Review: The Passion of the Christ
After seeing this movie, I can fully understand why most churches organise massive group screenings. The message in this movie is certainly strong. Taking the last hours before Jesus’ crucifixion, which basically embodies the essence of the Bible, put together in two hours is quite a feat to pull off. While the opposition screams out anti-Semitism, I can only agree with the more positive side. The message of love, sacrifice and forgiveness can’t be shown any more obvious than this. While this movie has the most gruesome torture scenes ever to hit the silver screen, I can only say the word sacrifice has more impact this way than it ever had on paper. Your heart sinks more and more with every beat. You will cringe more and more with every spatter of blood.
With only a limited range of emotions shown in this movie, Jim Caviezel still puts a performance worth a few Oscars.
As a whole, it doesn’t add much for people already familiar with the story, and by all means, if you faint with the first drop of blood, read the Bible again. But as a quick reminder in these currently troubling times, it is certainly powerful and quite moving.
Of course, it won’t convert you to a Christian in an instant, but it’s enough for at least a few philosophical conversations with friends and family.
I can only end with saying that Mel Gibson deserves respect for taking on such a daring project while trying to convey a positive message into this world.7½.