The Passion of the Christ (Definitive Edition) [Blu-ray]
by Mel Gibson
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Actor: Christo Jivkov, Francesco De Vito, Jim Caviezel, Maia Morgenstern, Monica BellucciDirector: Mel Gibson
Brand: Fox
Cinematographer: Caleb Deschanel
Producer: Mel Gibson
Writer: Mel Gibson
Producer: Bruce Davey
Producer: Enzo Sisti
Producer: Stephen McEveety
Writer: Benedict Fitzgerald
Blu-ray: Region Code 1
Audio: Hebrew (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Cantonese (Subtitled); Korean (Subtitled); Mandarin Chinese (Subtitled); Tagalog (Subtitled); Thai (Subtitled); Hebrew (Original Language); Aramaic (Original Language); Latin (Original Language); English (Dubbed)
Format: Anamorphic, Color, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.40:1
Running Time: 126 minutes
Published: 2009-02-01
Blu-ray Release Date: 2009-02-17
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Blu-ray Reviews of The Passion of the Christ (Definitive Edition) [Blu-ray]
Blu-ray Review: Blue Passion -- the triumph of anti-Semitism
Summary: 1 Stars
Let us surmise that in the heady early days of the Third (or Temporary) Reich, Herr Doktor Gobbles commissioned ... um ooops ... Doktor Goebbels commissioned a film the purpose of which would be to discredit Christianity. Let us further surmise that the result was a film called "The Passion of the Christ". Given these results, the filmmaker would have been awarded German filmdom's highest award, the Adolf, plus a special thorn cluster authorized by Herr Doktor Goebbels. That was then.
This is now. And here it is at last: a new technologically advanced edition of the world's slimiest "Bible" travesty in all its Gospel-bashing, anti-Semitic, and fantasy-pushing glory.
Aside from its propagandistic purposes, "Passion" is so full of inaccuracies, it's hard to know where to start. Let's start by noting that the only historically worthwhile (if not necessarily accurate) narratives we have of the so-called "passion" are the 4 canonical gospels. Nothing else of a non-scholarly nature is worth the paper it's printed on. This film depends on apocryphal (and useless) narratives, the ravings of a 19th-Century hysteric nun, and other fraudulent "sources". In addition there are other solecisms of a purely stupid nature.
For instance, Gibson thinks he's really clever by having people speak the languages they would have spoken at the time. And then, laughably, he has Jesus and Pilate conversing in Latin. Latin was not the lingua franca of the Roman East ... that was Greek. Furthermore, Jesus was born (at Bethlehem-in-Galilee, not Bethlehem-in-Judea) and raised in Galilee, an area which was under the Hebrew- and Greek-speaking rule of various Herods. Jesus and Pilate would have spoken in Greek. (The argument that Jesus would have learned Latin from Roman soldiers is just silly ... Galilee was part of an autonomous kingdom and Roman soldiers didn't enter the area until after the exile of Herod Antipas in 39 CE. Besides, the Roman military spoke a patois of Italic - related to Latin - that was widely used in northern Italy.)
Gibson's contempt for the canonical gospels is a main theme of the film. In Gethsemane, Jesus is shown not so much praying to his god but having a conversation with Satan - something the gospel writers seem totally unaware of. Later on, the soldiers that arrest Jesus throw him bodily from a bridge - an event utterly absent from the gospels.
The events between Jesus' arrest and his crucifixion show not only Gibson's contempt for the gospels, but also his utter ignorance of the practices of Roman law and the evidence of archaeology. The bit covering his appearance before the Sanhedrin is hilarious. The charge - the only charge - was actually a term totally misused these days, "blasphemy". That is, in the Greek, "blasphemia", which means treason, in the sense that Jesus has claimed to be King of Judea. Despite pathetic attempts by Christians, from the First Century CE on, to give this term a religious connotation, it is a political crime, pure and simple. Gibson's failure to recognize this fact is stupid - as is everything else in this film.
The scourging of Jesus is a good example of Gibson's contempt for facts. Roman judicial procedure is well known and the gospels in fact do a fair job of showing it correctly. Gibson's version is not only inaccurate, it's trashy. The pronouncing of sentence of crucifixion ends with this sentence: "Let him be scourged." No person to be tried before a Roman court was whipped until that sentence was uttered.
Furthermore, the whip shown in this film wasn't the one used in these cases - it was employed by Gibson solely for its shock value, not in any interest of accuracy. The actual whip (Latin: flagellum) consisted of several strands of leather of varying length, each tied to a small lead ball. If you believe the Shroud of Turin is any sort of genuine artifact, please note that it is that whip whose marks appear on the back of the individual portrayed in the shroud. This tool of punishment also appears in archaeological contexts.
The number of strokes was limited to a those needed to start a flow of blood - the purpose of scourging being primarily to weaken the victim and shorten his/her time on the cross. They were delivered by a trained professional. What Gibson's film shows is not only ridiculously excessive but incomprehensibly and improbably brutal. This portrayal is clearly for salacious shock value and not any concern for truth. It is at this point (if not before) that the film degenerates into a work of pure fiction.
There is, however, more degeneracy to come. In a scene that occurs nowhere in the gospels nor any other creditable source, Mary is wandering among the pools of blood in the courtyard in which Jesus was scourged. We'll forego questioning how she got past all those guards into a secure area of a Roman fortress. Then out trundles Mrs. Pilate with an armload of bedsheets or used togas or some such. She vanishes and Mary begins to mop up all the blood with togas or sheets or whatever. Say what? Is she collecting souvenirs? I can see a framed slice of sheet on a humble wall in Nazareth. "There's a toga of actual blood!" What ... you don't like the bit about the frame on the wall? That's just as disgusting and stupid as somebody mopping up blood in the first place. No wonder the gospels ignore the whole silly story in the first place. Not only is it silly, it's a fairy tale insulting to the intelligence of anyone whose cerebrum's weight exceeds 1 ounce.
Ah, but wherefore Herr Dr. Goebbels' award of the prestigious thorn cluster? Well, of course: the film's stunning if subtle anti-Semitism. We could point to the film's zeal in promoting the old canard that the Jews "forced" a conviction on a Roman governor who in fact would just as soon crucify people as look at them.
We can and do point to one of the film's most prominent characters - one who actually appears only once, in a brief sentence, in the gospels' passion narratives. This character is Satan, the so-called devil, who pops up everywhere in this film. This character is the most palpable, horrifying manifestation of the film's anti-Semitism. This manifestation takes the form of Satan being cast as a First Century Jew ... right down to the shawl over his head.
This libelous identification of Judaism with Christianity's evil angel must of course give much schadenfreude to nutters like the Aryan Brotherhood, the American Nazi Party, and others who live only to hate. Gibson's depiction of Satan as an embodiment of Judaism - this nation's moral bedrock - is an act of the most desperate bigotry.
Considering that "Passion" is a tissue of lies and misrepresentations, an affront to anyone who values and respects the gospels, and a virtual celluloid hate crime, we would expect Christians everywhere to shun it for the arrant nastiness that it is. But what do we find? They are busy declaring this shabby travesty a triumph of their faith. What does that say of them? Fools have rushed in where our better angels would fear to tread.
Shame, Mel Gibson; shame, shame.
Description of The Passion of the Christ (Definitive Edition) [Blu-ray]
PASSION OF THE CHRIST - Blu-Ray MovieAfter all the controversy and rigorous debate has subsided, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ will remain a force to be reckoned with. In the final analysis, "Gibson's Folly" is an act of personal bravery and commitment on the part of its director, who self-financed this $25-30 million production to preserve his artistic goal of creating the Passion of Christ ("Passion" in this context meaning "suffering") as a quite literal, in-your-face interpretation of the final 12 hours in the life of Jesus, scripted almost directly from the gospels (and spoken in Aramaic and Latin with a relative minimum of subtitles) and presented as a relentless, 126-minute ordeal of torture and crucifixion. For Christians and non-Christians alike, this film does not "entertain," and it's not a film that one can "like" or "dislike" in any conventional sense. (It is also emphatically not a film for children or the weak of heart.) Rather, The Passion is a cinematic experience that serves an almost singular purpose: to show the scourging and death of Jesus Christ in such horrifically graphic detail (with Gibson's own hand pounding the nails in the cross) that even non-believers may feel a twinge of sorrow and culpability in witnessing the final moments of the Son of God, played by Jim Caviezel in a performance that's not so much acting as a willful act of submission, so intense that some will weep not only for Christ, but for Caviezel's unparalleled test of endurance.
Leave it to the intelligentsia to debate the film's alleged anti-Semitic slant; if one judges what is on the screen (so gloriously served by John Debney's score and Caleb Deschanel's cinematography), there is fuel for debate but no obvious malice aforethought; the Jews under Caiaphas are just as guilty as the barbaric Romans who carry out the execution, especially after Gibson excised (from the subtitles, if not the soundtrack) the film's most controversial line of dialogue. If one accepts that Gibson's intentions are sincere, The Passion can be accepted for what it is: a grueling, straightforward (some might say unimaginative) and extremely violent depiction of the Passion, guaranteed to render devout Christians speechless while it intensifies their faith. Non-believers are likely to take a more dispassionate view, and some may resort to ridicule. But one thing remains undebatable: with The Passion of the Christ, Gibson put his money where his mouth is. You can praise or damn him all you want, but you've got to admire his chutzpah. --Jeff Shannon
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