Without providing context the film exploits the prolonged torture inflicted on Christ with no emotional attachment made for the uninformed or non believers. Christ is not written as a character or as a man, but rather represented as an object of extreme physical suffering and one with a messiah complex. Since it tells you nothing about Christ or his teachings interpretation of a man's passion towards love his fellow men comes across differently. It's biggest drawback is assuming everyone will know about Jesus Christ before viewing the film. Characterization, pretext, metaphors, and his teachings are thrown out in favor to get across Christ suffered (quite allot) for our sins.
If you're seeking to learn about Jesus Christ, evaluate his teachings, analyze deep characters, and find meaning in the symbolic man that is Jesus Christ this is the wrong film for you. The Passion of the Christ is about the final hours of Jesus Christ life. Never will it attempt to convert non believers to accept it views, but neither will the film reach them the same way as those who follow the word of Christ. This film success relies on its viewer position on Jesus Christ in order for it to succeed. It could start off as a friendly discussion, but can quickly turn ugly due to where you stand on the subject. Subscribe to the Stream On Demand weekly newsletter (your E-mail address will not be shared) and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.Discussing religion is in the same vein as discussing politics for me. The Passion of the Christ (Definitive Edition) ĭon’t miss a single recommendation. In Aramaic, Latin, and Hebrew with English subtitlesĪdd to Amazon Prime Watchlist or watch free on Kanopy or on Hoopla, which is available through most public and college library systems.Īlso on Blu-ray and DVD and on SVOD through Amazon Video, iTunes, GooglePlay, Fandango, Vudu and/or other services. Maybe not a Happy Easter film but certainly a powerful and memorable one. Whether this was his intention is unclear, but it’s all up there on the screen, between the blooded and flayed flesh. Gibson’s film decries the corruption of religion by a church willing to sacrifice moral authority to hold onto power, shows the dangers of mixing politics and religion (clearly it is the state sanctioning of political persecution that allows Christ’s suffering and murders the God on Earth), and reveals the brutality of a church where women are merely voiceless, powerless, silent bystanders who offer comfort to the victims of violence perpetrated by men in the name of politics, power, religion. It is perhaps testament to the material that the film can be read both as a literal illustration of the story of Christ’s suffering at the hands of the Romans, betrayed by the threatened Rabbis of his own people, and an anti-authoritarian tract that questions the very assumptions of guilt and blame that many take for granted the film shares. Unbearably violence and gory and bordering on sadistic fetishism, it is more graphic than a slasher movie, yet shot with a beatific beauty.
Little time is spent on his teachings the film is dedicated to revealing the trial of his suffering in graphic detail, which Gibson apparently finds more important than Christ’s lessons and philosophy. Taking the Gospels as his source, Gibson creates his own cinematic version of the Passion Play, with James Caviezel as the tormented but unbending Jesus and Monica Bellucci as a vision of grace as the Magdalene. The Passion of the Christ (2004), Mel Gibson’s passionate, personal, and visceral take on the final twelve hours of Christ’s life on Earth is, in its own way, as controversial as Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis’ The Last Temptation of Christ.