The Passion Of The Christ (Redux)

 THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST

Director : Mel Gibson
Year : 2004
Genre : Religious Drama
Rating : ***1/2

Ever since his infamous 2006 tirade against the Jewish people became public knowledge, Mel Gibson has become something of an enfant terrible in Hollywood. Once known as an actor of repute thanks to his roles in 'Mad Max', 'Braveheart' and 'Lethal Weapon', Gibsons career would suddenly peter out as news of his bigotry, racism and general hatred for anyone remotely different to him filled papers, magazines and internet articles across the world. However, while he may now be something of an oddity on cinema screens today, his talents behind the camera as a director and producer cannot be denied. Cutting his teeth with the 1993 drama 'The Man Without A Face', Gibson would go on to direct 'Braveheart', a movie that would not only earn the actor his first and only Academy Award for Best Direction but would also win the coveted award for Best Picture. 

Following the phenomenal success of 'Braveheart', Mel Gibson helmed 'The Passion Of The Christ', a film that chronicles the final hours of Jesus Christ before his monumental death in Jerusalem. Starring Jim Caviezel as the titular Christ, the  film religiously follows the Easter story as told in each of the four Gospels while also including a number of moments from the Book Of Revelations. Beginning in the hallowed Garden of Gethsemane, the movie follows Jesus as he goes through the motions that will lead to his inevitable bloody and horrific crucifixion on top of Golgotha hill. Of course, 'The Passion Of The Christ' was by no means the first motion picture to portray the events of Good Friday but it certainly was the first to portray the torture and death of Jesus Christ with such abject ferocity and brutality.

 

While it's narrative sticks pretty close to the events written about in the New Testament, Gibson chronicles the scourging and actual crucifixion of Christ with an unprecedented amount of extreme gore and violence - turning the final moments of the central figure of Christianity into a bloody, hideous and regularly unwatchable shock fest. The pivotal flogging scene is easily one of the most disturbing and relentlessly violent I have ever seen and despite the fact that Gibson hides behind the veil of religion and respect, it cannot be denied that the carnage portrayed on screen appears to come from an ideology of hate, not love. In an interview with Diane Sawyer, Gibson said of the violence; 

''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.'' 

However, I don't buy this viewpoint one bit. In the case of 'Braveheart', Gibson was able to portray the brutal execution of it's central hero William Wallace in a moving and disturbing way without being in any way explicit. To film the closing hours of the life of Jesus Christ with such savagery and viciousness doesn't do anything to involve us any more in the plight of his central character; in fact it has the opposite effect. It is as if Gibson felt that the only way to distinguish his work from other films depicting the event of the Passion such as 'The Last Temptation Of Christ', 'Jesus Of Nazareth' or 'The Greatest Story Ever Told' was to make it is as bloody, as vicious and as horrific as possible. If shock value is the only way that a filmmaker can create a successful film, then that is no accomplishment at all. It is wrong headed, mean spirited and worst of all, highly disrespectful to those who believe in the story of Jesus Christ.

Despite it's many ethical flaws and numerous controversies including allegations of antisemitism and glaring biblical inaccuracy, 'The Passion Of The Christ' would go on to make over $611m at the global box office, making it the highest grossing R rated movie of all time. Jim Caviezels monumental and quite extraordinary performance as Jesus was widely praised and Mel Gibson's direction was lauded across the critical board, earning him a Satellite award. For me personally, 'The Passion Of The Christ' is a very mixed bag. On the one hand I admire the performances and it's reverence for the Biblical text but on the other, I heavily criticise the exploitative, sadistic and dare I say, needless horror-inflected bloodshed as well as the somewhat questionable characterizations of the Pharisees who sent Jesus to his death.