Review of The Passion of the Christ.

By Hetfool Feb 26, 2004, 2:24 GMT

Spoken completely in Aramaic, Hebrew and “street” Latin (as I am told) The Passion of the Christ is without doubt one of the more interesting films about the suffering of Jesus of Nazareth. Interesting in the sense that there can be so many arguments one could engage in about the film and so many opinions easily justified by a host of happenings in the film. For me however, this is one of the first versions of the Passion that hits home.

We have all seen Christ films, at Easter they run the Charleton Heston style flicks endlessly, and to be honest those films have lost all meaning to me. The dialogue seems false and without meaning, thus making Mel’s version something special. Because it is all in a foreign language, the words of the Bible are no longer familiar and suddenly hold a sense of truth and reality I have never felt before. Within moments it was as if they were speaking English anyway, and I was totally engrossed in the story.

Mel invites us in with a wholly human Christ played modestly by James Caviezel, who seems more like a peer than anything divine. Accompanied by the powerful depiction of Mary by Maia Morgenstern, we are provided with a way to relate to the characters, seeing the desperate relationship between mother and son. Given the brutality of the film, this empathy we were allowed to hold with Jesus made the power of the film all the more telling.
 

Rosalinda Celentano as Satan

Mel of course is also rising as a reasonable filmmaker and the film technically is quite superb, save for a soundtrack that is often too ‘Hollywood’ like and dramatic, especially when some of the more painful moments are on the screen. The action is captured effectively and without flaw, leaving us no reason to be distracted from the story at hand.

The action he captures so eloquently tends to focus on the politics and the mess that surrounded Jesus death rather than his followers and family. The stories of Magdalen played by Monica Bellucci, and the disciples Peter and John who apart from Judas are the only ones present in the story, are only sub-plots that are not truly expanded upon. They are strong and beautiful in their own right, especially Monica Bellucci, but they leave you to read the Bible to find out what is going on. This has been a source of much debate, but I must be honest and say that the subtlety of these sub-plots really inspires you to learn more, and I think that was the reason for their lack of explanation. For this reason it is more than acceptable.

So the story of a weak Pilate (Hristo Shopov) and an insidious Caiphas (Mattia Sbragia) and their role in the death of Christ become the primary focus of the story up until Pilate eventually condemns Jesus to Death. Pilate seems unwilling to crucify Christ (as the Bible is written) but is afraid of a riot if he does not, as Caiphas seems to be manipulating the masses into a frenzy calling for the death of Jesus. It is for this reason the film has been labelled anti-Semitic, however I can find no justification. Just about every good person in the film is a Jew; in fact I can’t find a non-Jew who does anything terribly noble at all. For me the real meaning here is not that Caiphas was a Jew, but that he was rich and powerful and Jesus threatened his position as a religious leader. Thus making the real context that money and power corrupts and these lead to the sinful ways of many of us.

Simon help Jesus carry his burden

Herein lies then the meaning of the film, the singular simplistic message that funnily enough the film has been criticised for. Mel wanted only one message for the film and he constantly pushes it, but it seems audiences and critics wanted the many diverse layers of Jesus mythology. For me the singular message is perfect and far more profound than any other discussion. It makes belief in Christ simple, and that scares a lot of us. The basic message was to love your enemies as much as you love those who love you. Can you imagine President Bush loving Osama in the manner in which Jesus prayed and forgave the Roman soldiers as they brutally nailed him to the cross? It is a confronting message, and it is extremely scary. Perhaps we want to ignore that… After all Mel said the one headline he wants to see the day after the Passion is released is “War Ends”.

It is for this simplicity that the film works, we can clearly see the suffering Jesus went through in all its disgusting, brutal and agonising glory while all the while holding nothing but love and forgiveness. I wonder if only a few more people could see this message, they may realise the irony in calling this film “anti-Semitic”, “too violent” or  “lacking in substance”.

None the less… these are my words not yours, and I urge you to find your own.

4.5 out of 5 stars!