The Passion of the Christ

This is going to be difficult to do without getting preachy or arguing over which aspects of history are true.  Everyone already knows that historically speaking, Jesus of Nazareth actually existed.  He was born in 4-3 BC and lived until 30-33 AD at the time of his crucifixion.  Jesus was one of the most important historical figures ever to live.  Why?  Because of what he brought to the world: Compassion.  Forgiveness.  Love.  Not necessarily religion, but how we should treat ourselves and each other.  So, I'm not going to get into which aspects of his life are true or not.  I'll leave that for everyone else to decide.  There have been a number of movies based on Jesus Christ.  From the original King of Kings in 1927 to Son of God here in 2014.  But one of the most controversial films about the historical figure was released in 2004.  Directed by Mel Gibson, The Passion of the Christ was released to mixed reviews and controversy.

The film opens in the middle of a garden with Jesus(Jim Caviezel)praying to God for guidance, all the while his friends have dozed off and Satan(Rosalinda Celentano) is nearby trying to tempt Jesus.  Meanwhile, one of Jesus' flock, Judas, has betrayed him to the Jewish authority who eventually arrest him violently.  At this point, everybody knows what happens from here.  He gets brutally tortured and beaten almost to death by the Romans. 

This movie is violent.  VERY violent.  A lot of that violence happens when Jesus is being scourged and beaten with sticks.  It's very graphic, but it's also very powerful.  It's powerful, because even though the man is being put through the worst kind of pain, he doesn't lose his faith in God or his friends and family.  I think because of that, he was able to survive that for as long as he did, where the average person couldn't.  Throughout his punishment, you get to see the people who he's affected, both while being punished and through flashbacks, especially his mother, Mary(Maia Morgenstern).  This gives us a glimpse into his life as a simple carpenter before he becomes the teacher that he's known to be.

One of the things that's unique about this film is that all the dialogue in the movie is spoken in Aramaic, Latin, or Hebrew.  That would've amounted to quite a challenge for many of the actors including Jim Caviezel.  Speaking of Jim Caviezel, his performance is off the charts.  He's not over the top, but rather humble and soft-spoken.  His performance has been universally acclaimed, as one of the best portrayals of Jesus Christ.  Everyone else does a fantastic as well.  Mel Gibson really brought out the best in everyone involved.

I'm going to address some of the controversies surrounding the film.  Some critics have, unfairly, labeled The Passion of the Christ as anti-Semitic.  That has no basis in fact.  If you actually read the stories, Jesus was persecuted by the Sanhedrin, a Jewish judicial body, not all the Jews.  That's pretty much fact.  The other is the level of violence in the film.  As I said before, this really is a violent movie.  But Mel Gibson wanted to show how it all went down, and it really does no good to sugarcoat the brutality.  However, Mel Gibson later re-edited the film for a re-release to cut out some of the more extreme violence so that the film could be shown to a wider audience.

This movie packs an emotional wallop.  It really does.  Because of the performances involved, it really does help you get behind Jesus as a man and teacher, and his persecution and beatings are particularly difficult to watch.  This is NOT an entertaining movie, but rather, a glimpse into the final hours of his life.  I think even if you aren't a Christian or a believer of some sort, you can still get something out of the movie.  I'm not going to get into certain aspects of Jesus' life that don't make sense to me.  And I'm not necessarily a believer, but I'd rather focus on the positive messages he was trying to send the world, which these days seem to have gotten lost.  But that's a topic for a different day.  For now, I highly recommend that everyone watch The Passion of the Christ at least once.  It's a powerhouse of film held high with great performances and amazing direction by Mel Gibson.  This one gets a 10/10.