braveheart - Spectator
• Protests Lack Moral Legitimacy - WorldNetDaily
• See the Passion - "online petition and support network" for the film
• MSNBC on Gibson's merchandizing tie-ins
• Catholic Encyclopedia on venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich
• "The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ" available for reading online
• First-five days box office income at $125.2 BBC