‘THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Mel Gibson’s Depiction of the Easter Story

At last! I’ve seen ‘The Passion of the Christ’ twenty years after its release in 2004.

You’re probably aware that I’ve shared reviews on ‘Bradley’s Basement’, usually at around Easter time, on film and TV adaptations depicting the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This includes the 1977 TV miniseries ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ and the film ‘The Miracle Maker’, released in 2000.

For a long while, I’ve avoided checking out ‘The Passion of the Christ’ since it was released in 2004. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, I wasn’t age-appropriate to see the film at cinemas. I was going from 14 to 15 at the time of its release, since the film is rated 18 in the UK (R-rated if you live in the USA).

Secondly, I wasn’t emotionally and mentally ready to see the film yet, even by the time I was old enough to watch it. Mainly, it’s because I’ve heard so much about the film, considering its graphic content and how emotionally draining it can be. This is a film that is quite likely to be seen only once.

‘The Passion of the Christ’ is a film that depicts the final 12 hours of Jesus’ life before his death. It goes through the crucifixion and death of Jesus according to the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I’m very familiar with what’s told in the four gospels having been going to church all of my life.

I’ve also seen how it’s done in ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ and ‘The Miracle Maker’, although you could argue that those are tame accounts compared to how ‘The Passion of the Christ’ tells the story of Jesus’ suffering at the hands of the Pharisees, the Teachers of Law and the Romans in Jerusalem in Israel. 😦

For a long time, I kept putting off seeing ‘The Passion of the Christ’ until 2024, which marks its 20th anniversary. Eventually, I decided to check out the film on Amazon Prime Video. Therefore, I can say I’ve finally seen the film and I don’t have to rewatch it in order to appreciate what messages it has.

My feelings on ‘The Passion of the Christ’ are… mixed. On the one hand, I appreciate what the film is trying to do in conveying what Jesus suffered to die for our sins on the cross and how important it is to love your enemies as well as your loved ones. That is something I can get behind. 🙂

On the other hand, ‘The Passion of the Christ’ is a very tough film to sit through. It can be very hard to watch, especially when you witness the torture scenes of Jesus being flogged by the Romans as well as having to carry his cross to Calvary before suffering on the cross and eventually dying upon it.

At the time of its release, ‘The Passion of the Christ’ became the fifth highest-grossing film of 2004 and it’s considered the highest-grossing Christian film of all time as well as the highest-grossing independent film of all time. It’s also considered a highly controversial film when released in 2004. 😐

The film received polarised reviews from critics. This is understandable, as by that point, no Christian film that depicted Jesus’ crucifixion and death had been extreme in its graphic violence as well as being emotionally draining. Some also found it to be antisemitic, which had me initially quite baffled.

On reflection and discussing it with others, it’s probably antisemitic from the point of view of the Jewish community, as the Sanhedrin, which includes the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, are depicted as being mostly cruel to Jesus, especially when putting him on trial having arrested them. 😐

That’s something that I’m not unfamiliar with, as it’s presented in ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ and ‘The Miracle Maker’ too. Perhaps because the actions of the Sanhedrin is excessive in this film version of the story, especially when Jesus is being beaten up then, is a cause for stating the film is antisemitic.

What fascinates me about this film is that the director happens to be Mel Gibson. It was through this film that I discovered he’s a Catholic. It was quite a surprise to find he directed this film, having heard him voice characters in two animated films, including ‘Pocahontas’ in 1995 and ‘Chicken Run’ in 2000. 🙂

Many people will probably remember him for being in the first three ‘Mad Max’ films, and of course he produced, directed and starred in ‘Braveheart’, a 1995 film about William Wallace of Scotland, which I have seen. ‘Braveheart’ was a good way for me to get into Mel Gibson’s style as a director. 🙂

Not that ‘The Passion of the Christ’ is anything like ‘Braveheart’ – it’s two hours long as a film whereas ‘Braveheart’ is about three hours long – but you can tell how he likes to depict history as it was back then with the Romans being brutal in their methods of torture, especially towards Jesus. 😐

The historical accuracy of what happened back then in Jesus’ time in the 2004 film is debatable, but in a sense, that’s not really the point of what Mel Gibson is trying to get across. He’s getting across the significance of what Jesus did to suffer at the hands of his enemies before he died on the cross. 😦

In a sense, the title of this film can be misleading. Whilst ‘passion’ is a word to define Jesus’ love for us and he struggled to save us from our sins by dying on the cross, I wonder whether the film should have been called ‘The Suffering of the Christ’ instead in order to make this film straight to the point.

A thing about this film that’s unusual is the people’s dialogue is mostly in Aramaic, Hebrew and Latin. That would have been the languages spoken by the people of Israel in biblical times. That’s fair as far as I’m concerned, as I appreciate Mel Gibson’s attempt to match how people spoke back then.

It’s a relief that the film is subtitled in English in order to understand what Jesus and everyone else are saying. Mind you, Mel Gibson was originally against having the film be subtitled. In a sense, I can see why he’d be against it, as he probably wanted the pictures to speak for themselves in the film. 🙂

However, I’m thinking of the non-churchgoers and the people who might not be entirely familiar with the biblical story of Jesus’ crucifixion and death. I can imagine some people going into the film and wondering what’s happening when not understanding what people are saying without the subtitles.

So, yeah, I’m in favour of the film being subtitled as opposed to not being subtitled. A film like ‘The Passion of the Christ’ needs to be catered for both Christians and non-Christians. Otherwise, you’re not getting across what the messages are being said by Jesus, especially in some of the flashback scenes. 😐

The film is presented in a rather unusual way. Normally, I’d prefer the Easter story being told from Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) to the aftermath of the crucifixion and Jesus’ resurrection. That’s how it gets presented when checking out ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ and ‘The Miracle Maker’ on DVD.

Instead, we start off in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus is praying with his disciples Peter, James and John; and we go through the sequences of Jesus being arrested, put on trial by the Sanhedrin before being brought to Pontius Pilate, and eventually being tortured and put to death. 😦

The film also ends rather abruptly and briefly with the resurrection of Jesus, as he rises from the dead three days later and exits the tomb with punctures visible on his palms when he was nailed to the cross. I would’ve preferred more dealt with in terms of the aftermath of Jesus’ death and the resurrection.

I know that a sequel is in development at the time of this review which will focus on Jesus’ resurrection (It’s due to be released in 2025 at this stage). By but this film alone, the resurrection section is dealt with very quickly and it doesn’t feel that uplifting with seeing Jesus back from the grave.

This is not to disrespect Jim Caviezel who plays Jesus in the film and is a devout Catholic himself. I feel Jim Caviezel is very good playing Jesus in this film, especially when he has to speak in different languages, whether it’s Aramic, Hebrew or Latin. He would later reprise the role of Jesus in his life. 🙂

I’ve heard him perform Jesus in ‘The Audio Bible’ or rather the 2007 New Testament audio dramatisation called ‘The Word of Promise’. I just wish that maybe Jim Caviezel could have had more time to play Jesus beyond playing him during the suffering aspects of ‘The Passion of the Christ’ film.

There are occasions where we see that in the flashback sequences interspersed throughout the film, including the Last Supper, the Sermon on the Mount and moments of Jesus’ early life. Very often, those flashback scenes are ruined when we’re having to cut back to Jesus’ sufferings during the film.

Ideally, I would like a three-film trilogy depicting Jesus’ life and how he affected the lives of so many in his time in Israel. We could have had a ‘Lord of the Rings’-style of a film trilogy where we see the nativity in the first film; Jesus spreading the Good News in the second; and his suffering in the third. 🙂

In a sense, we sort-of have two parts of that trilogy with ‘The Nativity’ 2006 film acting as the first part and ‘The Passion of the Christ’ acting as the third part. We’re just missing the middle chapter. It’s a missed opportunity that I don’t think anybody has seriously considered. At least, not yet to me.

I might be wrong on that score, but the point I’m trying to make is that ‘The Passion of the Christ’ feels rather incomplete for me. It could have included Jesus’ Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem at the beginning and have more of the resurrection at the end to justify the film’s two-hour duration. 😐

‘The Passion of the Christ’ could’ve easily been an hour and a half as opposed to two hours, as sitting through the film and watching the violent scenes of Jesus being flogged and having to carry the cross all the way to Calvary was a tough chore to sit through, and the violence doesn’t need to be excessive.

And yes, this is supposed to be a powerful film depicting the suffering of what Jesus went through to save us from sin and it affected me greatly, as I’m sure was the intention. But it doesn’t make it any less easy and it puts me off wanting to watch it again and again, and I’m sure it’s the case for others.

The film also features Maia Morgenstern as Mary, the mother of Jesus. It was interesting to see her journey in the film and how she kept following Jesus and witnessed his suffering with Mary Magdalene and John to support her. Mary helps Jesus at one point, as he falls from carrying his cross.

There’s Christo Jivkov as John, who is Jesus’ most faithful disciple; and Francesco De Vito as Peter, who sadly denies Jesus three times in the film. I wish there was a redemption for Peter in the film, as I know Jesus forgave him three times once reunited with him. Maybe that’ll be in the sequel in 2025.

Monica Bellucci stars as Mary Magdalene, who became one of Jesus’ followers and she was there on Resurrection Day. There’s a flashback sequence where Mary Magdalene is helped up by Jesus once she fell and kissed his feet, but it’s briefly handled. I do wish that more was explored to establish who she is.

There’s Mattia Sbragia as Caiaphas, a Jewish high priest who persecutes Jesus; and there’s Lucas Lionello as Judas Iscariot. It was disturbing when Judas was being haunted by demons in the form of children, and he soon hung himself by using a rope from a donkey’s rotting corpse. I found it horrific.

Hristo Naumov Shopov stars as Pontius Pilate. In the film, he has a wife. Claudia Gerini stars as Claudia Procles, Pilate’s wife. I was surprised to see Pilate have a wife in the film, since in productions like ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ and ‘The Miracle Maker’, Pilate doesn’t appear to be married. 😐

There’s Francesco Cabras as Gesmas, the bad criminal who hung on Jesus’ left and Sergio Rubini as Dismas, the good criminal who hung on Jesus’ right. Whilst I appreciate Jesus suffered greatly, it’s noticeable that Gesmas and Dismas didn’t receive the same treatment as Jesus before being crucified.

Robert Bestazoni stars as Malchus, the commander of the guards who went to arrest Jesus in Gethsemane. Malchus had his ear cut off by Peter with a sword before he was healed by Jesus. It’s intriguing to see how this gets depicted in ‘The Passion of the Christ’ compared to other productions.

I wonder if Malchus ever believed in Jesus after he had been healed and had his ear restored. I would like to think so, especially from the way Malchus is left speechless and dumbstruck in the film. What ever happened to Malchus after Gethsemane isn’t discussed very much, even in films or TV. 😐

Rosalinda Celentano plays Satan in the film. I’m not keen on seeing a visual representation of Satan in a film or TV production, though I know it was done in ‘The Miracle Maker’. It was disturbing to see Satan with what looked like a 40-year-old baby whilst watching Jesus being flogged by the Romans. 😐

There’s Jarreth Merz as Simon of Cyrene, the man who was compelled by the Romans to carry the cross of Jesus to Calvary. This is something that’s not shown in productions like ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ and ‘The Miracle Maker’, and I really appreciate Simon of Cyrene being in ‘The Passion of the Christ’.

The cast also includes Luca De Dominicis as Herod Ántipas, who ruled Galilee where Jesus came from, and there’s Pietro Sarubbi as Barabbas, the prisoner who was set free by the Romans instead of Jesus. The performances of the cast are very good, even when reading their dialogue in the subtitles.

The Blu-ray special features for ‘The Passion of the Christ’ are as follows. There is a two-disc ‘definitive’ Blu-ray edition of the film. On Disc 1, there’s ‘Passion Recut’, a 122-minute alternate version of the film and there are five commentaries. There’s a commentary track for the visually impaired; a commentary with director/producer/co-writer Mel Gibson, cinematographer Caleb Deschanel and editor John Wright; a commentary with producer Stephen McEveety, visual effects supervisor/second unit director Ted Rae and special make-up and visual effects designer Keith Vanderlaan; a commentary with director/producer/co-writer Mel Gibson, language consultant and Aramaic/Latin translator Father William Fulco, theologian Gerry Matatics and theologian Father John Bartunek; and there’s a commentary with music composer John Debney. There are also ‘Footnotes’, which is a pop-up trivia track option on the film.

On Disc 2 of the two-disc ‘definitive’ Blu-ray edition, there are three sections, including ‘Filmmaking’, ‘The Legacy’ and ‘Galleries’. In the ‘Filmmaking’ section, there are three segments including ‘By His Wounds, We Are Healing: Making ‘The Passion of the Christ’, which is a 21-part making-of documentary; ‘Jim Suffering’, featuring Jim Caviezel; and ‘Below the Line Panel Discussion’, featuring several of the filmmakers discussing the making of the film. There are also two deleted scenes from the final cut of the film. In ‘The Legacy’ section, there are five segments, including ‘Through the Ages’, ‘Paths of a Journey’, ‘On Language’, ‘Crucifixion: Punishment in the Ancient World’ and ‘Anno Domini’. In the ‘Galleries’ section, there’s a comprehensive package of additional materials including ‘Production Art’, ‘Historical Texts’, ‘Art Images’, ‘Characters and Their Actors’ and ‘Unit Photography’. There’s also two theatrical trailers and two TV spots for the film.

‘The Passion of the Christ’ is a film that I wouldn’t want to see again and again, due to how intense and violent it can be as well as being emotionally draining. It’s also a pretty dark and brutal film depicting the suffering of Jesus Christ on his way to Calvary in order to die on the cross for our sins. 😦

With that said, I’m glad I’ve at last seen the film after 20 years since its release in 2004. I appreciate how powerful the film is and how effective it is in putting across what Jesus went through and how we’re saved from sin because of him. There’s no denying this film has had a very significant impact.

If the film moved you in a way that Mel Gibson wanted his audiences to be moved emotionally by Jesus’ journey to save us from sin, that’s a good thing. I can’t say I’ll revisit this film in future, even with a sequel on its way in 2025. I’m very likely to revisit ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ and ‘The Miracle Maker’ more.

However, after discussing with friends and family, ‘The Passion of the Christ’ is a worthwhile film to check out even via one viewing. It’s a film that does well in depicting how Jesus loved those who loved him as well as those who hated him. Even from seeing the film, my Christian faith has become stronger. 🙂

Just be aware this film won’t be for the faint-hearted and you need to be mentally and physically strong when watching it for the first time.

‘The Passion of the Christ’ rating – 7.5/10

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