Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Note: This review has been updated to include the DVD. I’ve made a few other minor edits based on the feedback I’ve gotten from the original post.

I have never heard such stunned silence from a movie-going crowd as the one that walked out of The Passion Of The Christ. Beforehand everyone had been chatting with a light-hearted atmosphere. Then as the images became more brutal sniffles and sobs erupted from men and women alike with tears in the eyes of everyone I could see. When it was over my legs were rubbery, and I couldn’t speak for nearly half an hour. Few movies can actually be considered life changing. If any are, this one is.

Some may debate my statement, but Jesus of Nazareth is the most influential man in history. Christianity revolves around him, and even many religions that don’t profess him as the son of God still include him as some part of their doctrines. Even if you don’t agree that he’s THE most influential, you can’t deny he’s high on the list. So why is it so hard for some to understand why people want to make movies about him? I can see why it would cause a stir, he means so many things to so many people that some can’t agree on who he was/is or how/what should be presented on film, but to say this is an unworthy topic is to speak in ignorance of a huge portion of worldwide culture of thousands of years. So if you’re sick of reading about it, nobody’s holding a gun to your head. For the rest of us, I, for one, am ready to talk about it until I’m blue in the face.

From a movie standpoint:
You really have to look at this phenomenon from two angles: the earthly movie and the religious impact. After all, this is not the first movie to be made about Jesus, but it is the most highly acclaimed and one of the most controversial. The reason it’s so highly acclaimed is because this isn’t a no-budget movie starring some guy of whom you’ve never heard. Mel Gibson is all but a household name in America. He takes responsibility for the movie defending and explaining his vision wherever needed. There are other stars as well that have strong cinema histories providing a solid acting base. In fact, every aspect of this film is of the highest quality: cinematography, sets, special effects, make-up, music, etc. It’s not without its downfalls - some of the flashbacks could have used a little more exposition (it’s difficult to figure out what is going on if you are not familiar with the Bible stories), and the ending could have shown more of the resurrection – but that doesn’t lessen the impact of the message. Whatever your views about the Godhood of Jesus Christ, this is a powerful and moving story about an innocent man brutally tortured and killed in front of his mother and friends. For those of us that believe that Jesus is the sinless son of God who willingly died such a death so that those who believe in him can have eternal life it’s all the more powerful.

From a religious standpoint:
This is where the discussion gets complicated. There are so many views on who Jesus was/is: the Messiah, only a prophet, a lunatic, or the figment of someone’s imagination. Even for people that agree on who he is there may be some gray area on aspects of what happened to him or exactly what he did. I can’t begin to address all of it. I will try to stick to some of the issues that have been raised with the intention of deterring people from seeing the movie.

The primary argument is that it’s ant-Semitic. Who started this train of thought? It wasn’t anyone that saw the movie, I’ll tell you that much. Or if it was, that person had another agenda other that protecting the rights of Jews. At least one of the stars is a Jew, Jesus’ family and friends are Jews, Jesus himself is a Jew!! We’re holding a man who was born a Jew over every other man ever born for Heaven’s sake! The images of Satan make it clear that he is the true enemy. It is the Pharisees that are displayed as the human villains – a small, specific group of Jews – and even some of them are run off by the inciters of the trouble for standing up for Jesus. As for the beatings and the crucifixion itself, that is by Roman hands not Jewish. Even if that were not the case Christ’s example of pleading God’s forgiveness over all those that have mistreated him should eradicate any negative feelings the movie could possibly create. This movie resonates love and forgiveness through its hero; I fail to see how that incites anti-Semitism.

Some have raised an issue with the violence. This is at least a legitimate argument made by people who have seen the movie but maybe don’t know the scripture or Roman culture thoroughly (or maybe want a sugar-coated crucifixion that’s easier to swallow). I don’t pretend to be a scholar of either, but I have studied the Bible since I was a teen including some college courses and have learned enough to be invited to preach from pulpits despite the fact that I’m not a pastor (I am an ordained minister, however). I’ve said for years that if anyone made an accurate movie about the crucifixion it would be rated R. Few people agreed with me. How can it be? It’s a tender story of love and sacrifice? That’s true, it is, but it’s also about the intense suffering he was willing to endure for us. What, do you think it’s no big deal to have thorns pushed into your brow or a nail pounded through both your feet? Yeah, the dead animal by Judas and the bird going after the criminal’s eye may have been excessive, but the complaints I’ve heard deal with the lashing of Jesus, not the other scenes. How would such a death not be violent? It’s painful to watch, but that’s the point. He willingly endured all that agony for YOU! This movie is about the enormity of his sacrifice. Mel is not making this stuff up, you know. If the beatings weren’t severe why couldn’t Jesus carry his own cross? He was a carpenter, and he walked everywhere he went. I guarantee you that in good health he had the physical stamina to carry that cross and that the Roman guards would have made him carry it all the way if it had been possible for him to do so. He’s about to die, what do they care if he’s tired? For them to give him the relief of another man carrying his cross he had to be undeniably wiped out, and for him to have lost that much strength due to the treatment of the Romans they had to have done a pretty harsh number on him. So do I think it was overly violent? Not on your life.

I have heard issues raised about the scope of the story. Why focus on this one event instead of the whole life of Jesus? Where are the miracles, the sermons, the fellowship? I would love to see a movie about all that done as well as “The Passion…” is, but that wasn’t Mel’s vision. He wanted to make a movie about the pinnacle of Christ’s life. If you believe in the Christian significance of this event then for you this is the single most important event in human history. I think it’s a worthy focus of a full-length movie. You may not agree, and you don’t have to. However, by supporting “The Passion…” you increase the chances of a high-quality movie being made about other events in the life of Jesus.

It doesn’t follow scripture 100%. The Bible was not written as a screenplay so there has to be some artistic license given. And like I said before, people disagree on exactly what happened. Someone might say it’s right on while someone else says it’s nowhere close, but that comes down to being nitpicky. The one huge difference was the adding of Satan to the story (his taunting of Jesus and reaction to the crucifixion). None of those scenes are spoken of in the Gospels but add an artistic element and, more importantly, a reminder of the spiritual warfare going on that I think is a stroke of brilliance. For me none of the differences were significant enough to matter.

There is a lot more I could say. I’ve just covered the most pressing issues I know of associated with the movie.

Content:
No sex, no language, just bloody, gruesome violence. Even so I think the story is one that is good for teens. I wouldn’t let a 10 year old see it.

DVD:
This is probably the most disappointing DVD I’ve ever bought. There are zero extras: no behind the scenes (which I know they filmed), no interviews, not even a lousy trailer. With the amount of profit this movie made at the theaters I’d have thought they would give us some extras. The web site had this big poll about stuff people would be most interested in having on the DVD then there’s nothing. I’m going to be upset if they turn around in 6 months and release another version. I love and want to support the movie, but I can’t buy endless copies just to have the extra features no matter how badly I want to see them. So enough of me griping already, let me tell you what you do get.

You must decide before hand if you want Widescreen or Pan & Scan since you must buy one or the other. Both have plastic cases. Some nice, impressionistic artwork on the cover and insert. There are 2 soundtracks: 5.1 Dolby and 5.1 DTS. Both are in Aramaic/Latin/Hebrew. There is no English track. There are English subtitles. There’s also English for the hearing impaired which I’m guessing has other audio cues beyond translation written out. I don’t see the point in having both, but there you go. Something I’ve never seen is audio for the visually impaired. It’s some guy describing all the action in great detail and others (not the actors) reciting the lines. There are no chapter titles, but there are screenshots to give a graphical representation of where each will take you.

The DVD is such a letdown I almost lowered the rating a star. If it were almost any other movie the DVD would affect the rating more, but I highly recommend it in every other way. I give it 5* for content, quality, and impact. And after all, it’s about someone I personally know.

Since the DVD does not have titles for its chapters I have written some for anyone that wants to use them. The titles are all also titles of Christian rock songs. If you can figure out who sang them all I will be very impressed.

1 Final Hour
2 Sold
3 Snakes In The Grass
4 Judas' Kiss
5 The Suffering Servant
6 Fellowship Of Thieves
7 Table Top
8 The Outlaw
9 Guilty By Association
10 Distorted View
11 Perfect Night For A Hanging
12 Condemnation
13 Nothing To Say
14 Weighed Down
15 Freedom
16 The Threshing Floor
17 King Of Kings
18 First Stone
19 Wash
20 Man With A Mission
21 Carry The Wounded
22 Hope To Carry On
23 Feel The Rage
24 Breakdown
25 Beyond The Mountain
26 The Eleventh Hour
27 The Hammer And The Nail
28 Taste The Blood
29 Winds Of Change
30 At The End Of The Day
31 Up From The Dead
32 It Is Done


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older