The Passion of the Christ - review 2
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The Passion of the Christ
( R )
Pulp scripture: Gruesome violence eclipses message of Gibson's `Christ'
Review by James Verniere
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
I've never before reviewed a film reportedly directed by the Holy Spirit and given a thumbs-up by both the Pope and Roger Ebert. But there's a first time for everything. Mel Gibson's ``The Passion of the Christ'' - the subject of months of controversy and debate - is the gospel according to Mad Max.
Remarkably brutal and often stomach-churning, it is easily one of the most violent films I have ever seen, a full-length version of the torture sequence in ``Braveheart.'' If it had been about any other subject, it would have been rated NC-17.
As most Christians know, the apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke and John have amazingly little to say about the specifics of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in the Bible. ``The Passion'' is derived in large part from the Passion plays performed for more than 300 years in Europe, which have a troubling legacy of anti-Semitism. The film also has roots in ``The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ,'' a minutely detailed, violent 1833 account of the torture and murder of Jesus based on visions of 19th-century German Catholic nun Anne Catherine Emmerich, who is known to have also been an anti-Semite. ``The Passion of the Christ'' is not an anti-Semitic film, but anti-Semites are likely to feel justified by it.
Filmed entirely in Italy and at the legendary Cinecitta studios outside Rome, Gibson's film is in Aramaic and Latin with English subtitles (in Aramaic, Jesus is pronounced ``yah-shu-ah''). The film is handsomely mounted, authentic looking and well acted, but for the most part, over the top and crude, something suggested in that self-important flash of lightning that accompanies the logo of Gibson's Icon Productions.
Billed as a portrait of the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus Christ (James Caviezel, who was struck by lightning on Gibson's set), ``The Passion'' also includes flashbacks to Jesus' life and teachings, although not nearly enough to mitigate the grotesque violence and horrific images. In fact, the film focuses almost exclusively on cruelty and suffering.
The New Testament as exploitation movie, ``The Passion'' begins in a misty, blue-hued Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus asks that ``the chalice be passed'' from him. He is tempted by an evil bisexual figure who is presumably the devil. (In later scenes, Herod is depicted as a mincing, lisping homosexual.)
For 30 pieces of silver, Judas (Luca Lionello) betrays Christ to Caiphas (Mattia Sbragia), the evil high priest, setting into motion the terrible events known to so many.
From Gethsemane, we move to the scourging of Jesus by merciless Roman soldiers. The instruments they use are thick canes and lashes equipped with small stones and pieces of sharp metal that rip Jesus' flesh from his back and limbs. The sequence is a literal shower of blood. The film ends more or less with the march to Golgatha and the crucifixion. This includes a ghastly scene in which the cross is flipped over with Jesus nailed to it and the depiction of a raven pecking out the eyes of the ``bad thief'' Gesmas, which is news to me.
Pontius Pilate (Hristo Naumov Shopov) and his wife Claudia Procles (Claudia Gerini) hew very closely to Emmerich's ``vision'' of them. Pilate knows Jesus is innocent, but he is a politician who fears a rebellion and the ire of Caesar. His wife Claudia, meanwhile, has had visions of Jesus' divinity. Jesus' mother Mary (Maia Morgenstern) and Mary Magdalene (Monica Bellucci) appear frequently, although, for the most part, as audience surrogates and mute witnesses to the horror.
In addition to the ultraviolence, Gibson, who co-wrote the script with Benedict Fitzgerald (``Wise Blood''), displays a fondness for DeMille-ean bombast, especially in his use of music. According to the press notes, Gibson asked Caleb Deschanel (``The Patriot''), his cinematographer, to imitate the style of Italian Baroque master Caravaggio, and to a large part, he succeeds, although the evil high priests and Roman soldiers more closely resemble stereotypical pop-movie villains.
The problematic line, ``His blood be on us and on our children,'' spoken by Caiphas in Matthew, has been removed, although it still appears to be said. Gibson just doesn't provide a subtitle.
The hardest-working filmmakers on Gibson's set may have been make-up designers Keith VanderLaan and Greg Cannom (``Pirates of the Caribbean''), whose job it was to make Caviezel look like he was flayed alive. Emmerich repeatedly describes the body of the beaten and scourged Christ as ``one wound,'' and that is how Gibson depicts it. Caviezel is covered head to toe in welts, cuts and gashes with large patches of flayed skin.
Gibson, who appears to suggest that Jesus the carpenter invented the modern dining table, seems determined to prove that Jesus suffered more than anyone who has ever lived, a tiresomely literal argument at best, an exercise in sadomasochistic bullying at worst. Gibson, whose Christ complex is apparent in many of his movies (``Mad Max, ``Conspiracy Theory,'' ``Hamlet,'' ``Braveheart''), may dream of being crucified.
But all he does here is flagellate the audience.
( (``The Passion of the Christ'' contains extremely graphic violence.) )
–--
'The only way to avoid getting crushed by absurdity, is to humbly include the absurd in our calculations.'
Reg
(view)
The Passion of the Christ
( R )
Pulp scripture: Gruesome violence eclipses message of Gibson's `Christ'
Review by James Verniere
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
I've never before reviewed a film reportedly directed by the Holy Spirit and given a thumbs-up by both the Pope and Roger Ebert. But there's a first time for everything. Mel Gibson's ``The Passion of the Christ'' - the subject of months of controversy and debate - is the gospel according to Mad Max.
Remarkably brutal and often stomach-churning, it is easily one of the most violent films I have ever seen, a full-length version of the torture sequence in ``Braveheart.'' If it had been about any other subject, it would have been rated NC-17.
As most Christians know, the apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke and John have amazingly little to say about the specifics of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in the Bible. ``The Passion'' is derived in large part from the Passion plays performed for more than 300 years in Europe, which have a troubling legacy of anti-Semitism. The film also has roots in ``The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ,'' a minutely detailed, violent 1833 account of the torture and murder of Jesus based on visions of 19th-century German Catholic nun Anne Catherine Emmerich, who is known to have also been an anti-Semite. ``The Passion of the Christ'' is not an anti-Semitic film, but anti-Semites are likely to feel justified by it.
Filmed entirely in Italy and at the legendary Cinecitta studios outside Rome, Gibson's film is in Aramaic and Latin with English subtitles (in Aramaic, Jesus is pronounced ``yah-shu-ah''). The film is handsomely mounted, authentic looking and well acted, but for the most part, over the top and crude, something suggested in that self-important flash of lightning that accompanies the logo of Gibson's Icon Productions.
Billed as a portrait of the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus Christ (James Caviezel, who was struck by lightning on Gibson's set), ``The Passion'' also includes flashbacks to Jesus' life and teachings, although not nearly enough to mitigate the grotesque violence and horrific images. In fact, the film focuses almost exclusively on cruelty and suffering.
The New Testament as exploitation movie, ``The Passion'' begins in a misty, blue-hued Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus asks that ``the chalice be passed'' from him. He is tempted by an evil bisexual figure who is presumably the devil. (In later scenes, Herod is depicted as a mincing, lisping homosexual.)
For 30 pieces of silver, Judas (Luca Lionello) betrays Christ to Caiphas (Mattia Sbragia), the evil high priest, setting into motion the terrible events known to so many.
From Gethsemane, we move to the scourging of Jesus by merciless Roman soldiers. The instruments they use are thick canes and lashes equipped with small stones and pieces of sharp metal that rip Jesus' flesh from his back and limbs. The sequence is a literal shower of blood. The film ends more or less with the march to Golgatha and the crucifixion. This includes a ghastly scene in which the cross is flipped over with Jesus nailed to it and the depiction of a raven pecking out the eyes of the ``bad thief'' Gesmas, which is news to me.
Pontius Pilate (Hristo Naumov Shopov) and his wife Claudia Procles (Claudia Gerini) hew very closely to Emmerich's ``vision'' of them. Pilate knows Jesus is innocent, but he is a politician who fears a rebellion and the ire of Caesar. His wife Claudia, meanwhile, has had visions of Jesus' divinity. Jesus' mother Mary (Maia Morgenstern) and Mary Magdalene (Monica Bellucci) appear frequently, although, for the most part, as audience surrogates and mute witnesses to the horror.
In addition to the ultraviolence, Gibson, who co-wrote the script with Benedict Fitzgerald (``Wise Blood''), displays a fondness for DeMille-ean bombast, especially in his use of music. According to the press notes, Gibson asked Caleb Deschanel (``The Patriot''), his cinematographer, to imitate the style of Italian Baroque master Caravaggio, and to a large part, he succeeds, although the evil high priests and Roman soldiers more closely resemble stereotypical pop-movie villains.
The problematic line, ``His blood be on us and on our children,'' spoken by Caiphas in Matthew, has been removed, although it still appears to be said. Gibson just doesn't provide a subtitle.
The hardest-working filmmakers on Gibson's set may have been make-up designers Keith VanderLaan and Greg Cannom (``Pirates of the Caribbean''), whose job it was to make Caviezel look like he was flayed alive. Emmerich repeatedly describes the body of the beaten and scourged Christ as ``one wound,'' and that is how Gibson depicts it. Caviezel is covered head to toe in welts, cuts and gashes with large patches of flayed skin.
Gibson, who appears to suggest that Jesus the carpenter invented the modern dining table, seems determined to prove that Jesus suffered more than anyone who has ever lived, a tiresomely literal argument at best, an exercise in sadomasochistic bullying at worst. Gibson, whose Christ complex is apparent in many of his movies (``Mad Max, ``Conspiracy Theory,'' ``Hamlet,'' ``Braveheart''), may dream of being crucified.
But all he does here is flagellate the audience.
( (``The Passion of the Christ'' contains extremely graphic violence.) )
–--
'The only way to avoid getting crushed by absurdity, is to humbly include the absurd in our calculations.'
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