Passion Of The Christ
Epic Hollywood movies about the life and meaning of Jesus Christ have traditionally turned out to be glossed over affairs, save for Martin Scorseseās Last Temptation which outraged many with its (fantasized) depiction of a love scene between Willem Dafoeās Jesus and Mary Magnalene. Few ever thought that another film with the same subject matter could ever be more controversial until Mel Gibson (as a director only) would put together his own work on the crucifixion of Jesus in an effort that also pissed off a lot of people but for distinctly different reasons. Unable to get backing from any of the major studios, Gibson put his own money where his mouth is and personally and exclusively financed the film himself to the tune of $30 million and employed mostly unknown Italian actors for the major roles except for his American star Jim Caviezel as Jesus Himself. While Hollywood maintained that Gibson was crazy for undertaking such a project, Mel casually brushed off the criticism by saying that doing so was āgood for the soulā. With the film fully completed on his own dime, Gibson secured a distribution deal with 20th Century Fox who wholeheartedly figured that since they themselves had put absolutely no money of their own into actually making it, distributing it would be a low risk venture for them even as they agreed to give Gibson an unprecedented 50 percent cut of the profits on the idea that both sides would likely make next to nothing in the secular world that we seem to live in today. It backfired. The film would go on to gross over $600 million worldwide and more importantly (thanks to his deal) result in such a financial windfall for Gibson personally that he could afford to now be completely independent of the Hollywood mainstream turbine, a development that would make Gibson become the scourge of the liberal Hollywood media which would do anything to tear him apart every chance they got. As for the (mostly sensationalized) controversy over the film itself, everything seemed to come down to either accusations of anti Semitism over Gibsonās depiction of The Jewish High Elders who doggedly pursued (despite the presence of other cooler heads) seeing it through that Jesus was sentenced to an agonizing death via crucifixion (which was true according to the gospels even though many others were also complicit in what happened) and the rather gruesome, almost overwhelming display of graphic violence during what were the final hours of Jesusā initial life on this Earth. As excessive as it may be (and in some ways it does hurt the filmās pacing), it is also important to note that not only what happened to Jesus Of Nazareth was something that was definitely NOT pretty, but as any person of faith can tell you, He endured all of that horrific physical punishment purely by CHOICE alone, knowing full well His entire life just how terrible His fate would be (with His human side being none too happy about it) but also knowing that in doing so He would set an example and pretty much back up everything He had ever preached to His followers, knowing that the only way He could ever prove Himself was to have Himself and Himself only face such a gruesome death without any fear whatsoever, at times almost embracing it in order to defy those who had taken such pleasure in torturing The King Of The Jews, hoping that He would grovel at their feet begging for mercy and renouncing His own teachings. The fact that He didnāt not only solidified Christianity as the most widespread religious following in the world to this day, but also set such a standard for proving oneās faith so strongly that no other religious leader nor figure (Christian or otherwise) could ever even come close to matching it simply because well, death scares most of them anyway. The film opens with Caviezelās Christ praying to His Father in Heaven, knowing that His time has drawn near and yet still hoping that God has somehow changed His mind and found a way to allow Jesus to continue living life on Earth as a human being (no doubt something which He rejoiced in and one of the main reasons why He was brought here in order to see just how great it felt to be alive as one), even getting a visit from Satan (here portrayed as a woman) who mockingly tells Him that what Heās about to go through just isnāt worth it for all of these people and that He should just renounce His Father instead. But alas, as predicted Judas Iscariot (Luca Lionello, a self professed atheist when cast in the role who converted to being Christian after filming had ended) has collected his 30 pieces of silver and betrayed Jesus to The Romans, a decision which he immediately regrets, hearing voices and having nightmarish visions before quickly hanging himself and ironically allowing Jesus to at least outlive HIM. From there on we go to the kangaroo court, the dealings with Pontius Pilate and King Herold (neither of whom can find anything to condemn Him for) and then the horrid whippings and physical abuse endured where the Roman guards made it a point to punch, slap around and spit upon Jesus early and often, seemingly out of a motivation to take this King and do everything in their power to humble Him down to nothing, all at the behest of the Jewish leaders whose own motivations seemed to be based off of fear more than anything else (Jesus was garnering such a following offering His teachings to people from every walk of life that He threatened their political power base which was quite formidable). Finally, there is the crucifixion itself which is every bit as awful as one can imagine it to be and far be it from Gibson to sugarcoat the explicit details with little concern given as to whether or not it receives an R rating. Certainly, in many ways as an actor Caviezelās suffering was quite real, reportedly receiving a separated shoulder from carrying his cross along with catching pneumonia and hypothermia while shooting the crucifixion scenes and most amazing of all, actually being struck by lightning while onset and still surviving. The fact that Gibson made all of this so raw and unflinching is possibly the thing that underscores the central message of just why Jesus went through with it: so that none of us would actually have to, enduring so much more suffering than any human being could possibly deserve that when it comes to our own evildoers in this current world and how we should deal with them, a quick death via execution to get them off of this planet as soon as possible or even an ironclad life sentence doesnāt so much feel like an inappropriate punishment anymore whether it be for the traitor, the murderer or the pedophile. But if Gibsonās purpose was to directly hammer it home just exactly why being a Christian is so significant, then he succeeded remarkably well even at the cost of (to a point) his own reputation in Hollywoodā¦
8/10