Mel Gibson's "The Passion of Christ"
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I did. I forced myself to stay the whole entire movie. It was torturous watching what Christ did for me although of course I already knew. Seeing the graphic display was humbling and I was very sad. If it makes any sense to be joyfully grateful and miserably sad at the same time; that is what I was feeling.
M
I have watched it, the first time all the way through.
After that whenever I have watched it and the scenes came up about
the whipping, I have just had to leave the room until that part was over.
Also some of the cross scenes.
Its hard to explain but that whipping scene especially just does something
to me, I feel as if I am actually there and it just breaks my heart, I almost
feel the grief and distress of the people watching and it feels as if I am
watching my best friend come to harm.
Personally I would have liked to have seen more about the resurrection in the
film.
That being said I have seen extracts of the film used to aid Evangelism and
it is a powerful tool if used wisely.
After that whenever I have watched it and the scenes came up about
the whipping, I have just had to leave the room until that part was over.
Also some of the cross scenes.
Its hard to explain but that whipping scene especially just does something
to me, I feel as if I am actually there and it just breaks my heart, I almost
feel the grief and distress of the people watching and it feels as if I am
watching my best friend come to harm.
Personally I would have liked to have seen more about the resurrection in the
film.
That being said I have seen extracts of the film used to aid Evangelism and
it is a powerful tool if used wisely.
D
Did. Great horror movie. Especially liked the 'Satan Mary Baby.'
... But what about the ugly baby?
"Again," said Gibson, "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."
Source: http://www.sanctepater.com/2010/02/satan-in-passion-of-christ.html
... But what about the ugly baby?
"Again," said Gibson, "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."
Source: http://www.sanctepater.com/2010/02/satan-in-passion-of-christ.html
T
I've seen it four times. Once in the cinema and three times on DVD. It's a gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching film. Very well done, but so, so gory (and I'm not good with gore). The first time I say it, I was so nauseated I almost passed out - it really made Jesus' sacrifice come alive. I'm not sure why Jesus kept falling over and over and over again, that got a bit ridiculous. And the movie could've paid more attention to the resurrected Jesus. But otherwise, it was a very good film.
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I know a lot of people who didn't like the move because of what they perceived to be Hollywood "gratuitous" blood guts and gore, but if you were to read the writings of Josephus (a Jewish historian of the day) you would know that the scourging scenes were in reality played down and cleaned up for consumption.
Most persons subjected to a Roman scourging died from the beating. The Roman scourge would rip off chunks of flesh with each blow and frequently the victim's abdominal cavity would end up ripped open. The number of falls portrayed in the movie is based on the RCC tradition of the "Stations of the Cross", but I see no reason to believe that a man who was severely beaten within an inch of his life and then forced to carry the means of his execution which would have weighed anywhere from 100lbs (just the cross beam) to 300lbs (the whole cross) would not fall numerous times under it's weight.
I watched the movie twice in theater and it brought to life for me the actual suffering of Christ. It's one thing to hear it described in an Easter sermon, it's life altering to actually see it brought to life.
Aside from the stations of the cross, Catholic imagery, and subtle Catholic traditions inserted into the Passion of the Christ, from what I understand, what was portrayed in that movie was nothing compared to what Jesus had to endure. If that is considered gory, what people saw that day was even worse =/
T
Ah, yes. The Stations of the Cross, that makes sense. I guess I was looking at it more from a storytelling perspective - it got a little repetitive after awhile. But you're right, it wasn't unrealistic for that to happen. And yes, the movie was a toned down version of the real thing, but I was already sobbing out my little heart for what Jesus went through for us, I wouldn't need it to be even more graphic. Thanks for sharing, Once.
E
I did
What I did not like, like most. Is the catholic slant.
I also did not like the fact, it like every other movie about Christs death.
1. Watered down how violent it was (yes, I know alot of people said this movie was violent, But the biblle says Jesus face was beat so severe, it did not look like a real face any more and he was unrecognizable)
2. To much focus again on what man did to punish him, And very little on what God did to him (he did not scream in pain My God, he just whimpered it, the greek says he screamed) the darkness (so dark you could not see your hand unless you were around some light)
so to me it was ok, Better than the rest, but still watered down way to much.
(my wife says I nit pick..lol)
What I did not like, like most. Is the catholic slant.
I also did not like the fact, it like every other movie about Christs death.
1. Watered down how violent it was (yes, I know alot of people said this movie was violent, But the biblle says Jesus face was beat so severe, it did not look like a real face any more and he was unrecognizable)
2. To much focus again on what man did to punish him, And very little on what God did to him (he did not scream in pain My God, he just whimpered it, the greek says he screamed) the darkness (so dark you could not see your hand unless you were around some light)
so to me it was ok, Better than the rest, but still watered down way to much.
(my wife says I nit pick..lol)
W
I watched all of it, but it's so long ago that I can't remember much of it.
I've read a bit about crucifixion and as others have said, even though the movie is terribly violent and gory, reality was probably even worse
I didn't quite like the symbolical bits in the movie, they just ruined the flow for me. (Like the demon baby, and the bird at the cross and things like that).
I've read a bit about crucifixion and as others have said, even though the movie is terribly violent and gory, reality was probably even worse
I didn't quite like the symbolical bits in the movie, they just ruined the flow for me. (Like the demon baby, and the bird at the cross and things like that).
I've seen it a few times, including seeing it in theaters when it first came out. In my opinion it's one of the best biblical based movies ever made for reason that it stay pretty close to the Bible narrative. As with most Bible movies, or frankly any movie based off a book, the biggest complaint is the departure from the narrative. That I suppose isn't that big of a deal if the movie as a whole genuinely tries to keep as close to the book as possible, and I think Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ tried to stay close to the Gospel narrative. There will always be small flaws adapting a movie from a book so it is somewhat to be expected As the maxim states, the book is always better than the movie.
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