Has anyone here seen this movie themselves yet, and if so, what were your impressions? I intend to, but for an interesting (or not so interesting) set of reasons won't be doing so until late March. What did you think about it, people? All the hubbub before hand, how is it?

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), February 27, 2004

Answers

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-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), February 27, 2004.

It is as it was.

(Sorry, couldn't resist ;)

-- FGC (FGCC4@yahoo.com), February 27, 2004.

Hi Frank,

I did see the movie last night. I will try to post more this weekend, as the kids have the day off of school today, so I'm quite busy here at home.

I still don't have the words yet for it really. It was wonderful, it was horrible, it was touching, it was heartwrenching. I definitely needed my kleenex, but yet I felt a little numb at times too.

Since you don't plan to see it until later on, I don't know how much you want to know about details or various scenes from the movie. There were some scenes that touched me extremely deeply...but I also don't want to spoil it for you.

It is an intensely personal experience to see this movie. I hope to see it with my husband, but I'm also very glad that I went by myself to see it first. As far as the kids, I would like to wait a couple of weeks to take them. I need time to let it sink in me first.

In Christ's love,

cksunshine

-- cksunshine (ck_sunshine@hotmail.com), February 27, 2004.

Cksunshine,

Well, I don't think telling me the plot will ruin it for me, hopefully I've heard it before, LOL! Anyway, I would be interested in the long version of people's thoughts on it. My reason is that I've heard the professionals comment on everything from it being moving to a non-stop senseless violence movie to people who only took away from it how it affected the Jews. I'd like to hear what a few REAL people think, while the impressions are still in their minds.

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), February 27, 2004.

"I'd like to hear what a few REAL people think, while the impressions are still in their minds."

Shoot. Well, at least the impression is still in my mind; is that good enough?

It actually wasn't as brutal as I thought it might be. What was actually better than I had expected was the depth of Gibson's reflections on the Passion which kept showing through during the course of the entire movie.

The portrayal of the Mother of God was very good; it was unique seeing Christ's mother portrayed as a woman roughly close to 50, but it seemed to work very well. This movie should, hopefully, allow Protestants the opportunity to get a feel for the Catholic Church's understanding of the role of the Mother of God in the plan of salvation.

The scene that struck me most was when Mary met up with Jesus while he carried His cross, and He said to her something to the effect of "Mother, see, I make all things new". The reason it hit me was because of it brought out imho almost perfectly the contrary-ness of Christ's ways, or God's ways, as kind of a God of opposites; e.g., last are first, the greatest serve the least, the meek shall inherit, die in order to live, etc. etc. This scene was like the pinnacle of all that. The way it was acted out and the way that Christ said the words, you get hit on one hand with how absurd the words sounded from the standpoint of the world, but from Christ's standpoint it portrayed imho how the folly of God is greater than the wisdom of men.

That's just one scene, and it's packed with depth like that all throughout; too many scenes to comment on, really. Another scene that stands out, and other people have mentioned that it stood out to them also, was how it showed Christ's willful embracing of His cross.

It's tough to say what was done best: the portrayal of the Mother of God, Christ Himself, Pontius Pilate, etc... but among the best I feel was the portrayal of Satan and the depiction of temptation, and in general the reality of the forces of Hell and their real nature. That had to be a challenge from the start, and Gibson did an unbelievable job of it.

All in all, it's as Catholic as Catholic can be. I ain't supposed to be here during Lent, but I couldn't resist posting about the movie just once. Go see it!

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), February 27, 2004.

Emerald,

The part you mentioned re: Jesus saying to Mary "Look Mother, I make all things new." That was the clencher for me.

And to everything else you wrote... Amen!

Look forward to your return.
God bless,
FGC

-- FGC (FGCC4@yahoo.com), February 27, 2004.

I went with my wife and five kids on Ash Wednesday. My opinion of the movie differed from that of my wife and kids. Initially, I was somewhat disappointed with it. My expectations were so high. It was real good, but I think I had read so much about the hype, that I was expecting jews and protestants to convert to Catholicism on the spot. I saw it as a movie; a great movie, but a movie nonetheless. I almost feel guilty feeling that way. My wife, however, and many women were crying throughout. My kids loved it. People were riveted. At the end of the movie, the credits rolled and no one moved. Not a sound was heard. Everybody sat, silently, watching the credits. I have never seen this before.

I liked the depiction of satan the best. It was made to look androgynous, and was shown to be constantly lurking. I believe Mary was depicted well also. The scourging at the pillar was brutal. This is where some would say Gibson was over the top, but I believe it was true to the Gospels. The anti-semitism charge is complete bunk. Caiphas, and the Sanhedrin were of course the villains, but again this is true to the Gospels. No one can deny this fact. Gibson showed a jewish high priest objecting to the way Jesus was being tried (in the middle of the night in secret).

-- Brian Crane (brian.crane@cranemills.com), February 27, 2004.

Thanks Emerald, for that brief breakfast from the forum to post on this. I am looking forward to the movie. I hope I don't end up in Brian's situation though, I've got such high expectations for it, it probably won't live up to them. OTOH, by the time I get to see it, maybe I'll be back to normal.

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), February 27, 2004.

I'm sitting here laughing at myself feeling like there is a big "DUH!" over my head for how I phrased that!

I guess what I meant was that there were a few things that I didn't expect, but found to be very moving - like Jesus crushing the head of the snake in the garden, and Mary coming to Jesus when he fell and the flashback to Jesus as a child and Mary coming to him when he fell. Also when Pilate's wife came up to Mary with the towels.

Anyway, I will try to put my thoughts together over the weekend. Off to pick one kid up, and drop another one off. It's the Mom taxi!

cksunshine

-- cksunshine (ck_sunshine@hotmail.com), February 27, 2004.

It was a peculiar way of telling the story of christs last twelve hours of life. There was nothing wrong with the film. I enjoyed it becuase I wanted to show some of my friends (yes, they were old enough) the way that God lived as a mortal.

-- Felix anderson (sushi2big@netscape.net), February 27, 2004.

I was just wondering why the veil of the Holy of Holies (signifying the end of the Old Covenant) wasn't shown being rent in two? That struck me as odd.

-- FGC (fgcc4@yahoo.com), February 27, 2004.

As a child we were taught to pray to the Holy Mother and in our family; Jesus was simply Mary's son. We also were taught that we were brought into this world to suffer- in silence of course. So from my point of view I always wondered what the fuss about the cruxcifixtion was all about. It was evident all around me that there were people who I knew that seemed to have suffered much more than Jesus did. This suffering that Jesus underwent was in a real way fake to my child mind. I often wondered why Jesus wasn't in fact happy and laughing on the cross since he knew he would be in heaven in only three or so hours. This may be the reason why throughtout the world the poor and the sick pray to the Holy Mother. The movie seems in fact an attempt by Gibson to settle this question of Jesus' short time on the cross compared to others who were cruxified and lingered for days. The brutal torture pre-cruxifiction in the movie seems to have been able to kill Jesus outright. The portrail of the cruxifiction itself was anticlimatic in comparison to the suffering by Jesus pre- cruxifiction in this movie. Faith is strong but in many people rationality is stronger and rationality is mathimatical in nature and two plus two must equal three, not perhaps three. In our neighborhood once a catholic always a catholic even if there are decades between believing. Usually sickness, catastrophy or lying on one's death-bed leads us back to the holy Mother. In many ethnic cultures this is the way in which Jesus plays a secondary role to the Holy Mother or God himself. This is "Third World" Catholicism or Christianity in which one goes to paradise thru someone other than Jesus. To us being "Born Again" and accepting the Christ as the only way to God is indeed radically counter-intuitive. The theolgy of the movie is simplistic and polytheistic (perhaps a human neccesity). One part of the Old Testament may contain the only way to explain monotheism:" I am Yahweh, and there is no other. I form light and I creat darness; I produce good and I create evil; I Yahweh do all these things." Isa.45 4-9

-- garcia frausto (gfrausto01@sbc global .net), February 29, 2004.

FGC,

Watch again, when the temple is split down the middle, so is the veil. It is in the background, and the chair behind it is shown to break into two as well. I was watching specifically for the purple veil to rip in half at that part.

-- paul h (dontSendMeMail@notAnAddress.com), March 01, 2004.

As a parent of a toddler, the scene where Christ falls with the cross and Mary rushes up to him overlapped with the scene from his childhood tore me in two. Wow!

I loved the portrayal of Pilate! All the scenes with him were just rivitting. Same goes for Peter and Mary.

I seem to be alone in not liking the devil (in the film that is). He was intentionally added, but he is always unreadable. He was put there to say something but I have no idea what it is. The only time I really liked the devil scenes where when he and Mary are following Jesus as he carried the cross and the devil was looking across at her with eyes that said 'your seed!'

I was also very moved when they lifted the cross and the scene cut back to the last supper as Christ lifted the bread. Very Eucharistic.

It was a movie that, like all movies, had its faults but none the less was extraordinary. It was so powerfully draining that I wouldn't mind seeing it again but coming in late so that I can watch the latter half of the movie with something left in me.

Dano

-- Dan Garon (boethius61@yahoo.com), March 01, 2004.

Hi Dan,

I think that Mel added the devil to emphasis the fact that Christ was entering into spiritual warfare on our behalf, so the story could not be seen as simply a "good man dying," but that there is truly evil personified and that Christ took him on for our sakes.

-- Gail (rothfarms@socket.net), March 01, 2004.