The Passion of the Christ: Hope amidst Suffering

 Revisiting Mel Gibson's biblical epic.

As Easter is here, our minds are apt to turn to chocolates, special meals and holidays. These are all well and good, but it's important to preserve the true meaning of the Easter season: celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. To get to Easter, we have to go through the Passion.

[OBLIGATORY SPOILER WARNING]

Mel Gibson’s 2004 film, The Passion of the Christ; does an excellent job of capturing the events of Good Friday with striking (and often horrific) accuracy. I applaud the cast and crew for doing their best to make the film as realistic as possible; the fact that the dialogue is entirely in Aramaic, Latin and Hebrew is great, it makes one feel as though they have been transported back to biblical times. I do wish they had included Jesus' consolation of the holy women (although apparently it's in a deleted scene).

 From a cinematic perspective, this movie is incredible. The scenes are well shot (there's a little too much slow-mo IMO, but nevertheless-), the score is operatic and grand; the Passion of the Christ definitely deserved its 3 Oscar nominations for Best Makeup, Best Cinematography and Best Original Score.

Mel Gibson and Benedict Fitzgerald (who wrote the script) took some interesting creative liberties, such as showing the devil tempting Jesus during His trials. One technique the movie uses expertly is flashbacks. Past events in Jesus' life are spliced in-between scenes and help in adding context and gravitas to moments in the film. One of my personal favourites are when Mary (Jesus' Mother) rushes to help Jesus when He has fallen (both as a child and as a man with the Cross); the scenes are juxtaposed well. Another powerful moment happens before Jesus dies on the Cross, the movie cuts back to our Lord's Last Supper with the Apostles, when our Lord giving Himself to His friends in the form of bread and wine.

The Passion of the Christ is not for the faint-hearted. About 30 minutes in to the movie, Jesus is already chained and has a black-eye. As the film progresses, our Lord is beaten up, insulted and brutally scourged. Everything, from the escalating torture Jesus undergoes, to the cruelty of the Roman soldiers and the reactions of Jesus’ family, friends and followers; is excessive. Some have criticized the brutality of the Passion of the Christ, but as it aims to be a by-the-book depiction of the Crucifixion, I feel like it was necessary to display the events as they were portrayed.

Nevertheless, there are moments of goodness in-between the horror of the Passion. I really liked how the movie portrayed Simon of Cyrene (shout-out to the casting director for getting Jarreth J. Merz, an actor with African heritage, to play the part). He is introduced as a random bystander forced to help Jesus carry his Cross, but even a brief encounter with Christ changes him. Simon bravely stands up for our Lord when He is being whipped by the Roman Soldiers on the way to Calvary, and he encourages Jesus when He barely has any strength left; with a calm and determined "We're almost there." Dimas -the "good thief," who was crucified with our Lord - tells on of the Pharisees who demanded Jesus' execution that He is praying for them. Such moments show that despite the brokenness and corruption of our world, the darkest events can be an opportunity for the best of our human nature to come forth.

Indeed, once the brutality of the Passion is over, we get a brief glimpse at our Lord; Resurrected and renewed. Mel Gibson and the gang are working on a sequel to the film, which will be coming soon to theatres (I sound like one of those trailer intros from early 2000's DVD's). I'm looking forward to it.

Regardless of your beliefs, the Passion of the Christ is definitely worth a watch. It's a powerful depiction of humanity at its worst...and its best. 

Sources:

The Passion of the Christ (Mel Gibson, Benedict Fitzgerald, 2004).

The Passion of the Christ (Wikipedia, 2024).