Christians, Critics Sound off on Gibson's Passion

Stefan Lovgren
for National Geographic News

February 27, 2004

After months of controversy and media hype, Mel Gibson's movie The
Passion of the Christ arrived Wednesday—and became an instant
box office success.

Opening in more than 3,000 theaters in North America—remarkable for a religious film in Latin and Aramaic with English subtitles—it collected a massive 23.6 million dollars (U.S.) in its first day.

Much of the prerelease debate focused on charges of anti-Semitism. For almost a year, some Jewish organizations expressed concern that the movie could resurrect the age-old charge that Jews killed Jesus Christ.

But few had actually seen the movie. Pre-screenings of the film were closed to critics and attended almost exclusively by pastors, ministers, and other Christian leaders.

When they finally saw it, many major critics gave the film a thumbs down. But not because they thought it was anti-Semitic. Instead, many complained about the movie's extreme violence. By focusing on the Crucifixion, they said, the film fails to communicate the inspirational message of Jesus Christ.

Many Christians, on the other hand, have praised the film as an accurate and powerful interpretation of the story of Christ. Criticizing the movie's violence and narrow focus, they contend, is to miss the point, because the Crucifixion is at the heart of the Christian message.

"The great emphasis of the New Testament writers is geared toward the Crucifixion as the central, focal part of history and the watershed for humankind," said Rev. Alan J. Meenan of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood in California.

Jesus in Hollywood

The relationship between Hollywood and the Christian community has long been strained. The last major Hollywood film about Jesus, Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, came out in 1988. Many Christians considered that movie blasphemous, due to a dream sequence showing Jesus having sex with Mary Magdalene. The movie flopped at the box office.

A movie that portrays Jesus in a wholly positive light may not sound like a great gamble. There are, after all, over a billion Christians around the world. But when Mel Gibson announced his plans to make The Passion, no Hollywood studio agreed to back him. Gibson had to spend a reported U.S. $25 million of his own money to make the film.

While the response from most moviegoers has been overwhelmingly positive, many reviews have been negative, criticizing the film's brutality. The movie graphically depicts in lingering detail the brutal beating of Christ by Roman soldiers with cats-of-nine-tails and by an angry mob as he carries the cross to his own crucifixion.

David Denby of The New Yorker magazine likened it to a "sickening death trip" that "falls in danger of altering Jesus' message of love into one of hate." A. O. Scott of the New York Times said the film was half "horror movie" and half "slasher film."

Many of the critics argued that the movie's narrow focus pushes into the background Jesus' earlier ministry and later resurrection, which provide context—theological or historical—for why he died and what the death accomplished.

The Cross

Most Christians seem to strongly disagree with these critics. Defending the violence, they say it's consistent with the Bible's description of the Crucifixion. (Mel Gibson, the director, reportedly said he even toned down some of the violence.)

"To soft-pedal [the violence] or glamorize it or slide it over with a nodding acquiescence is to do the whole story of the redemption of Christ grave injustice," Reverand Meenan said.

Reviews in Christian publications have been largely ecstatic.

In Christianity Today, Keith Fournier called the film "a masterpiece of film-making and an artistic triumph" that "evoked more deep reflection, sorrow and emotional reaction within me than anything since my wedding, my ordination or the birth of my children. Frankly, I will never be the same."

Many Christians maintain that it makes sense to focus solely on Jesus' death, because no event is so central to their faith as the Crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.

"Christians understand what lies behind the story, and therefore can appreciate it," Meenan said. "Ultimately, as they look at the cross, they will say, 'He did this for me.' That makes all the difference."

According to Christian doctrine, only the perfect Savior could accomplish the atonement by taking the world's sins upon himself. It's a message encapsulated in the words of Isaiah 53:5, shown at the start of the film: "He was wounded for our transgressions … by his wounds we are healed."

Eighteen-year-old Peter Jurmu perhaps best summed up the sentiments of many Christians in an e-mail he posted on an Internet message board: "The point of this movie is not to preach the message of God's love spread by Christ, but to show the price he paid for spreading it. Read his teachings before you enter the theater, but otherwise, do not complain that the movie was too much blood and not enough blessing."

Romans and Jews

What about the charges of anti-Semitism? For one, they are nothing new. Since medieval times, some passion plays—which, like the movie, depict Jesus' last 12 hours—have been openly anti-Semitic, and some have been used to justify persecution of Jews.

While some have said the Jewish Pharisees in the movie come across as unsympathetic and sometimes one-dimensional, most experts seem to agree that their villainous portrayal doesn't exceed what is found in the source material, which describes hostile Jewish mobs.

Many filmgoers may indeed feel that the Roman characters come off worse than the Jews in the film. Jerusalem in biblical times was a Jewish land occupied by the Roman Empire. As shown in the film, it was the Roman soldiers who tortured Jesus and eventually nailed him to the cross.

However, the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate, whose brutality and religious insensitivity are detailed by both historians and in the gospel of Luke, is virtually let off the hook in the film. He is seen as an innocent pawn who tries to do the right thing until the mob forces his hand.

But many Christians say the debate over who killed Jesus is misguided. According to the Christian faith, it was the sins of the world that put Jesus on the cross.

New York's Roman Catholic Cardinal Edward Egan wrote to parishes to stress that Jews were not responsible for the Crucifixion of Jesus. "He gave His Life for us," Egan wrote in a column to appear in next month's issue of Catholic New York. "No one took it from Him. This is, and has always been, Catholic doctrine."