The Passion of the Christ, by Mel Gibson
“THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST” BY MEL GIBSON
technical sheet
Direction: Mel Gibson.
Screenplay: Benedict Fitzgerald, Mel Gibson.
Photographer: Caleb Deschanel.
Music: James Horner.
Cast: James Caviezel, Maia Morgenstern, Monica Bellucci, Francesco Cabras, Rosalinda Satan, Claudia Gerini, Angelo Di Loreta.
Year: 2004
Opinion:
Mel Gibson has made a magnificent film in which he has risked millions of dollars on a project which has taken him many years and which he has been constantly advised not to start. Fortunately for all Christians, he has not paid attention and surely inspired by the Holy Spirit, he has made a very good recreation of the last twelve hours of Jesus Christ before the crucifixion.
The film opens in the Garden of Olives, excellently set in a harrowing and agonizing atmosphere, with flawless blue-gray full moonlight. The apostles sleep and Satan, who appears frequently during the course of the film, tempts Jesus. The violence of the film, whose maximum level is reached in the flogging of Jesus tied to the column, is aimed at provoking conversions in the viewer, making us aware of how much Jesus Christ suffered for us and concentrating better during the Holy Mass and appreciating more its value.
Another spectacular sequence is that of the Lord through the Via Dolorosa, which contains the shocking falls of Jesus carrying the Cross, as well as the insistent lashes provided by the Roman soldiers.
The film generated controversy for its possible anti-Semitism. Well, I tell you that I have not found it anywhere. In all cultures there are good and bad people. The Virgin Mary was Jewish, the apostles and Jesus himself were Jewish, etc. In the film, it is seen how some Jews were bribed to gather crowds and express their rejection of Jesus. Others protest as Jesus walks to Calvary that condemning the Lord is a farce. The Romans are the ones who are cruel in the mistreatment of Jesus, with some teasing perhaps somewhat accentuated in the film. For all this, I do not see any anti-Semitism. Only things are told as they happened.
The last scene of the movie is about the resurrection. Although perhaps it is too short, it is expressive, because the tomb where Jesus is is opened, he gets up slowly with an impeccable appearance towards the exit, from where the light comes and the nail wound is seen in his right hand.
The actors perform a magnificent role, highlighting that of Jesus (Jim Caviezel). The only role that does not quite convince me is that of the Virgin Mary, since her character fails to reflect the appropriate expressiveness to the immense pain of seeing her son suffer so much during those hours. Nor is her face that of a sweet person, chosen by God at her time to embody her son.
On the other hand, the chosen scenarios are perfectly sober and the costumes are frankly successful. There are scenes, however, that are difficult to understand, but are explained below. For example, the appearance of the Devil with a deformed child in his arms during the scourging of Jesus. His presence incites the torturers to the maximum of violence and brutality. At that time, the Devil believed that he was winning the battle against God. Or the scene in which both the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene collect the blood of Jesus using cloths, after having been scourged. This fact appears in the visions that the Venerable Ana Catalina Emmerich had about the Passion and that Mel Gibson has included in the film, since he himself is the one who has written the script based on the synoptic gospels. The collection of the blood of Jesus, which was shed for us, the blood that saves us, demonstrates here more than a just maternal love towards her Son, that is, it shows that the Virgin Mary understands the sacredness of her blood. .
For those who are lazy a priori to read the subtitles of the dialogues in Aramaic and Latin, I will tell you that it is not tiring at all and they have been reduced to the maximum since the objective of the film is more oriented to images.
In summary, I am very satisfied with the film and I recommend everyone to see it at Easter, even if they have seen it before.
Author: Javier Lopez
Javier’s Catholic website
http://
To better understand the film, I recommend that you read the following text:
1) What does the word “Passion” mean in relation to this movie? Passion means agony or suffering. The Passion of the Christ is generally understood to begin with the last meal that Jesus had with his twelve apostles (the Last Supper); it continues with his agony and imprisonment in the Garden of Gethsemane, his trial before Pontius Pilate, his scourging at the column, his carrying of the cross, and ends with his crucifixion and death. The film only covers these final hours of Jesus’ life.
2) Where does the opening scene of the movie take place? In the Garden of Gethsemane, which is located just outside the walls of Jerusalem at the foot of the Mount of Olives. There are several olive trees in this garden today that are over 3000 years old, so they existed at the time of Jesus, and may have been the trees under which he prayed. The Garden of Gethsemane is one of the most visited places in the Holy Land.
3) Christians speak of the agony of Jesus in the Garden. What does this expression mean and what is its meaning?
Christians understand Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethseman to be intense spiritual, emotional, and even physical pain. The general belief is that Jesus, whom all Christians profess to be God incarnate, understood the profound suffering—or agony—he would soon experience and, like any human being, was tormented by this thought. He said to the three disciples who were with him: My soul is sad unto death and I pray to the Father that if it is possible this chalice may pass from me, but not my will, but yours be done (Mt 26, 38.39).
4) What do the words God incarnate mean in relation to Jesus?
Incarnate means that he has taken flesh. Christians believe that God, at a specific moment in time (approximately four years BC), took on a human flesh (not only a body, but also a soul). It was a real and complete human nature, not just a human appearance, not a mask, not a dress. This is the mystery of the Incarnation and the reason why Christians place so much emphasis on the celebration of Christmas and, increasingly, on the Annunciation, the moment in which God became man and was conceived in Mary’s womb. (cf. Lk 1, 26-38).
5) Before we go any further, is there any serious evidence that Jesus really existed and that the events depicted in the movie actually happened?
Yes, there is ample evidence that Jesus really existed and that the events referred to in the film happened historically. No serious historian, not even the most profane, doubts the existence of Jesus. There are several secular sources that testify to the existence of Jesus and corroborate many of the events described in the Bible. (For more on this point see the Sources section at the end of this book.) The primary source of evidence, however, is the Bible itself, the largest and most carefully examined book in the history of mankind.
6) How can the New Testament be historically accurate when it speaks of the Passion? Wasn’t it written long after these events?
The first books of the New Testament (the part of the Bible about the life of Jesus and the beginning of the Church) were probably written less than twenty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. These books are the letters of Saint Paul and were written to the Churches that had basically heard the story of the Passion and resurrection of Jesus. The information in these letters reflects that Paul and his listeners shared an awareness of the same data that we find in the gospels (because they had not yet been written).
Paul knows that Jesus is a Jew of the lineage of King David (Rm 1,3); that John the Baptist was his predecessor and that he had disapproved of any claim to his own messianism (Acts 13:24-25); that his main disciples were Peter, James and John (Gal 2,9); that he had foretold his return as a thief (1Thess 5:4); that he had instituted the Eucharist (1Co 11, 23-25); that he had been rejected by the Jewish leaders (1Ts 2, 15), judged by Pontius Pilate (1Tm 6, 13) and crucified for us (Gal 3,1); that he was put in a tomb (Acts 13, 29), that he rose from the dead and was seen by many witnesses (1Co 15,3-8), and that he ascended to heaven (Eph 4, 9-10). How does Paul know all this? In much the same way that you know about the presidency of Ronald Regan or about John Lennon: because twenty years is not that long and there are still plenty of witnesses around whom Pablo knows personally. Indeed, Saint Paul, writing to the Church in Corinth, clearly states that there were more than 500 eyewitnesses of the risen Christ and that the vast majority of them were still alive when he writes (in the late 1950s). And, of course, Paul himself had seen the risen Christ. The Gospels were written a little later than Paul’s letters, in the 1960s and 1970s. Three of them are the fruit of eyewitness accounts of the events (Matthew, Mark, and Juan). Luke was written by a man who was a close associate of Paul and who had multiple opportunities to hear the testimony of people who were present at the events recorded in his gospel. Would you find it hard to believe that someone who was not present at the events, writing today, could offer an accurate account of President Kennedy’s administration, based on various written sources and eyewitness interviews? Briefly, the gospels are much more reliable accounts of the events of Christ’s ministry, written very closely to the actual events. Moreover, they corroborate each other to a remarkable extent, while retaining the kind of differences of emphasis one might expect in actual eyewitness accounts.
7) So, did Jesus know, in the Garden, that he was going to die?
Yes. Since Jesus is the all-knowing God, he knew he was going to die. But, because he was also fully man, he suffered a terrible anguish that anticipated the torture and death that he was going to suffer. You and I, as human beings, have a human nature. Instead, Jesus, as God incarnate, has two natures: human and divine. Therefore, in his divine nature he knew things that only God could know; in his human nature he experienced everything as we do, except sin. He was hungry, he was thirsty and he felt pain.
8) As an aside, why do you predominantly use the word he when referring to Jesus? To show respect towards Jesus as a divine person, as God, Creator of the universe.
9) Did Jesus really sweat blood during his agony?
According to Saint Luke, that seems to have happened: And plunged into agony, he insisted more on his prayer. His sweat became like thick drops of blood falling on the ground (Lk 22 43-44). Such a phenomenon (known as hematoidrosis) is not unknown to medical science and similar things have been recorded of other people in times of extreme mental, emotional and physical stress. Jess, in anguish over what he knew was going to happen, nevertheless prayed that his Father’s will be fulfilled. But he l he was a real human being. That’s why I experienced the pain…