Passion of the Christ. Revisited

Whoa. Talk about intense. Passion of the Christ was an emotionally visceral experience. If the point of the film was to make its viewers *feel* the magnitude of Jesus' sacrifice, then it went above and beyond that. Whether it helped viewers *understand* Jesus' sacrifice, is questionable. So much focus was placed on the violent and brutal *death* Jesus experienced, that despite the regular flashback scenes, and other visual allegory, I think that it came up short on educating people about the *life* of Jesus. Then again, there's only so much you can show in a movie, and Mel Gibson had to narrow his focus..and that he did. The movie itself was very well crafted under Gibson's direction. I wasn't bothered by the fact that the film was entirely done in Aramaic with english subtitles -- mainly because there seemed to be more shouting, grunting, whipping, punching, and kicking sound effects than dialog. [Interestingly enough, "idiot" is the same in Aramaic as it is in english]. I can see how the portrayal of the Pharasies as a cold, mad, and merciless mob could have of been construed as anti-semtitic -- but I don't think its anything to have Jewish groups up in arms.

Passion is not a movie you can enjoy. It's more of an experience. Whatever your religous orientation, I think it will shock, inspire and force you to question your faith, your spirtuality, and your purpose in life. If it doesn't...then at the very least, you'll see your friends AND enemies in a much more positive light.

...I think i need a break from these "thinking" movies. Next week, I'm gonna see Starsky and Hutch ;-)