The Passion of the Christ

This article is about the film. For the actual Christian Passion, see Passion (Christianity).

The Passion of the Christ
File:The-passion-of-the-christ.jpg The Passion of the Christ theatrical poster
Directed by	Mel Gibson
Written by	Benedict Fitzgerald Mel Gibson
Produced by	Bruce Davey Mel Gibson Stephen McEveety
Starring	James Caviezel Maia Morgenstern Monica Bellucci
Cinematography	Caleb Deschanel
Edited by	Steve Mirkovich John Wright
Music by	John Debney Shankar Gingger Shankar
Distributed by	Theatrical: Icon Entertainment Newmarket Films Equinox Films 20th Century Fox DVD: MGM Home Entertainment Warner Home Video 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release dates	February 25, 2004
Running time	127 minutes
Country	United States
Languages	Aramaic Latin Hebrew Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
Budget	$30 million USD
Box office	Domestic: $370,782,930 Worldwide: $611,899,420

The Passion of the Christ is a 2004 film, directed by Mel Gibson, about the final hours on Earth of Jesus of Nazareth. 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 agonizing about his impending death, while Satan tempts him to [2] abandon the idea that one man can redeem the world's sins.

Meanwhile, at the Temple, Judas Iscariot meets with the Sanhedrin High Priest (Kohen Gadol) Caiaphas, who pays him thirty silver coins for Jesus's whereabouts. Judas then takes the Temple guards to the garden and identifies Jesus, the Christ, with a kiss.

Elsewhere, Jesus's mother, Mary, wakes from a nightmare; Mary Magdalene asks if she is all right. Knowing 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 was arrested.

Jesus is beaten as he is taken before Caiaphas. Judas looks with shame when the Temple guards throw Jesus off a bridge; a demon appears and frightens Judas, who runs away.

Jesus sees Mary, Mary Magdalene, Peter, and John watching him at the Temple; he is before the Sanhedrin who denounce everything Jesus has taught, including being King of the Jews. Asked if the accusations are true, he says "Yes", adding that they will see him sitting at the right of the God Father. Offended by such blasphemy, Caiaphas scream at him and tears the Christ's garments; the other priests beat and spit in his face, then condemn him to death.

Peter flees, but is seized by people who point out that he is a Jesus disciple; Peter thrice denies it. When Jesus looks at him, Peter is ashamed. When Mary comforts him, Peter flees, weeping. Judas goes to Caiaphas, pleading for Jesus's release, refunding the betrayal bounty; Caiaphas refuses. Judas throws the money on the Temple floor and runs away. Sitting by a fire, two children approach and ask what's wrong; Judas curses them, they become demons, with Satan among them, who chase him beyond the city walls. Judas encounters a dead donkey being eaten by maggots; despairing 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. Pilate demands to know whether the Jews always punish their prisoners before trial. Caiaphas responds that Jesus has declared himself the Messiah. Pilate privately interrogates Jesus, asking if he is King of the Jews. Jesus replies that his kingdom is otherworldly, adding that all who hear the truth hear his voice; Pilate asks, "What is truth?"

Pilate addresses the crowd following Jesus's persecution by the Sanhedrin, saying he finds no crime in Jesus and orders the priests take the Christ to King Herod Antipas, because he is a Nazarene, thus Herod's subject; Caiaphas protests, but obeys. King Herod is impressed by reports of Jesus's miracles. When silent to his pleas to work "a little miracle for me", Herod mocks Jesus as crazy.

While Herod interrogates Jesus, Pilate asks his wife, Claudia Procles, What is truth? She says he cannot see lest he look for it. Fearful of freeing Jesus, Pilate says the priests and Israel will revolt, yet, if he sentences him, Jesus's followers will revolt. Then, the Centurion Abernader (later St. Ctesiphon) interrupts, saying that Herod did nothing to the man. When the priests return Jesus to Pilate, he is displeased, and forces Caiaphas to choose between freeing the murderer Barabbas or clemency for Jesus; Caiaphas cries "Release Barabbas!"

File:Passion trial.jpg

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

Pilate asks the priest-bribed crowd what is fair punishment, they scream, "Crucify him!" Pilate refuses, fearing revolt and that the ensuing bloodshed will turn the Emperor against him. Instead, he orders Jesus flogged, hoping that to satisfy Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin's desire for the Christ's death penalty. Jesus is shackled to a broken pillar; two soldiers flog him with a switch, after exhausting his floggers, he rises to his feet; the floggers then use barbed scourges until his ribs show and seems dead. The Centurion Abenader stops the flogging; Pilate's wife, Claudia, gives the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene linen towels to clean the Christ's blood.

Later, the flogging soldiers drive a crown of thorns into Jesus's scalp, spit on him, and cloak in a soldier's red cloak, then, in mock royal homage: "Hail, King of the Worms", laughs a bowing soldier. Jesus is returned to Pilate who is disgusted by the sight of the tortured Jesus; he asks the crowd if they are satisfied; Caiaphas still demands crucifixion. Disgusted, Pilate washes his hands of this Jewish religious quarrel, declaring, "I am innocent of this man's blood", and orders Abenader to crucify the Christ.

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.

Jesus falls without the cross; Simon cannot bear the cross's weight; people fighting for a chance to beat Jesus. Roman soldiers repel them, then 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 away Veronica, whose cloth (Veronica's Veil) is imprinted with the image of Jesus's 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, which then is 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 prays, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do". The thief to his left, 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 right 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 John will care for her. He tells John that Mary now is 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", and dies.

An earthquake occurs; the spectators flee. The soldiers break the crucified criminals' legs to hasten their deaths. When Cassius is about to break the Christ's legs, another tremor occurs; he tells Abenader that Jesus is dead. Wanting to ascertain that, he orders Cassius to stab a lance into the Christ's side; blood and water pour from the wound; Cassius kneels; everyone, present then understands they have killed the Son of God.

Elsewhere, the earthquake broke the Temple in half, revealing the Holy of Holies; the horrified Caiaphas weeps, while in Hell, Satan screams in rage.

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 interior of the Christ's tomb, his wounded hands visible.

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	Caiphas
Rosalinda Celentano	Satan
Hristo Jivkov	John
Francesco DeVito	Peter
Luca Lionello	Judas Iscariot
Claudia Gerini	Claudia Procles
Sergio Rubini	Dismas
Francesco Cabras	Gesmas
Toni Bertorelli	Annas
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
Sabrina Impacciatore	Saint Veronica

Noteable 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 millions of 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. Critics saw The Passion of the Christ as merely a contemporary Passion play repeating discredited anti-semitic deicide guilt. Yet, Romanian actress Maia Morgenstern (the Virgin Mary), who is Jewish and the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, rejects these criticisms. In an interview for a PAX documentary about the film, she said she and her father had read the script and that they found it beautiful, very poetic, and very philosophical.

Gibson's religious beliefs, the film's inspiration, are the Traditional Catholicism that rejects most of the changes of the Second Vatican Council. He intended his movie to be faithful to Traditional Catholicism's 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 a cameo appearance in the film, in close-up only: his hands nail Jesus to the cross. Yet, arguably, the strongest criticism of Gibson was for refusing to denounce the racist, reactionary religious beliefs of his father, Hutton Gibson. The aged Gibson is extremely outspoken against the post-Vatican II Roman Catholic Church, even writing a scathing criticism of the late Pope John Paul II (Karol Józef Wojtyła,) whom he called "Garrulous Karolus the Qur'an Kisser". The elder Gibson says the Second Vatican Council was plot launched by the Jews and the Masons assume control of the Roman Catholic Church.

Friends of the Gibsons say that, although Gibson loves his father and abides the biblical dictum to honor his father and mother, they disagree on many subjects. One called Hutton Gibson an old man with strange views.

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 backward statements, ostensibly to give him opportunity to disagree with his father. Instead, the defensive Gibson said, "He's my father . . . I love him. . . gotta leave it alone, Diane . . . gotta leave it alone." Many saw that as a missed opportunity for Mel Gibson to shed his reactionary, anti-semitic persona; Gibson's defenders say Sawyer asked a loaded question and received the expected defensive response.

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 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 and video tape in North America. As with the original release in cinemas, the release of the film on DVD and VHS also 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 then the lowest listed positions [15]. The movie was reported by the Christian Science Monitor [16] to have been a great success in Middle Eastern countries. For example, it was the top grossing movie for 3 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 and Canadian 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.

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 Anas and Caiaphas interrogated him, without benefit of trial. Yet, the Synoptic Gospels, say Jesus was arrested by the Jewish aides and condemned by the Sanhedrin.

Director Gibson intended fidelity to the New Testament, yet padded the screenplay with extra-biblical material. The principal, most controversial source is The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the meditations of the stygmatic, German Augustinian nun Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774–1824), recorded in the journal of Clemens Brentano. Her vision of Christ’s Passion depicts the 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 fictional scenes.

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

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. Matthew reports Judas strangled himself; 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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)

• Jesus and Pontius Pilate converse in Latin. Although not impossible, Jews, under Roman occupation, would have spoken Latin or Hellenistic Greek (Koine=common), the lingua franca in the Mediterranean; Pilate begins the conversation in Aramaic, Jesus replies in Latin.

• Pilate is depicted as sympathetic to Jesus (per the gospels), yet fearful of Rome's political reaction, should complaint of his brutality reach the capital. Josephus recorded that Pilate acted barbarously against the Jews, and only showed mercy when they protested en masse.

• 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 like modern Italian..

• 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 believed Jesus was black.

Mary, Mother of Jesus

Mary is the important maternal figure in Catholic tradition. She is Christ's perfect follower, and united herself to his sufferings. Much of the movie focuses on her experience his sufferings.

• Simon Peter addresses her as "Mother".
• Satan holds a demon baby, which he 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. Christ's dialogue is from the Book of Revelation in the Bible.
• 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 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; seven fold 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. The women of Jerusalem weep over Jesus (the film omits Jesus's words to them, 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

Jewish and Christian organisations consider The Passion of the Christ religiously controversial ; worrying that its collective blaming of the Jews for the death of Jesus 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 of such ignorance, 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 Caiphas, 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 controlling the Roman occupation; historians note the Romans disallowed Jews appointing their own High Priest, per their Biblical law, and that the contemporary High Priest was a Roman government employee who? fact/fact=July 2007.
• 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 — crucifying many in his reign.
• Pilate describes Barabbas as a notorious murderer, there is little textual evidence. 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 mad, again for which there is no textual evidence. Collectively, these editorial choices render Barabbas's release more craven than the text supports.

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] 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 — Rabbi Daniel Lapin and Michael Medved — deny it is anti-Semitic and support it. Supporters also note the film's many positive Jewish portrayals: Simon (who helps Jesus carry the cross), Mary Magdalene, Mary, Peter, John and Veronica (she cleans Jesus's face).

A few politically conservative Orthodox Jews have rejected the anti-Semitism charges and publicly supported The Passion of the Christ. Rabbi Lapin, head of the Seattle-based 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, attacked the film's Jewish critics as rodef (a rabbinical jurisprudce term) — assailants threatening Jewish lives, who may be killed to preempt the 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 plotlines. 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 anti-Semites as the curse upon Jewish people. Thus, Jewish religious groups asked this be removed from the film, which was deleted, however, only the subtitle was removed, the original dialogue remains in the 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.

Most criticism from liberal Jewish and Christian religious organisations and secular liberals centers on the depiction of the Jewish religious leaders, on Gibson's skewing the perspective of the Christ's last hours on Earth to his reactionary personal views with events not from Biblical sources. Yet, prominent atheists such as journalist Christopher Hitchens (former Christian) and talk-radio host Howard Stern (former Jew), very loudly attacked the movie and Gibson.

Critical reaction

Critical reaction to The Passion of the Christ was polarised; 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].

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 is unmentioned in the fourth, The Passion of the Christ devotes ten minutes of detailed 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" newspaper, 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.

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
• 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