Movies - The Passion of the Christ

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	Movies - The Passion of the Christ

The Passion of the Christ (2004) is a film about the last twelve hours of the life of Jesus Christ. It was directed by Mel Gibson. The film’s dialogue is in Latin, Hebrew, and Aramaic, which was Jesus' mother tongue. The movie was released with subtitles. It was filmed on location in Matera, Italy and Cinecittà Studios, Rome, Italy.

After months of interest and controversy (primarily over alleged anti-Semitism and the film's heavy gore) that led to record pre-release sales, the movie opened in the United States on February 25 (Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent), 2004. Taking $370m in the U.S., it became the highest-grossing R-rated film ever made, and had, for a time, the eighth highest all-time domestic gross (it has since dropped to tenth place). It is also one of the few movies to lose and then regain the #1 box-office ranking (it regained the top spot, as expected, on the 2004 Easter Weekend).

An edited version of the film was released on March 11, 2005 as The Passion Recut. Mel Gibson removed approximately five minutes of the most graphic footage in an effort to broaden the audience of the film. However, this version was not terribly successful (just 950 theaters in North America, averaging just 10 viewers per showing,) and was quickly pulled from theaters. Even edited, the Motion Picture Association of America still deemed the film too violent to give a PG-13 rating, so Gibson released it without a rating, which limited it due to policies of some chains and independent theaters to not show unrated films. Others simply passed on The Passion Recut because the original version was already available on DVD and VHS.

Critics were polarized over the film. According to the website only 51% of critics praised the film but 76% of viewers loved it . Similarly, critics rate it a B- , but users of Yahoo! rate it a B+.

Mel Gibson's role

Mel Gibson played a crucial role in getting The Passion of the Christ
made, putting up his money to finance the project and directing and co-producing the film. He also co-wrote the screenplay. Gibson's religious beliefs, which inspired the film, are those of traditional Catholicism, which rejects most of the pastoral reforms set by the Second Vatican Council, commonly referred to as Vatican II. Gibson intended the movie to be faithful not to the New Testament alone, but rather to the New Testament as viewed through Catholic tradition, which accepts as valid a number of later sources.

Background

Mel Gibson said: :"This is a movie about love, hope, faith, and forgiveness. He 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." (from The Passion: Photography from the Movie "The Passion of the Christ, ISBN 0842373624)

:"It was me that put him on the cross. It was my sins ." Thus Gibson took a cameo role in the film: it is literally his hands that nail Jesus to the cross (seen in close-up only).

Many religious scholars state that the movie often departs from the New Testament in significant ways. It does so by incorporating material from The Mystical City of God by Mary of Agreda (a 17th century nun), and the writings of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (a 19th century stigmatic). The latter is a controversial work, as it contains material that is considered by some to be violent and anti-Semitic. Some scenes are purely Gibson's poetic license.

In a departure from previous films depicting the life of Jesus, the dialogue is spoken entirely in Aramaic, Latin and Hebrew (curiously enough, Mel Gibson pointedly ignores what was probably the only language amongst the Hebrews and Romans: Koiné Greek. It is extremely unlikely that, at least historically, Jesus could speak Latin or Pontius Pilate Aramaic). After a lengthy internal debate, Gibson finally decided to include subtitles, except for one controversial line of crowd dialogue: "His blood be upon us" (see blood curse and ) and a few bits of soldiers' dialogue.

The scourging and crucifixion sequences are exceptionally violent and graphic, earning the movie an R-rating in the United States. These scenes required Jim Caviezel, who portrays Jesus, to endure seven hours of makeup sessions daily. He even had his shoulder dislocated at one point during the filming of the scourging scene.

The level of violence has led to interesting phenomena in some countries such as New Zealand. Groups who have tradionally opposed and criticised violence in movies and have frequently made submissions against movies to censorship authorities have come out in support of the Passion, requesting lower ratings . Critics say these requests are highly hypocritical .

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Passion of the Christ ]

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Movies - The Passion of the Christ

Mel Gibson's role

Background

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