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The Passion of the Christ: Gibson's Talent is Reborn!
by Marc Petrequin
Yet again it has been a while since I've been able to submit anything, but we all knew it was inevitable that I review the latest blockbuster that features our savior and the extraordinary pain and suffering he goes through in his ultimate goal to rid the world of sin and corruption. Please do as I had to, Ringers, and get your minds back in reality; I'm talking about The Passion of the Christ.
As you all probably know, this movie depicts the last twelve hours of Christ's life as told in the Gospels, and also includes well-placed flashbacks to other events that led to his final strife. James Caviezel (The Thin Red Line, Any Given Sunday) plays Jesus Christ from the time he is arrested by the Romans to his crucifixion and rebirth. Monica Bellucci (Tears of the Sun, The Matrix Reloaded) does an equally good job playing Mary Magdalene, as does Francesco de Vito (I Am David) as St. Peter. The film also touches Jesus' encounters with Satan, played by Rosalinda Celentano (The Order), and the betrayal of Judas. Ultimately, the movie portrays Christ's final connections with God and his resurrection on Easter Sunday.
To get right to James Caviezel's part, I gladly put forth the clear irony surrounding the acting in this movie, in that the lack thereof makes it all the more gratifying. It seems no one puts all that much (if any) emphasis into the dialogue, given that, well, they don't need to. From a religious perspective alone we can feel the seriousness of every action just by reading the character's face or following the spoken word. And the cries of torture and exhaustion from Jesus are everything they need to be, connecting enough with the audience to the point one would feel what it must have been like to be there and then.
Mel Gibson finalizes the authenticity of this movie by directing the script in the original Aramaic and Latin languages. This is carried from the costume and stage design right to the extremes of brutality and violence that Jesus was put though by the Romans, as you probably know at this point. Having seen Ninja Scroll, Braveheart, and Fist of the North Star, I for one wasn't put off in the least by this, and frankly I was glad Mel Gibson decided not to sugar-coat anything and hand us a very close depiction of the raw truth.
On another note, I believe the excessiveness of the violence in this film was partially meant to illustrate the redundancy of human aggression and how a person's true strength lies within their spiritual being. Obviously this movie is not for Sunday-school classes but for everyone else who wants to be truly touched by the hardships of a truly remarkable man.
As with most other evangelical movies of the sort, the music is just as captivating as the visual depiction. Excellently selected Gregorian chants and classical music of the Near East sets the mood for every scene of the movie, particularly during the slow-motion segments, when all verbal sounds are drowned out. In short, people who even slightly like this movie owe it to themselves to get the soundtrack.
Probably the first aspect I noticed about this movie, however, was the video skill and usage. Everything about the lighting, angle, range, and direction seemed to fit the mood perfectly for nearly every scene in the film. Though not always in order, each scene is laid out to direct attention on one subject at a time, and nothing else. While this sounds trite, it actually stands as a dramatic technique not often used in many drama films, let alone religious ones. Unfortunately, the scene direction is also one of this movie's downfalls due to the lack of explanative detail and the seemingly randomness of the flashback scenes. We the audience are given little idea of the story's time and place, causing it to feel less like a whole movie and more like "Part 3 of 4 Volumes".
Sadly this fragmentation leaves a great deal to be desired in development of character interaction and relationships. The depiction of Lucifer is a perfect example, given that we are barely given any clue as to a) who or what he/she/it/whatever is, b) what his purpose in the story is, and c) what his past experience with Jesus is all about. On a related note, the story of this movie could also be seen as one of its limitations, given that 80% of the footage focuses on what Jesus had to endure during his final moments rather than his teachings in the later part of his life. I understand that many other films of the sort have shown such a story from a much larger backdrop (The Last Temptation of Christ, 1980, is a good example), but for a movie this recent it does risk sending the wrong message.
When critiqued as a drama movie, it also soon dawns on the reviewer that both the beginning and ending scenes appear somewhat incomplete, as though the first and last few pages of the script were shelved due to editing. Naturally we all know the basic story line surrounding what the film covers, but to see this movie for a simple dramatic experience would leave the viewer dissatisfied from the lack of clarity and depth (having nothing to do with the dubbing). To put it bluntly, to see this movie in a non-religious way is to spend about two hours watching a man being tortured, beaten, exhausted, and then nailed to a tree. Roll credits.
Because of this, it's difficult for me to recommend this movie to anyone seeing this movie for any other reason than to be spiritually moved and astounded. However, I just know my dorm room is going to be torn up by a few plagues if I give this movie anything less than four stars, so I'll just go by both my spiritual instinct and my renewed respect for this movie's filming, drama, and finesse construction. As a drama film, it comes off as quite inconsequential; as a spiritual account of probably the most symbolic moments of Christian faith, it's as divine as it needs to be.
Final Verdict: 4 out of 5
Moment of Zen: "It is accomplished."
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