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Stars:
James Caviezel, Mia Morgenstern, Monica Bellucci, Mattia Sbragia, Hristo Naomov
Shopov, Claudia Gerini, and Luca Lionello
Writers:
Mel Gibson and Benedict Fitzgerald
Adapted
From A Composite Of The Biblical Gospels According To Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John
Director:
Mel Gibson
Feature
length: 126 minutes
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2004/DVD Release: 2004
Theatrical
Distributor: Icon Productions Through New Market Films
Home
Video Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
“The
Passion Of The Christ” is Mel Gibson’s big screen epic detailing events
around the last 12 hours of Jesus of Nazareth’s life. I saw the film back in
February with a friend at a packed cinema in Brooklyn. It is in my opinion the
best picture I have seen all year so far. I was raised in the Roman Catholic
faith, but like many people brought up in any religion, as I have grown older,
my beliefs have become more agnostic than anything else. Yet it is hard
sometimes to shake at the roots of the faith one is raised in because it becomes
so imprinted upon the psyche. I do not agree with everything the Roman Catholic
Church preaches and I do not believe that any one faith is better than another
so long as it is benevolent in nature. Among the controversy that surrounded the
theatrical release of the film was allegations that the film is anti-Semitic
because it portrays the Pharisees in a stereotypical manner. I believe if Jesus
existed then he was a Jew and therefore Christianity owes its roots to Judaism.
To accuse anyone of being responsible for the death of Jesus is ludicrous. I can
understand why some might find the moving upsetting and if I were Jewish than
perhaps my feelings would be different because I do agree that a film like this
is upsetting, but I do not believe that Gibson intended to point a finger at any
one person or group of people as being solely culpable in the death of Jesus.
The Romans are portrayed as being brutal masochistic animals at times and yet I
don’t think people from the Mediterranean are culpable either. The point of
“The Passion Of The Christ” is not to lay blame, but to illustrate the
ultimate sacrifice of unconditional love.
Jesus
was born to die and this is made more than clear when Pilate demands to Jesus
“Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you? And
Jesus replies “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to
you from above. So the one who brought me to you has the greater sin.” When
Jesus is carrying the cross he is praying for everyone else but himself with
only a few moments where he himself appears to be in despair as if he had some
doubts, which of course is human and Jesus does represent a physical
manifestation of the divine in human form. That is why the character that is
supposed to represent Satan in the story states something akin to “No man has
ever done what you are trying to do here” in effect trying to taunt and
inflict doubt upon him because in a sense the sacrifice of Jesus is like one man
taking on all the sins or bad karma for humanity and thus saving the spirit by
reuniting it with the oneness that is God. So in order for the viewer to
experience the spiritual catharsis “The Passion Of The Christ” elicits one
has to view the ugly side of humanity as portrayed in this film for only by
going through this can we appreciate the miracle of the resurrection and carry
in our hearts the feeling of true unconditional love from one man to all of
society regardless if you take it literally or not.
While
viewing the film on DVD I began to cry at the scene where Jesus’ mother Mary
come to Jesus as he falls with the great weight of the cross upon his back and
Gibson intercuts this with a flashback of Mary running to console Jesus as a boy
the way any mother would do if they saw their son or daughter slip and fall to
the ground. It just touched my heart and at the risk of sounding cliché it felt
good to release those tears and emotions. Gibson as a filmmaker has his point of
view and regardless of whether or not you agree with him or think he is just
playing with the viewer’s emotions like keys on a piano, I have to state that
every film tries to reach the audience on some deep level regardless of whether
or not it is intentional or simply a coincidence. Gibson is an adept filmmaker
that truly believes in what he is presenting and I admire that greatly. So if
you have not seen “The Passion Of The Christ” yet I implore you all to give
it a chance. It is not a film about politics or religion or even hate although
obviously these elements play a role in the story. As far as I am concerned
“The Passion Of The Christ” is about love and in my opinion Gibson did a
beautiful thing in making this motion picture.
Twentieth
Century Fox Home Entertainment is going to release “The Passion Of The
Christ” in both anamorphic widescreen and pan and scan versions day and date
of each other, but sold separately and in addition the film will be priced to
own for both standard VHS tape consumers and D-VHS version will also be released
at the same time for those of you with high definition D-VHS recorders and HDTV
displays. DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound and Dolby Digital 5.1
Surround Sound are supposed to accompany the DVD release and for the maximum bit
rate the majority of the DVD space is being shared for the best quality image
presentation too. I was loaned a DVD screener that presented “The Passion Of
The Christ” in an anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio of about (2.35:1).
Unfortunately only a Dolby Stereo Soundtrack option was encoded onto the disc so
I cannot comment on the sound mix other than it was quite full and clear despite
any of the limitations normal Stereo Sound may have when compared to 5.1 Digital
Surround Sound so I’m taking it on faith that the DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1
Surround Soundtracks will not disappoint. The image quality itself was very
impressive with a richly detailed pattern of blues and earth color shades
throughout most of the motion picture. I was a bit upset that the ability to
pause the film was disabled on the screener disc because sometimes the subtitles
go by too fast to read them fully and so one must go back and run the scene
again. After a while you will not need to read the subtitles to understand what
is going on so do not let that dissuade you from seeing this film. I hope the
final product version will be different. In fact I normally will not review
anything on DVD but final product however I think “The Passion Of The
Christ” is a film that is important enough to screen and review regardless.
“The Passion Of The Christ” will arrive on DVD-Video at retailers on an
offline day and date with D-VHS and standard VHS versions priced to sell on
Tuesday, August 31, 2004 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2004 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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