Please note: this is not a review of Fifty First Dates. There is
a reason for this: I have not seen Fifty First Dates; therefore, I
am unqualified to have an opinion about its merits. So I will not
write about it.
Please note: this is not a review of Fifty First Dates. There is a reason for this: I have not seen Fifty First Dates; therefore, I am unqualified to have an opinion about its merits. So I will not write about it.
I could write a review of Hidalgo, which my daughter and I did see. She liked it because of the horses. I liked it because of Viggo Mortensen. Hidalgo was a good movie, but it has not generated the level of controversy that The Passion of the Christ has. Besides, today is Good Friday.
I have read a lot of reviews of The Passion, mostly negative. Before it came out, critics said Mel Gibson would lose the $30 million of his own money that he sank into it. Now that it has grossed almost a half billion dollars, they are saying he exploited religion for mercenary reasons.
Before The Passion came out, critics feared it might foster anti-Semitism. Now a poll by the Institute for Jewish and Community Research indicates that viewers are less inclined to blame Jews for Christ’s death after seeing the film. Critics are strangely silent.
Critics have complained about the film being in Latin and Aramaic, with subtitles. Curiously, I have seen no reviews complaining about Lord of the Rings being partly in Elvish, nor Hidalgo being partly in Sioux. (I also understand the Coptics are entranced to have a movie partly in Aramaic, which they speak. I was entranced myself, by the snippets of Latin I could decipher: “Quia est veritas, Claudia?”)
Some critics have complained that they needed more background; as AP entertainment writer Christy Lemire rather snidely phrased it, “for those of us not currently in a Bible study class.” This complaint makes me wonder if they complained about The Lord of the Rings or Hidalgo, or if they just picked up the book, or did a little research on Wounded Knee.
Of course, the biggest complaint from the critics is that The Passion is violent. And so it is: relentlessly, horrifically, nauseatingly violent. As my friend Mary Drummond commented, “I kept thinking that it couldn’t get any worse. Then it would.”
I have a few comments about this violence. First, the talk show radio hosts have been having a field day, quoting professional critics when they slam the violence of The Passion, then quoting the same critics as they praise other violent R-rated movies.
Second, some critics complain that they want a movie about the whole life of Jesus, not just the final 12 bloody hours. Actually, there is such a film now playing: The Gospel of John. Critics could go see it, if they really wanted to see a film about the life and teachings of Jesus. They don’t. They want to slam The Passion.
Third, some people criticize parents who let their children see The Passion, but will not allow them to see a film that is R-rated for sex. “I would rather my kids saw a film about making love than one about torturing and killing people,” is the rationale.
The difference is that movies that are R-rated for sex depict an alluring view of sex outside of marriage – at least, I cannot think of any movie ever that explicitly portrayed the joys of married sex. The view is unrealistic: no STDs, no pregnancies, few consequences of any kind.
Many R-rated-for-violence films treat the violence in a similar fashion. The hero sprays some bullets around, kills the bad guys, recovers the treasure, and saves civilization. No injuries to the good guys, little blood, few corpses: consequence-free violence.
The Passion does not glorify violence. I am neither a masochist nor a sadist, so I don’t know if such a person would find The Passion alluring. But speaking in general, nothing in The Passion would make one want to whip or be whipped, to crucify or be crucified. Quite the contrary.
“Was it a good movie?” I asked John.
He hesitated, then said, “I think it was a great movie.”
Now that I’ve seen it, I agree, both with the assessment and the hesitation. The Passion is not a pleasant movie. It challenges the viewer emotionally. But it is a great work of art.
