The Passion of the Christ

This article is about theInsert non-formatted text here. For followed_by, see The Passion of the Christ (disambiguation).

The Passion of the Christ is a 2004 film co-written, co-produced and directed by Mel Gibson. It is based on the biblical stories of Jesus of Nazareth and focuses on his last twelve hours. It details his arrest, trial, and crucifixion, events commonly known as "The Passion". The film’s dialogue is in Aramaic, Latin, and Hebrew, with English subtitles. It was filmed in Matera, Italy and Cinecittà Studios, Rome.

Plot

The Passion of the Christ begins in medias res in the Garden of Gethsemane, on the Mount of Olives, with Jesus Christ agonizing over his impending death, while Satan tempts him to [2] abandon the idea that one man can redeem the sins of the World.

Meanwhile, at the Temple, Judas Iscariot meets with the Sanhedrin. The High Priest Yosef Caiaphas pays him thirty silver coins for Jesus's whereabouts, as they have previously agreed. Judas leads the Temple guards to the garden and identifies Jesus with a kiss.

Elsewhere, Jesus's mother, Mary, awakens from a nightmare; Mary Magdalene asks if she is all right. Certain that something is wrong, Mary quotes the Passover prayers, Why is this night different than other nights?; Mary Magdalene replies, Because once we were slaves and we are slaves no longer. Suddenly, John arrives, explaining Jesus has been arrested.

Jesus is brutally beaten as the guards take to the Temple. Judas looks on with bitter shame as the Temple guards cast Jesus off a bridge over the brook of Cedron; a demon appears and frightens Judas, who runs away.

Jesus sees Mary, Mary Magdalene, Peter, and John watching Him as He reaches the Temple. A formal trial begins, as witnesses denounce everything Jesus has taught, including being King of the Jews. Suddenly, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea stand up and denounce the proceedings, declaring that all they have heard is contradictory testimony. They are forcibly ejected by adherents of Caiaphas, as other Temple priests, equally disgusted by the proceedings, follow them out.

When Caiaphas finally addresses him and asks if the accusations are true, Jesus pronounces the ineffable Name of God, adding that they will see Him sitting at the Right Hand of the Father. Caiaphas screams and rends his garments in mourning. He declares that, as all have heard Jesus' "blasphemy," no further witnesses are needed. The other priests beat Jesus and spit in his face. He is formally condemned to death.

Peter attempts to flee, but is seized by spectators who identify him as one of Jesus' disciples. Peter indignantly denies it three times. But as Jesus turns around and bores into him with his one open eye, Peter realizes that Jesus' prophecy at the Last Supper has come to pass. He is overwhelmed with shame and rejects the Blessed Virgin's attempts to comfort him. He flees in tears, bewailing what he has done.

Meanwhile, Judas returns to Caiaphas, pleading for Jesus's release. He declares that he has sinned by betraying innocent blood. Caiaphas, however, refuses to take the money back, declaring that if Judas believes in Jesus' innocence, it is his problem. He demands that Judas take the money and leave. Judas angrily casts the money on the Temple floor and flees in despair. Later, two children approach and ask what's wrong; Judas curses them, they become demons. With Satan among them, they hound him far beyond the city walls. Judas encounters a dead donkey being eaten by maggots; succumbing to despair he takes the donkey's rope and hangs himself from a tree.

Meanwhile, the priests have taken Jesus to Pontius Pilate, so that he may be crucified under Roman Law. An indignant Pilate demands to know whether the Temple authorities always punish their prisoners before trial. Caiaphas responds that Jesus has declared himself the Messiah. Knowing this is a serious matter, Pilate privately interrogates Jesus, asking whether He is the King of the Jews. Jesus replies that his kingdom is "Not of this world," adding that all who hear the truth hear his voice. Pilate asks, "What is truth", before returning to the crowd.

Pilate addresses the priests, saying he finds no crime in Jesus. Reminding them that Jesus is a subject of King Herod Ántipas, Pilate orders Caiaphas to bring him to Herod's palace. Caiaphas recoils, but grudgingly obeys. King Herod, an effeminate bisexual, is excited by reports of Jesus's miracles. When Jesus remains to his pleas to work "a little miracle for me", Herod laughs. He orders them to, "Get this stupid fool out of my sight!" He adds that Jesus is not a criminal, He is "just crazy".

Meanwhile, Pilate begs his wife, Claudia Procles, to tell him how to recognise the truth. She shakes her head, saying that no one can tell him the truth if he will not listen to it. A terrified Pilate describes the truth as he sees it. Another revolt in his Province will destroy his career and possibly lead Emperor Tiberius to execute him. Pilate is certain that if he releases Jesus, Caiaphas and the Temple priests will start a rebellion, yet, if he condemns Him to death, Jesus's followers will do the exact same thing. Suddenly, the Centurion Abenader (later St. Ctesiphon) arrives, saying that Herod did nothing to the man and that the priests are bringing Him back. When the priests return Jesus to Pilate, he is displeased, and forces Caiaphas to choose between freeing "a notorious murderer" named Barabbas (Pietro "Pedro" Sarubbi) or clemency for Jesus. Seething with hatred, Caiaphas screams, "Release Barabbas!" The crowd which he has bought and paid for immediately takes up the same cry.

File:Passion trial.jpg

Pontius Pilate (Hristo Naumov Shopov) asks the crowd whom to release: Barabbas or Jesus?

When Pilate demands to know what would be fair punishment for Jesus, Caiaphas screams, "Crucify him!" Pilate indignantly refuses, instead ordering Jesus to be flogged, hoping that this will defuse Caiaphas' desire for the death penalty. Jesus is shackled to a broken pillar; two soldiers flog him with a switch, as their commander smiles proudly at the efficiency of his men. To the shock of his exhausted floggers, Jesus rises to his feet. Feeling their crediblity is on the line, the floggers brutally rend Jesus flesh with barbed scourges until his ribs show and nearly loses consciousness. The Centurion Abenader angrily orders them to stop the flogging, saying that they have no right to beat Him to death. The soldiers drag Jesus away by His arms.

Pilate's wife, Claudia, gives the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene linen towels to clean up His blood.

Later, a group of drunken Roman soldiers drive a crown of thorns into Jesus's scalp. They spit wine on him and clothe him in a soldier's red cloak, treating him with mock royal homage. "Hail, King of the Worms", laughs a bowing soldier. Jesus is returned to Pilate who is shocked by the sight of Jesus' tortured body; he asks the crowd if they are satisfied. Caiaphas still demands crucifixion. Disgusted and out of options, Pilate literally washes his hands of the whole business, declaring, "I am innocent of this man's blood." He orders Abenader to, "Do as they wish."

The condemned Christ walks between two other criminals sentenced to crucifixion; they are only tied to their crosses — yet Jesus must carry his cross while the soldiers beat him and the crowd taunt him; Mary, Mary Magdalene, and John follow. He falls with the cross, Mary runs to him; he rises, hefts his cross, and continues, then falls again. Abenader approaches, ordering the soldiers to help Jesus. Instead, they take a man from the crowd, Simon of Cyrene, who grudgingly agrees.

When Jesus Falls the Third Time; Simon cannot bear the cross's weight; people fighting for a chance to beat Jesus. Roman soldiers repel them, and Veronica approaches Jesus with a cloth and a pitcher of water. Jesus wipes his face and tries to drink; a soldier kicks over the cup and drives her away Veronica. Later, it is revealed that her cloth, Veronica's Veil, has been imprinted with the image of His face.

The soldiers continue whipping Jesus; Simon threatens to not help carrying his cross if they do not cease; they oblige. The procession continues to Golgotha, "The Place of the Skull". There, Simon is ordered away as Jesus is stretched onto and then nailed to the cross. He pleads for mercy for the Sinners of the World, saying that they do not know what they are doing. The cross is then raised.

Caiaphas and the priests mock the crucified Christ, as does the thief to his right, who tells him to save them all if he truly is the Son of God. Jesus gasps, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do". The Good Thief tells Caiaphas, "Listen, He prays for you." He then tells Jesus his punishment is just, and that Jesus would be justified in condemning him, then says, "Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom." Jesus replies, "On this day, you will be with me in Paradise". As the Bad Thief laughs at them, a crow picks flesh from his face.

File:P8passion.jpg

Jesus crucified.

Jesus weakens; the sky darkens. Mary and John approach the crucified Jesus; he declares, "I thirst!" A sympathetic soldier named Cassius, (later St. Longinus), impales a vinegar-soaked sponge on a spear and reaches it to him; tasting it, Jesus turns away. The Virgin Mary pleads with Jesus to let her die with him. He tells her that St. John will take care of her. He tells John that Mary is now his mother. Jesus cries, "My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?" Then, looking down at them, says, "It is accomplished". Mary Magdalene weeps. Gasping, Jesus looks up, saying, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." His one eye dilates and He exhales His last breath.

An earthquake occurs; the spectators flee. The soldiers break the crucified criminals' legs to hasten their deaths. When Cassius is about to break the Jesus, there is another rumble from the earth. Cassius realises that Jesus is already dead. Abenader orders him to, "Make sure", and casts him a lance. As Cassius drives it into Jesus' side; blood and water pour from the wound. As the blood lands on his face, Cassius falls to his knees in awe. All the soldiers present suddenly understand that they have killed the Son of God and flee in terror.

Elsewhere, the earthquake breaks the Temple in half, exposing the Holy of Holies; a horrified Caiaphas sobs. Meanwhile in Hell, Satan screams in impotent rage, knowing his power is forever broken.

That night, Jesus is lowered from the cross; Mary embraces the body of her son and gives him a last kiss. Three days later, the morning light illuminates the empty funeral garments in Christ's tomb. The Resurrected Christ stands up and his wounded hands are visible. He walks out of the Tomb to triumphant music and the credits roll.

Cast and crew

Cast

Actor/Actress	Role
Jim Caviezel	Jesus of Nazareth
Maia Morgenstern	The Virgin Mary
Monica Bellucci	Mary Magdalene
Hristo Naumov Shopov	Pontius Pilate
Mattia Sbragia	Yosef Caiaphas
Rosalinda Celentano	Satan
Hristo Jivkov	Saint John
Francesco DeVito	Saint Peter
Luca Lionello	Judas Iscariot
Claudia Gerini	Claudia Procles
Pietro "Pedro" Sarubbi	Barabbas
Sergio Rubini	Dismas
Francesco Cabras	Gesmas
Toni Bertorelli	Annas ben Seth
Roberto Bestazoni	Malchus
Giovanni Capalbo	Cassius
Emilio De Marchi	Scornful Roman
Roberto Visconti	Scornful Roman
Lello Giulivo	Brutish Roman
Abel Jafry	2nd Temple Officer
Jarreth Merz	Simon of Cyrene
Matt Patresi	Janus
Fabio Sartor	Abenader
Luca De Dominicis	Herod Ántipas
Sabrina Impacciatore	Saint Veronica

Notable Crew

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

Mel Gibson's role

To produce The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson spent some forty to fifty million dollars of his money to finance and advertise it. Aside from being its co-producer and director, he is the co-screenplay writer with Benedict Fitzgerald. Given the interpretation, the very explicit violence, and the polyglot soundtrack (Aramaic, Latin, Hebrew), it was difficult to find an American distribution company; the film was completed before Newmarket Films agreed to release it in the U.S. Equinox Films was the Canadian distributor, and Icon Films the British and Australian distributor.

In addition to repeated accusations of anti-Semitism, Gibson’s Traditionalist Catholic beliefs were attacked. Liberal pundits accused The Passion of the Christ of being a modern day Passion play that would spark Anti-Semitic violence. However, Romanian actress Maia Morgenstern (the Virgin Mary), who is Jewish and the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, has publically rejected these charges. In an interview for a PAX documentary about the film, she said she and her father had read the script together and both found it beautiful, very poetic, and very philosophical.

Gibson's religious beliefs, the film's inspiration, are Traditionist Catholicism, which rejects the Liturgical and Doctrinal changes spawned by the Second Vatican Council. He intended his movie to be faithful to a Traditional Catholic understanding of the New Testament. In The Passion: Photography from the Movie "The Passion of the Christ", Gibson says:

This is a movie about love, hope, faith, and forgiveness. He [Jesus] died for all mankind, suffered for all of us. It's time to get back to that basic message. The world has gone nuts. We could all use a little more love, faith, hope, and forgiveness.

It was me that put him on the cross. It was my sins [who put him there].

Gibson makes an appearance in the film, in close-up only: his hands nail Jesus to the cross. Yet, arguably, the strongest attacks on Gibson were for refusing to discuss the views of his father, Hutton Gibson, a vocal Sedevacantist who has alleged that much of the Holocaust is "fiction".

Friends of the Gibsons say that, although Gibson loves his father and abides the Biblical dictum to honour his parents, they disagree on many subjects. One called Hutton Gibson an old man with strange ideas.

Director Gibson sternly rebuked ABC television reporter Diane Sawyer during the broadcast of a The Passion of the Christ infomercial when she brought up Hutton Gibson’s statements, ostensibly to give him opportunity to disagree with his father. Instead, Gibson said,

"I love my father cause he's my father. . . Gotta leave it alone, Diane . . . Gotta leave it alone."

Many saw this as a missed opportunity for Mel Gibson. Others, however, have said that Diane Sawyer was asking a loaded question and received the response she expected.

Title changes

On October 17, 2003, Gibson's film production company announced the title 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.

Promotion

Gibson departed from the usual film marketing formula: a small-scale television advert campaign, no press junkets, etc. [3] Yet The Passion of the Christ was heavily promoted by many church groups, both within their organizations and to the general public, often giving away free tickets. The pre-release controversy about its alleged anti-Semitism helped sell it.

Some evangelical Christians considered the film's release a crucial moment for evangelism. In 2004, Marta Poling-Goldenne, Outreach Minister for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Grand Canyon Synod said in an e-mail to pastors:

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

Bloggers claim the film's promotion campaign used blog spam [4] [5], mainly on LiveJournal, to increase the Google ranking of the film's web page. Based on that film's marketing strategy, Walt Disney Pictures acted similarly for their film adaptation of C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which contains much Christian symbolism.

Statistics

• Production Budget $25,000,000
• Prints and Advertising Budget $10,000,000

• US Gross: $370,800,000
• Worldwide Gross $610,000,000

• The Passion of the Christ soundtrack (original score by John Debney) was the top CD sold in America through the first three weeks the film was released. It is also the highest grossing soundtrack in history.

Commercial success

After months of controversy that led to more pre-release sales than any film in history, the movie opened in the United States on February 25, 2004 (Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent). It earned $25 million per day in its first five days of release and in short order became the highest-grossing R-rated film ever made. In spite of the criticism, the movie grossed $611,899,420 worldwide ($370,782,930 in the US alone) and is currently the eleventh highest-grossing film and the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time.[6] Despite this, the film went without any significant recognition by the major American film award celebrations, although it was nominated for Best Original Score (music), Best Cinematography, and Best Makeup at the 77th Academy Awards.

Home video

On August 31, 2004 the film was released on DVD, VHS, and later D-VHS in North America. As with the original release in cinemas, the release of the film on home formats proved to be very popular. Early reports indicated that over 2.4 million copies of the film were sold by the middle of the day. The film was available on DVD with English and Spanish subtitles, and on VHS tape with English subtitles.

Re-release

An edited version, titled The Passion Recut was released on March 11, 2005, with some five minutes of the most explicit violence deleted, in an effort to broaden the audience for the film, however, it failed commercially — just 950 North American cinemas, averaging 10 viewers — and was quickly removed from circulation. Despite the deletions, the Motion Picture Association of America deemed the film too violent to rate PG-13, so Gibson released it unrated, which limited business, because most cinema owners refuse to show unrated films; others did not show The Passion Recut, because the original version was already available on DVD and VHS.

"Exhibitors can decide for themselves how they want to handle the situation," Berney said. "Some may choose to still treat it as an 'R' and not let teens see it, unless accompanied by adults. Others may be willing to treat it as a 'PG-13'. The film is still probably too intense for children, but Mel hoped to make it more available for teens."

International box office

Outside of the US, however, the movie has had mixed success. Although as of January 3, 2005, it has the 25th highest all-time worldwide gross ($611.6 million) [7], its non-US ranking is 59th [8].

This is not the result of a lack of interest in countries without Christian majorities, as its success in many Christian-majority countries has also been less than stellar. The film was banned in several countries, including Israel and parts of France, as well as many Muslim nations. For example, it did not make the top-100 all time UK box office list as of January 18, 2005 [9] and its position as of October 31, 2004 stood at 132nd [10]. Similarly in Australia, as of March 2, 2005 it held the 116th position [11] or the 294th position in the adjusted list [12].

As of November 22, 2004, it was below the 140th position in the German all-time box office [13] and as of August 10, 2004, it was below the 121st position in the French all-time box office [14]. The figures suggest its position in both countries would be quite a bit lower than the lowest listed positions [15]. The movie was reported by the Christian Science Monitor [16] to have been a great success in the Muslim world. For example, it was the top grossing movie for three consecutive weeks in Egypt [17], Lebanon [18] and Turkey [19] and also at least 2 consecutive weeks in United Arab Emirates [20]. It also broke the record for the top grossing opening week for a non-Egyptian movie in Egypt [21] and as of 21st February 2005 was number 11th in the all-time Egyptian box office for non-Egyptian movies [22].

The Definitive Edition DVD

Although the original DVD release of The Passion of The Christ sold well, it contained no extra materials other than soundtrack language selections. That plain edition provoked speculation about when a special edition would be released. On January 30 2007, a two-disc Definitive Edition of The Passion of The Christ was released in the American markets, and March 26 in the United Kingdom market and elsewhere. It contains several documentaries, soundtrack commentaries, deleted scenes, outtakes, the 2005 re-edited version, and the original 2004 cinema version. However, This special edition DVD was extremely hard to find in Canada, and was easier to find on the internet.

Source material

Collectively, the Gospels are not a unique narrative of the Passion of the Christ. According to John, Sanhedrin aides arrested Jesus, and only Annas and Caiaphas interrogated him, without benefit of trial. Yet, the Synoptic Gospels, say Jesus was arrested by Jewish Temple guards and condemned by the Sanhedrin.

Director Gibson intended fidelity to the New Testament, yet expanded the screenplay by making use of addition sources. The principal, most controversial source is The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the meditations of the stigmatic, German nun Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774–1824), as told to the poet Clemens Brentano. Her vision of Christ’s Passion depicts certain Jews as more vicious and bloodthirsty than the Romans ruling Judaea. A secondary, extra-biblical source is The Mystical City of God by Maria de Agreda (1602–1665), a 17th century Spanish nun, and some imagined sequences.

Many critics noted that the costumes worn by the Blessed Virgin (Maia Morgenstern) and Mary Magdalene (Monica Bellucci) resemble the habit of the Augustinian Order nuns, in homage to Emmerich.

Timothy K. Beal, a professor of religion at Case Western Reserve University, writes in an essay in The Chronicle of Higher Education that The Passion of the Christ is based primarily on the Gospel of John -- and that this is one of the reasons why the film usually draws strongly positive reactions from Christians and strongly negative reactions from non-Christians. The Gospel of John "is an insider text, full of ironies that outsiders just don't get," Beal writes. "Its Jesus repeatedly baffles those not part of his inner circle of 'friends' -- above all, the Jews -- with his teachings, which focus predominantly on his own identity as the incarnation of God, the way, the truth, and the life. His explanations only bewilder and alienate others but are immanently clear to his disciples and the Gospel's readers, who have the necessary gnosis."

The Passion of the Christ "is something of a filmic version of John's Gospel in this respect," Beal writes. "It works the same way on its viewers that the Gospel of John does on its readers, bringing insiders together and affirming their special knowledge while snubbing the rest. It makes little effort to help them 'get it.' Those who know the truth see it, it seems to be saying, and those who don't can't."

Differences from the New Testament

Several theologians note that The Passion of the Christ significantly departs from its New Testament source. The reasons for the discrepancy, when known, vary, but tend to either reflect Gibson's personal belief, common representations, or artistic license.

• In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus crushes a serpent's head in allusion to Genesis 3:15 and the Protoevangelion.[23]
• A Temple guard, sent to arrest Jesus in the Garden, drops and suspends him from a small bridge, this is from The Dolorous Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, Chapter 3.
• Judas's suicide is provoked by children whose faces metamorphose, revealing them as demons. Acts 1:16–19 says he fell headlong and was disemboweled [24]; Emmerich, Chapter 14, says he fled as if a thousand furies were at his heel, and that Satan was beside him, provoking despair; and Matthew 27:3–8 says Judas hanged himself.
• Some Jews oppose the absence of the Sanhedrin quorum, challenging the trial's legitimacy, implying the Jewish priest leaders are treating Jesus illegally. Emmerich, Chapter 13, mentions similar events.
• When Jesus first appears before the Pontius Pilate, Roman Governor of Judea, the man he sees is bloodied. He asks the Sanhedrin if they customarily beat prisoners before trial, says Emmerich in Chapter 17.
• King Herod Antipas is an effeminate homosexual pederast, a stereotype common to medieval Passion plays; not so in the Gospels nor in Josephus's accounts, wherein he is a womanizer.
• Mary Magdalene, is the adulteress saved from stoning execution by Jesus. Her being the prototypical adulteress is neither Biblically supported nor Catholic dogma. Contemporary scholars argue that the adulterous woman passage is extra-biblical, hence a contentious subject among Traditionalist Catholics and others, within and without the Church.
• Pilate discusses with his wife his fragile relationship with Tiberius Caesar, emphasizing caesarean orders to avert Judean revolts, says Emmerich, Chapter 19. Matthew mentions only a message from Pilate’s wife, delivered while he hears the Christ case.
• Caiaphas answers Pilate's questions: What shall I do with this man?, et cetera, yet the Gospels only say his queries were answered by "the chief priests" and "the crowd" and "the Jews".
• Barabbas is called a murderer; the Gospels are inconclusive on his criminal identity. Matthew 27:16, John 18:40 identifies him as a robber, and Mark 15:7 and Luke 23:19 have him imprisoned for rioting and murder during the insurrection. Acts 3:14, written by Luke, identify Barabbas as a murderer.
• During the scourging, Jesus is nearly flayed alive; the gospels (Matthew 27:26, Mark 15:15, John 19:1), say only that he was scourged. However, Gibson placed the Isaiah 53:5 passage at the very beginning of the film, which is a Messianic prophecy; just before that, in Isaiah 52:14, Scripture states "His appearance was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men." (NASB translation)
• After the scourging, Mary wipes Jesus's blood with towels given her by Pilate’s wife, per Emmerich, Chapter 23.
• On the Via Dolorosa, Jesus is whipped by a soldier.
• A soldier debases Simon of Cyrene (who helped Jesus bear the cross), by calling him Jew. Only Simon’s name, place of origin, and his helping Jesus are in all three Synoptic Gospels, per Emmerich, Chapter 36.
• On the Via Dolorosa, the image of Jesus's face is imprinted to Veronica's Veil, an extra-biblical event that is Roman Catholic tradition; Emmerich, in Chapter 34, includes Veronica offering drink to Jesus.
• On the Via Dolorosa, Jesus thrice falls under the weight of the cross; Mary aids and comforts him. These extra-biblical events are of the Stations of the Cross tradition of the Roman Catholic Church, not Gospel. Yet Simon's Roman compulsion to help Christ bear the cross is Gospel. Emmerich describes seven falls and the encounters with Mary, in chapters 31–36.
• When Jesus’s right arm does not reach a cross nail hole, a soldier dislocates it from the shoulder by pulling it with a rope until the palm reaches the nail hole, per Emmerich, Chapter 38.
• After Jesus is nailed to the cross, but before it is raised, soldiers turn the Christ-bearing cross face-down, Jesus and the cross levitate above the ground, and, when turned face-up, it strikes the ground hard; a miracle showing God controls these events; only Mary Magdalene is witness.
• The names of the thieves crucified alongside the Christ, Dismas and Gesmas (also Gestas), are traditional, but extra-Scriptural, per Emmerich, Chapter 43, and the apocryphal Acts of Pilate, aka the Gospel of Nicodemus.
• The crucified thief who mocked Jesus is mercilessly pecked by a crow.
• Jesus builds a modern, four-legged table, one requiring chairs to sit at; Mary tells him it will never catch on. (This possibly was included for some sort of "comic relief" to balance the ultra-tense moments in the movie.)
• Caiaphas and his aide watch Christ's scourging.
• Satan (in womanly guise) rouses the rabble to shout: "Crucify him! Crucify him!"
• Satan is shown carrying a Demon baby during Christ’s flogging. Mel Gibson is reported to have said

  it's evil distorting what’s good. What is more tender and beautiful than a mother and a child? So the Devil takes that and distorts it just a little bit. Instead of a normal mother and child you have an androgynous figure holding a 40-year-old ‘baby’ with hair on his back. It is weird, it is shocking, it's almost too much – just like turning Jesus over to continue scourging him on his chest is shocking and almost too much, which is the exact moment when this appearance of the Devil and the baby takes place.

• The earthquake described by Matthew split open the Temple down its the center, yet the Gospels report that only the curtain at the Holy of Holies was split. The Gospel of the Ebionites a theologically deviant version of Matthew's Gospel, reports that the Temple's lintel split. At the moment of Jesus's death, Nature unleashes her power, and Satan rages in Hell, because he has been defeated; the redemption is accomplished.

Historicity (per different religious traditions)

• In the opinion of most scholars, whether religious or secular, an exchange between Pilate and the Jewish crowd, or between Pilate and Jesus, would most likely have been conducted in Koine Greek, the lingua franca of the eastern Mediterranean. In the film, however, there is no Greek spoken. Pilate begins his conversation with Jesus in Aramaic, and Jesus' reply, together with the rest of the conversation, is in Latin; Pilate's exchange with the Jewish crowd is in Aramaic. Also, the Gospels say the inscription on the Cross was in three languages, namely "Hebrew" (meaning Aramaic), Greek and Latin, but in the film the Greek version is lacking.

• In the film, Pilate is depicted as sympathetic to Jesus, following a common Christian interpretation of the Gospels, although he is fearful of Rome's political reaction should complaint of his brutality reach the capital. Josephus, however, records that Pilate acted barbarously against the Jews, and only showed mercy when they protested en masse. The testimony of Josephus suggests that Pilate's alleged sympathy for Jesus was rather a fear that the execution of Jesus would create a popular outbreak.

• Jesus' route follows the fourteen Stations of the Cross of Catholic tradition.

• The spoken Latin is Ecclesiastical Latin (the Latin of the Roman Catholic Church), which is pronounced in a manner vaguely similar to modern Italian.. The Ecclesiastical pronunication has been accused of being inaccurate for the time in which the film is set.

• The Hebrew phrase Ma nishtana ha-layla ha-ze me-kol ha-leylot? (What makes this night different from all the other nights?) traditionally is uttered at Pesach seders. It is in the Haggadah rather than in the Tanakh. Tradition holds the Haggadah was written after the fall of the Second Temple, A.D. 70. It is an opening line of dialogue spoken by the Virgin Mary, of the film's little Hebrew dialogue.

• Jesus is portrayed as Middle Eastern, which angered some African Americans who have alleged that Jesus was black.

Mary, Mother of Jesus

Mary is the most important female figure in Roman Catholic tradition. She is Christ's perfect follower and united herself to his sufferings. Much of the movie's portrayal of her focuses on these themes.

• Simon Peter addresses her as "Mother".
• Satan holds a demon baby, which she shows to Christ, in mocking parallel of Mary's maternity.
• When Christ falls while carrying the cross, Mary runs to him. Christ says, "See, mother, I make all things new." The Gospels do not mention this incident enroute to Calvary hill, but it is in the via crucis. The line is quoted from the Book of Revelation in the New Testament.
• Before Mary and Jesus meet enroute to Calvary there is a flashback: the child Jesus trips and falls, Mary runs to him and holds him.

The Eucharist

According to Roman Catholic teaching of transubstatiation, Jesus's words at the Last Supper, This is my body (the bread), this is... my blood (the wine) are meant literally. In the Eucharist (the communion supper), the consecrated bread and wine is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ. The sacrificial nature of the Catholic Mass is in the Eucharist made present in his crucifixion.

• John the Apostle remembers the Last Supper and Christ's words, This is my body... given for you, paralleled with Christ lifted and nailed to the cross, a Eucharistic allusion.
• Mother Mary and Mary Magdalene wipe Jesus's blood after his scourging, (with cloths given them by Claudia, Pilate's wife). This is from Anne Catherine Emmerich's writing, not Catholic teaching, about the Precious Blood, the wine of the Eucharist, the blood of the Christ.

The Stations of the Cross

The Via Crucis (The Way of the Cross) or the Stations of the Cross is the Catholic tradition about the fourteen events that occurred to Christ as he carried the cross enroute to Calvary hill; not all are in the Gospels, yet all are depicted:

• 1. Jesus is condemned to death
• 2. Jesus carries his cross
• 3. Jesus falls the first time (thrice in the via crucis; sevenfold in the film)
• 4. Jesus meets his mother (unmentioned in the Gospels)
• 5. Simon helps Jesus carry his cross
• 6. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus (not Gospel, but tradition)
• 7. Jesus falls the second time
• 8. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem (in the film he does not exchange words with them, as in the Gospel).
• 9. Jesus falls the third time
• 10. Jesus is stripped of his garments
• 11. Jesus is nailed to the cross
• 12. Jesus is lifted up on the cross and dies
• 13. Jesus is taken down from the cross and laid in the arms of his mother
• 14 Jesus is laid in the tomb (the entrance stone was shown opening and closing but the film does not show Jesus being buried)

Critical perceptions

Anti-Semitism

The Jewish organisation ADL considers The Passion of the Christ religiously controversial; worrying that the movie was collectively blaming the Jews for the death of Jesus. However, National Socialist Front (a Swedish Neo-Nazi party) has launched a campaign, which defends Mel Gibson over the criticism he received by Abraham Foxman for making the movie.

Anti-Semitism

Stokes contemporary anti-Semitism . A year before the film's release there was much impassioned controversy about whether or not The Passion of the Christ is as historically anti-semitic as are most passion plays and so would incite anti-Semitism . The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of B'nai B'rith wrote to director Mel Gibson, expressing their fear that his version may unintentionally do so.

The Jewish community were concerned with again being accused of deicide — the usual justification for pogroms . Rabbis in Orthodox Judaism, Reform Judaism, and Conservative Judaism were fearful that any movie based upon traditional Christian passion plays could only be interpreted by its target audiences as encouragingly anti-semitic . Jewish communal organisations and Jewish community newspapers voiced similar fears, yet Jesuit priest Fr. William Fulco, S.J., of Loyola Marymount University — and the film's Aramaic dialogue translator — often defended the movie against that, saying the script did not violate the 1988 criteria of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for Jewish portrayals in Passional dramatisations in avoiding deliberate and inadvertent antisemitism.[25]

Provoking more criticism, director Gibson held private screenings for prominent, politically and socially conservative Christian and Jewish religious leaders; yet denied the ADL's request. Yet, right-wing American film reviewer, Michael Medved — a Jewish columnist and film reviewer — praised the movie's Biblical accuracy; despite a February 16, 2004, Newsweek cover story by Jon Meacham reports the movie's many inaccuracies. Similarly, the ADL stated:[26]

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.

An Icon Productions employee gave an early version script of the script to a joint committee of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Department of Inter-religious Affairs of the Anti-Defamation League, who concluded[27] that The Passion of the Christ is:

one of the most troublesome texts, relative to anti-Semitic potential, that any of us had seen in twenty-five years. It must be emphasized that the main storyline presented Jesus as having been relentlessly pursued by an evil cabal of Jews, headed by the high priest Caiaphas, who finally blackmailed a weak-kneed Pilate into putting Jesus to death. This is precisely the storyline that fueled centuries of anti-Semitism within Christian societies. This is also a storyline rejected by the Roman Catholic Church at Vatican II in its document Nostra Aetate, and by nearly all mainline Protestant churches in parallel documents . . . . Unless this basic storyline has been altered by Mr. Gibson, a fringe Catholic who is building his own church in the Los Angeles area and who apparently accepts neither the teachings of Vatican II nor modern biblical scholarship, The Passion of the Christ retains a real potential for undermining the repudiation of classical Christian anti-Semitism by the churches in the last forty years.

When The Passion of the Christ was released, although some Jews supported Gibson, the overwhelming Jewish reaction was negative. In The Nation, reviewer Katha Pollitt said, "Gibson has violated just about every precept of the (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) conference's own 1988 "Criteria" for the portrayal of Jews in dramatizations of the Passion (no bloodthirsty Jews, no rabble, no use of Scripture that reinforces negative stereotypes of Jews, etc.)". [28]

The Jewish community were concerned about these matters:

• Most Jews, such as the High Priest, are ugly: "The priests have big noses and gnarly faces, lumpish bodies, yellow teeth; Herod Antipas and his court are a bizarre collection of oily-haired, epicene perverts. The "good Jews" look like Italian movie stars (Italian sex symbol Monica Bellucci is Mary Magdalene); Mary, who would have been around 50 and appeared 70, could pass for a ripe 35." [29]
• The High Priest is a member in good standing of the Jewish community, and as a man feared by Roman officials. Some historians have cited the fact that Caiaphas is described by Josephus as having been appointed High Priest by a previous Roman Procurator. They have interpreted this as meaning that the Romans did not allowed Jews to appoint their own High Priest and that the contemporary High Priest was an employee of the Roman government.
• Palestine Governor Pontius Pilate is a thoughtful, temperate man who ultimately agrees to Jesus's crucifixion, unwilling to risk either Jewish or Christian rebellions. Historians, including his contemporary Josephus, describe his barbarous treatment of Jews in his province — crucifying many in his reign. However, Josephus also describes the Sanhedrin using the same tactics referred to in the Gospels to prevent Pilate from erecting a statue of Tiberius Caesar.
• Pilate describes Barabbas as "a notorious murderer." In reality, there is little description of his background. Matthew 27:16 describes Barabbas as notorious, Luke 23: 19 implies his crimes as political, he "had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder". Moreover, he is portrayed as a deranged psychopath, again for which there is no textual evidence. Collectively, these editorial choices render Barabbas's release more craven than the text supports. Also in Hebrew, Bar Abba literally means Son of the Father, or an illegitimate child.

When challenged if his movie defames contemporary Jews, director Gibson responded: "It's not meant to. I think it's meant to just tell the truth. I want to be as truthful as possible". In a Globe and Mail newspaper interview (February 14 2004), he 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".

An ADL web page posted on August 13, 2003 provided examples of Anti-Semitic responses to the ADL's criticism of this project. [30] Critics of the ADL retorted that hateful e-mail sent them was not provoked by the film, yet to be released, rather, it was the ADL's attacks against a film about Jesus that motivated it. In response, the Catholic League accused the ADL of "seeking to poison relations between Catholics and Jews", 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." [31]

Other commentators who had seen it — Cal Thomas and Roger Ebert — also categorically denied that the film is anti-Semitic. [32] However, in the New Republic (8 March 2004), Leon Wieseltier said: "In its representation of its Jewish characters, The Passion of the Christ is without any doubt an anti-Semitic movie, and anybody who says otherwise knows nothing, or chooses to know nothing, about the visual history of anti-Semitism, in art and in film. What is so shocking about Gibson's Jews is how unreconstructed they are in their stereotypical appearances and actions. These are not merely anti-Semitic images; these are classically anti-Semitic images." [33]

Positive views of Judaism

Some Orthodox Jews — most notably Rabbi Daniel Lapin and Michael Medved — have vocally rejected claims that the film is Anti-Semitic and have voiced their support. They have especially noted the film's many sympathetic portrayals of Jews: Simon of Cyrene (who helps Jesus carry the cross), Mary Magdalene, the Virgin Mary, St. Peter, St. John and Veronica (who wipes Jesus' face and offers him water).

Rabbi Daniel Lapin, the South African-born head of the Toward Tradition organisation, declared the ADL and its allies "dangerous organizations, organizations that are driving a wedge between American Jews and Christians." Referring to ADL national director Abraham Foxman, Lapin said, that in calling the movie Anti-Semitic, "what he is saying is that the only way to escape the wrath of Foxman is to repudiate your faith." [34] Morover, Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, leader of Congregation B'nai Yeshurun in Teaneck, New Jersey, referred to the film's Liberal Jewish critics as rodef, a term in rabbinical law for an assailant threatening Jewish lives and who may be killed to preempt this danger..

Senior Vatican officer Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos, who has seen the film, addressed the matter so: [35]

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.

Christian criticism

Fundamentalist Protestant groups criticised the film for its Catholic and ecumenical overtones. The Passion of the Christ is criticised by some Protestant Christian spokesmen for departing from New Testament accounts. Many scenes and details are from traditional Catholic passion plays and from Emmerich's book; many scenes and events are symbolic groundwork for the story, reflecting events found elsewhere in Christian scripture and in Catholic tradition.

On the other hand, in New Zealand, the Office of Film and Literature Classification was criticised by the fundamentalist Society for the Promotion of Community Standards for rating the film R16, out of bounds for minors, arguing that children younger than sixteen years of age should be allowed to see the film's explicitly violent depiction of Christ's suffering.

The filmmakers defend said explicit violence as true to the letter and spirit of the Christian New Testament Scripture; others disagree, for example, the scene where soldiers push Jesus off a bridge is Emmerich's creation, it is not Gospel. Universal culpability for Jesus Christ's death is the principal doctrine of Christianity, a fundamental Catholic teaching since the 1st century, stated in the 1570 Catholic handbook Catechism of the Council of Trent:

In this guilt [for the Crucifixion] are involved all those who fall frequently into sin; for, as our sins consigned Christ the Lord to the death of the cross, most certainly those who wallow in sin and iniquity crucify to themselves again the Son of God, as far as in them lies, and make a mockery of him. This guilt seems more enormous in us than in the Jews, since according to the testimony of the same Apostle: If they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of Glory; while we, on the contrary, professing to know him, yet denying Him by our actions, seem in some sort to lay violent hands on Him.

Further controversy is about the dialogue: "His blood [is] on us and on our children!" (Matthew 27:25), which has been historically interpreted by racists as a curse upon the Jewish people. Thus, Jewish religious groups asked this be removed from the film. However, only the subtitles were removed; the original dialogue remains in Aramaic soundtrack.[36]

CNN reported that Pope John Paul II privately viewed the film before its release. [37] Supporters of Gibson’s interpretation of the Passion claimed that the Pope remarked to his friend, Monsignor Stanisław Dziwisz, "It is as it was"; Dziwisz denied that ever happened, yet it was widely reported the pope said so.

Critical reaction

Critical reaction to The Passion of the Christ was mixed; per the website RottenTomatoes.com only 51 per cent of professional critics praised the film, yet 76 per cent of the viewers enjoyed it [38]. Similarly, critics rate it B-minus, and [39] Yahoo! users-viewers rate it B-plus [40]. It has garnered a score of 7.2/10 stars on the Internet Movie Database, based on 58,515 user reviews.[41]

Entertainment Weekly magazine's June 2006 issue named The Passion of the Christ the most controversial film of all time, followed by Stanley Kubrick's film A Clockwork Orange (1971). Ironically, A Clockwork Orange shows a Passion of the Christ daydream, wherein the protagonist, Alex de Large, is a Centurion whipping the cross-carrying Jesus enroute to Calvary hill. Moreover, Monty Pythons Flying Circus, described The Passion of the Christ film as "the same as ours, but without the jokes", a reference to their historical comedy The Life of Brian (1979), and influential newspaper movie reviewers praised The Passion of the Christ, one is mid-westerner Roger Ebert, who rated it four -of-four stars.

Criticism of the explicit violence

Critics were troubled by the film's explicitly-detailed violence, and especially cautioned parents to avoid taking their children to the cinema. Although only one sentence in three of the Gospels mentions Jesus's flogging, and it is unmentioned in the fourth, The Passion of the Christ devotes ten minutes to the portrayal of the flogging. Newspaper movie reviewer Roger Ebert, who rated the movie four-of-four stars, said in his review:

The movie is 126 minutes long, and I would guess that at least 100 of those minutes, maybe more, are concerned specifically and graphically with the details of the torture and death of Jesus. This is the most violent film I have ever seen.

Ebert also mentioned that the R-rated film merits the MPAA NC-17 rating in a "Movie Answer Man" response, adding that no level-minded parent should ever allow children to see it.

A.O. Scott, in The New York Times, said, The Passion of the Christ is so relentlessly focused on the savagery of Jesus' final hours that this film seems to arise less from love than from wrath, and to succeed more in assaulting the spirit than in uplifting it."

David Edelstein, Slate Magazine 's fim critic, dubbed the film "a two-hour-and-six-minute snuff movie — The Jesus Chainsaw Massacre — that thinks it's an act of faith", and further criticised director Mel Gibson's focusing on the brutality of Jesus's execution, instead of his religious teachings.

During Diane Sawyer's interview of him, director Gibson said:

I wanted it to be shocking; and I wanted it to be extreme . . . . So that they see the enormity — the enormity of that sacrifice; to see that someone could endure that and still come back with love and forgiveness, even through extreme pain and suffering and ridicule. The actual crucifixion was more violent than what was shown on the film, but I thought no one would get anything out of it.

Satire

The Passion of the Christ and the controversy surrounding it have been repeatedly parodied since the film's release.

In the South Park episode The Passion of the Jew. Eric Cartman uses the film's popularity to preach a Final Solution to devout Christians who have no idea of what he is talking about. Meanwhile, Stan Marsh watches the Passion and refers to it as "a snuff film." He launches into a quest to find Mel Gibson and get his money back.

Also, in The Family Guy episode North by North Quahog, Peter Griffin steals the negatives for the sequel to The Passion of the Christ, citing his hope to save the world from two hours of mindless violence. He is subsequently chased by Mel Gibson through a series of satirised Alfred Hitchcock scenes.

Music

Three CDs were released with Mel Gibson's co-operation: (i) the film soundtrack of John Debney's original orchestral score conducted by Nick Ingman; (ii) The Passion of the Christ: Songs, by producers Mark Joseph and Tim Cook, with original compositions by various artists, and (iii) the eponymously-titled The Passion of the Christ: Songs Inspired By.

A preliminary score was composed and recorded by Lisa Gerrard and Patrick Cassidy, but was incomplete at film's release. Jack Lenz was the primary musical researcher and one of the composers; several clips of his compositions have been posted.

See also

• Dramatic portrayals of Jesus
• Stations of the Cross

References

1. Gibson breaks Hollywood’s 10 Commands - The Hollywood Reporter
2. Official site - The Passion of the Christ
3. Passion-movie.com
4. http://www.adl.org/presrele/mise_00/4275_00.asp
5. http://www.adl.org/anti_semitism/anti-semitic-responses.asp
6. http://www.catholicleague.org/03press_releases/quarter3/030918_adl.htm
7. http://www.townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/ct20030805.shtml
8. http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-gaspari091803.asp
9. Apologetics Index entry on The Passion of the Christ
10. South Park: The Passion of the Jew Episode also on the South Park Single-Disc DVD with the same title.
11. S. Brent Plate, ed. Re-viewing the Passion: Mel Gibson's Film and Its Critics (New York: Palgrave, 2004]

External links

• The Passion of the Christ at IMDb
• Animated Passion - "Worthy is the Lamb" at IMDb
• The Passion of the Christ at MetaCritic
• Vatican Cardinal praises 'Passion' - CNN
• Two thumbs up for 'The Passion', Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper's take on The Passion —as reported in the Sun-Times.
• Mel Gibson Christ film is branded anti-Jewish - Daily Telegraph
• Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ:Legitimizing Anti-Semitism- Interview with Abraham Foxman, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
• First-five days box office income at $125.2 million BBC
• Grace-Centered Magazine Christian review of The Passion of the Christ
• An Analysis of The Passion of the Christ; The Gospels