The Passion of the Christ
Mar. 28th, 2004 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grrgoylTery and I went to see "Passion of the Christ" Friday night, a rather impromptu date. ("Which movie do you want to see?" asked I. "P of the C," she answered. "Pirates of the Caribbean???" I asked incredulously. LJ and all the fangirl squeeing therein has ruined me, I tell ya.)
I had a passing interest in seeing this film, although I admit to feeling a little nervous when Felipe, my hardcore punk rock co-worker, sheepishly described it as "brutal." I also have heard so much about its message and of course the controversy that I actually had a strange fear of my fundamental belief system being shaken and transformed, and that I would emerge from the theater a Born-Again Christian. I was raised Catholic, though left the faith even before becoming thoroughly disgusted with its views of homosexuals (in fact the only thing that made me stay as long as I did was a breathless crush on unsuspecting Father Roger. It was all very Thorn Birds-y). Now I just have a general belief in being a good person, and that a lot of religions have really good ideas until the people in charge of such things come in and fuck everything up to serve their own warped and very human agendas. As Bill Maher once said, Son of God or not, Jesus was very good and said a lot of things that people should listen to. Unfortunately other people came in and started doing all manner of not-so-nice things in his name. I guess what I am saying is I am fiercely opposed to organized religion, though not necessarily spirituality. Don't ask me if I believe in God or not, though. The jury is still out on that one.
I liked this movie very much, gratuitous violence notwithstanding. However, like Schindler's List, it is entirely too intense to experience multiple viewings. I am not ashamed to admit I cried through easily 80% of the movie. True, I cry easily despite my gruff exterior, but the images were absolutely heart-wrenching, and I heard plenty of other telltale sniffling going on in the theater.
The Bad:
1. Well, obviously the infamous scourging scene. I consider myself fairly desensitized to movie violence, but even I found this extremely difficult to watch. Gratuitously and unnecessarily long? You bet. But I figure even Gibson's star power isn't enough to draw an audience to a religious film with a story we've heard a thousand times full of unknown actors just on his directing credit alone, so needed to stir up some buzz. This scene almost made the crucifixion seem like a scene from On Golden Pond.
2. The crucifixion. I've seen my share of crucifixions. But our church's small-town Passion Play, a smattering of Xena episodes all featuring Julius Caesar, not even Last Temptation of Christ (and certainly not Life of Brian) gave the slightest inkling of exactly how inhumanly, appallingly cruel crucifixion was. Though it seemed from the movie that it was carried out especially cruelly and appallingly for Jesus as opposed to other condemned, as were all the ordeals throughout his trial. This might have been a result of the mob energy that fueled his arrest originally. Horrifying to see what humans are capable of doing to each other, and saddest of all that we don't seem to have progressed all that far from those ancient, dark times.
3. Not really bad, but a question for anyone who might have a theory: Tery wondered how someone could undergo all that pain and lose all that blood and not go into shock. Unless they really were the Son of God?
4. The script. Sure, the story wasn't terribly original, but it felt like it was simply paraphrasing Jesus Christ Superstar, the musical Cliff note version of the New Testament (not that I am knocking this. It is also one of the best Broadway shows ever written). I also think if they hadn't insisted on speaking Aramaic, a very long-winded language apparently, we could have cut 15 minutes off the running time. In terms of learning something new, I prefer Last Temptation of Christ; even though the Biblical figures had New York accents, it at least gave better insight into the characters' motivations, particularly Judas. Roman Guard #2 almost had more depth than Gibson's Judas.
5. King Herod. As goofy and over-the-top as he was in Superstar, that was still far preferable to this 5-minute pitstop in the plot. This terribly-written/-acted scene was almost as painful to watch as the scourging.
6. The massive earthquake and destruction of the temple after Jesus dies. This stank of Hollywood sensationalism, a weak attempt at an ending more thrilling than Jesus' head falling to his chest. Dramatic, sure, but a little bit of a stretch.
What I Liked:
1. The soundtrack, although it could have passed for Peter Gabriel's Passion, also from Last Temptation, the most transcendental work of music I have ever heard. I had an out-of-body experience while listening to Passion the first time. Individual results may vary, but obviously I highly recommend it.
2. Satan. Tery and I both loved that Satan was utterly androgynous and attractive to boot. She went so far as to say that s/he was "hot." YOU tell ME she isn't going straight to hell.
3. The demon children. Some may call them more unnecessary Hollywood influence, but I thought they were pretty cool. And bore more than a passing resemblance to the mob of kids exiting the Scooby Doo 2 theater on our way in. I didn't like how it seemed that Judas killed himself just to escape their torment (which would be kind of silly, since he would get more of the same where he was going) rather than from the sheer guilt of betraying Jesus. But the ever-louder droning of flies in his ears was a very nice touch.
4. The women. Oh, God, the women. This is what made me cry the most, seeing their anguish, especially Mother Mary's. And when Pontius Pilate's wife brought the towels to them...again, historically accurate or not, this reduced me to a puddle on the floor. The only thing that did a better job of this was...
5. The intercutting flashbacks. Notably, Jesus' POV of the angry mob screaming for his death, cut to the same crowd waving palms as he rides his donkey into town. But this was nothing compared to Mary running to his side when he falls under the cross, cut away to Mary running to comfort the toddler Jesus after falling in the dirt. I'm crying again just writing about it. Moving on.....
6. The movie builds to a massive crescendo up to the crucifixion, pushing the pathos all the way up to Mary holding her dead son's body in the pose of Michelangelo's Pieta (which was also a nice touch), then the screen goes completely black for a full minute. You could have heard a pin drop in that theater. Not so much as a cough. It felt like everyone in the audience was holding their breath. Not many movies have this effect.
7. I liked the brief, simple depiction of the Resurrection. I really didn't want a lot of sunshine and happiness to detract from the power of all that had gone before.
In short, this movie if nothing else reinforced my belief that religion in the wrong hands or used for the wrong purposes is a bad, bad thing. And that most visionaries like Jesus who might change the world for the better will probably come to a messy end at the hands of those who benefit from the status quo. Pessimistic, sure, but I am basing this on history.
PotC might be the most powerful, moving film I have ever seen (saying a lot from a confessed atheist/agnostic). It sparked a lively discussion between myself and Tery afterwards on all sorts of issues, but because we are godless homosexual sinners we eventually deteriorated into quoting Life of Brian instead.
Just to prove how unaffected my belief system is, I am rather inappropriately using this entry to showcase my new Monkeybone icon.
-=Lainey=-
I had a passing interest in seeing this film, although I admit to feeling a little nervous when Felipe, my hardcore punk rock co-worker, sheepishly described it as "brutal." I also have heard so much about its message and of course the controversy that I actually had a strange fear of my fundamental belief system being shaken and transformed, and that I would emerge from the theater a Born-Again Christian. I was raised Catholic, though left the faith even before becoming thoroughly disgusted with its views of homosexuals (in fact the only thing that made me stay as long as I did was a breathless crush on unsuspecting Father Roger. It was all very Thorn Birds-y). Now I just have a general belief in being a good person, and that a lot of religions have really good ideas until the people in charge of such things come in and fuck everything up to serve their own warped and very human agendas. As Bill Maher once said, Son of God or not, Jesus was very good and said a lot of things that people should listen to. Unfortunately other people came in and started doing all manner of not-so-nice things in his name. I guess what I am saying is I am fiercely opposed to organized religion, though not necessarily spirituality. Don't ask me if I believe in God or not, though. The jury is still out on that one.
I liked this movie very much, gratuitous violence notwithstanding. However, like Schindler's List, it is entirely too intense to experience multiple viewings. I am not ashamed to admit I cried through easily 80% of the movie. True, I cry easily despite my gruff exterior, but the images were absolutely heart-wrenching, and I heard plenty of other telltale sniffling going on in the theater.
The Bad:
1. Well, obviously the infamous scourging scene. I consider myself fairly desensitized to movie violence, but even I found this extremely difficult to watch. Gratuitously and unnecessarily long? You bet. But I figure even Gibson's star power isn't enough to draw an audience to a religious film with a story we've heard a thousand times full of unknown actors just on his directing credit alone, so needed to stir up some buzz. This scene almost made the crucifixion seem like a scene from On Golden Pond.
2. The crucifixion. I've seen my share of crucifixions. But our church's small-town Passion Play, a smattering of Xena episodes all featuring Julius Caesar, not even Last Temptation of Christ (and certainly not Life of Brian) gave the slightest inkling of exactly how inhumanly, appallingly cruel crucifixion was. Though it seemed from the movie that it was carried out especially cruelly and appallingly for Jesus as opposed to other condemned, as were all the ordeals throughout his trial. This might have been a result of the mob energy that fueled his arrest originally. Horrifying to see what humans are capable of doing to each other, and saddest of all that we don't seem to have progressed all that far from those ancient, dark times.
3. Not really bad, but a question for anyone who might have a theory: Tery wondered how someone could undergo all that pain and lose all that blood and not go into shock. Unless they really were the Son of God?
4. The script. Sure, the story wasn't terribly original, but it felt like it was simply paraphrasing Jesus Christ Superstar, the musical Cliff note version of the New Testament (not that I am knocking this. It is also one of the best Broadway shows ever written). I also think if they hadn't insisted on speaking Aramaic, a very long-winded language apparently, we could have cut 15 minutes off the running time. In terms of learning something new, I prefer Last Temptation of Christ; even though the Biblical figures had New York accents, it at least gave better insight into the characters' motivations, particularly Judas. Roman Guard #2 almost had more depth than Gibson's Judas.
5. King Herod. As goofy and over-the-top as he was in Superstar, that was still far preferable to this 5-minute pitstop in the plot. This terribly-written/-acted scene was almost as painful to watch as the scourging.
6. The massive earthquake and destruction of the temple after Jesus dies. This stank of Hollywood sensationalism, a weak attempt at an ending more thrilling than Jesus' head falling to his chest. Dramatic, sure, but a little bit of a stretch.
What I Liked:
1. The soundtrack, although it could have passed for Peter Gabriel's Passion, also from Last Temptation, the most transcendental work of music I have ever heard. I had an out-of-body experience while listening to Passion the first time. Individual results may vary, but obviously I highly recommend it.
2. Satan. Tery and I both loved that Satan was utterly androgynous and attractive to boot. She went so far as to say that s/he was "hot." YOU tell ME she isn't going straight to hell.
3. The demon children. Some may call them more unnecessary Hollywood influence, but I thought they were pretty cool. And bore more than a passing resemblance to the mob of kids exiting the Scooby Doo 2 theater on our way in. I didn't like how it seemed that Judas killed himself just to escape their torment (which would be kind of silly, since he would get more of the same where he was going) rather than from the sheer guilt of betraying Jesus. But the ever-louder droning of flies in his ears was a very nice touch.
4. The women. Oh, God, the women. This is what made me cry the most, seeing their anguish, especially Mother Mary's. And when Pontius Pilate's wife brought the towels to them...again, historically accurate or not, this reduced me to a puddle on the floor. The only thing that did a better job of this was...
5. The intercutting flashbacks. Notably, Jesus' POV of the angry mob screaming for his death, cut to the same crowd waving palms as he rides his donkey into town. But this was nothing compared to Mary running to his side when he falls under the cross, cut away to Mary running to comfort the toddler Jesus after falling in the dirt. I'm crying again just writing about it. Moving on.....
6. The movie builds to a massive crescendo up to the crucifixion, pushing the pathos all the way up to Mary holding her dead son's body in the pose of Michelangelo's Pieta (which was also a nice touch), then the screen goes completely black for a full minute. You could have heard a pin drop in that theater. Not so much as a cough. It felt like everyone in the audience was holding their breath. Not many movies have this effect.
7. I liked the brief, simple depiction of the Resurrection. I really didn't want a lot of sunshine and happiness to detract from the power of all that had gone before.
In short, this movie if nothing else reinforced my belief that religion in the wrong hands or used for the wrong purposes is a bad, bad thing. And that most visionaries like Jesus who might change the world for the better will probably come to a messy end at the hands of those who benefit from the status quo. Pessimistic, sure, but I am basing this on history.
PotC might be the most powerful, moving film I have ever seen (saying a lot from a confessed atheist/agnostic). It sparked a lively discussion between myself and Tery afterwards on all sorts of issues, but because we are godless homosexual sinners we eventually deteriorated into quoting Life of Brian instead.
Just to prove how unaffected my belief system is, I am rather inappropriately using this entry to showcase my new Monkeybone icon.
-=Lainey=-
