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Tuesday, March 30, 2004
comments on passion's review
From: JS
 thanks to long weekend i finally managed to see this controversial movie which has been continuously talked about. the film shows us the last twelve or so hours of jesus' life - the most horrific & suffering chapter. there is blood and blood everywhere! the scourging scene is full with details of savage beatings and sadistic practices of the roman soldiers. one brutal scene remains etched into my mind - it is when the soldier uses rope to stretch right arm of jesus to fit the nail-hole, while his left arm is already pounded with a big nail (and as the nail is driven into his hand, the film shows a flashback of jesus' sermon on the mount, when he's teaching that we must love our enemies... so ironic). the emphasis on violence in this film might be shocking. it's definitely not for children!
nevertheless, i love the brief flashbacks illuminating events in jesus' past. mel gibson tries to remind us of who the person was before he was physically tormented. one of the very moving flashbacks where i teared up was this one scene where mary sees jesus stumble & fall to his knees while carrying the cross. mary then thinks back to a time when jesus as toddler falls as he runs along a gravel road & mary does what is only natural: she rushed to pick him up & comfort him by saying "i'm here"... then the film comes back to the crucifixion time period & shows mary running to her now adult son & whispering the same thing... however she can only watch helplessly this time. the most meaningful flashback has no dialogue. it makes u reflect on your relationship with your parents & be grateful for their unconditional love given all this time. in my opinion, this movie put emphasis on women's role. it's centered especially on mother of god, mary. the feminist gibson (if i can say that) shows the depth of woman's feeling through mary -- what mary was going through when she must deal with the great grief of seeing her beloved son suffer so much, eventhough she knows this is what he was born for. the film also shows the love between mother & her child. everybody must be moved by mary's love for her son. rumor had it that this film is anti-semitic. i think those who have that thought must be narrow-minded individuals. romans & jews - ALL took part in mocking & torturing jesus. jesus himself is jews. to hate jews would mean to hate god. just ridiculous! other interesting highlights recorded in my memory: - the single drop of water that fell from heaven as jesus died - the words pontius pilate addresses to the priests when they bring jesus in front of him: "do u always punish a man before u judge him?" - satan was played by a woman with a man's voice dubbed & the face was made up to look androgynous (genderless) -- according to christian beliefs, satan was an angel & therefore they should be sexless - as angels sexless - the original language used makes it truly international movie - everybody in the world gets exactly the same experience imho, it's not a bad film yet it's not a great one either. its center on jesus' crucifixion only misses a lot of thing of jesus' life. but who am i to judge... i cannot even make a single film. ;) after seeing any movie, i simply look for something to be learned. i guess this film reminds us all that we should not easily condemn others simply because they are different from the mainstream. the jewish leaders in this film feel threatened by jesus because he's different -- his teachings are different, the way he teaches is different; at age 12 he asks in depth questions to the scriptures teachers & all those present are amazed with his understandings & answers to questions posed to him, he debates the pharisees, he criticises the temple, he washes his apostles' feet, ... & so on. people just need to open up their hearts and minds before making any judgement. stelly @ 2:36 PM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
