The Passion Of The Christ (2004) Movie Information:

The Passion Of The Christ (2004) Directed by: Mel Gibson The Passion Of The Christ (2004) Written by: Ben Fitzgerald, Mel Gibson The Passion Of The Christ (2004) Cast: James Caviezel, Monica Bellucci, Maia Morgenstern, Francesco Cabras, Rosalinda Celentano, Claudia Gerini, Ivano Marescotti, Matt Patresi, Sergio Rubini

The Passion Of The Christ (2004) U.S. Distributor: Newmarket Films The Passion Of The Christ (2004) U.K. Distributor: Icon

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The Passion Of The Christ (2004) Synopsis:

"The Passion of The Christ" is a film about the last twelve hours of Jesus of Nazareth's life. The film opens in the Garden of Olives (Gethsemane) where Jesus has gone to pray after the Last Supper. Jesus resists Satan's temptations. Betrayed by Judas Inscariot, Jesus is arrested and taken back to within the city walls of Jerusalem where the leaders of the Pharisees confront him with accusations of blasphemy and his trial results in a condemnation to death. Jesus is brought before Pilate, the Roman Governor of Palestine, who listens to the accusations leveled at him by the Pharisees. Realizing he is confronting a political conflict, Pilate defers to King Herod in the matter. Herod returns Jesus to Pilate who gives the crowd a choice between Jesus and the criminal Barabbas. The crowd chooses to have Barabbas set free and condemn Jesus. Jesus is handed over to the Roman soldiers and flagellated. Unrecognizable now, he is brough back before Pilate, who presents him to the crowd as if to say "is this not enough?" It is not. Pilate washes his hands of the entire dilemma, ordering his men to do as the crowd wishes. Jesus is presented with the cross and is ordered to carry it through the streets of Jerusalem all the way up to Golgotha. On Golgotha, Jesus is nailed to the cross and undergoes his last temptation - the fear that he has been abandoned by his Father. He overcomes this fear, looks at Mary, his Holy Mother, and makes the pronouncement which only she can fully understand, "it is accomplished." He then dies: "into Thy hands I commend my Spirit." At the moment of death, nature itself overturns.

The Passion Of The Christ (2004) Movie Review:

How cruel are we to one and other? How far can one man go for his beliefs? How does the ordeal of punishment affect the ones around us? How do we judge our friends or do we? These questions and many more are discussed in the controversial telling of the final hours in the life of Jesus of Nazareth from actor-director Mel Gibson.

Gibson's chronicling of the events begins just moments before Judas (Luca Lionello) betrays Jesus (Jim Caviezel) and ends with his death upon the cross at the hands of the Romans. Mary (Maia Morgenstern), Magdalen (Monica Bellucci) and John (Hristo Jivkov) follow Jesus through his ordeal and are crippled when witnessing the brutality.

It is hard to look back on this film without seeing the religious ramifications it beholds. It is hard to wipe away the significance that is
the foundation of the Christian faith. Furthermore in this day in age it is hard to discuss religion in any aspect without offending someone. With so
many faucets and branches of the Christian faith we have found hundreds of ways of seeing the story here. So how does one criticize a film that can be
seen hundreds upon hundreds of different ways?

I guess the first way would be to look at how the story is portrayed and if it holds up as just a telling or something more. The film is masterful
storytelling even if you aren't a Christian. The cruelty, pain, suffering and destruction of one man is universal no matter what you believe. The
crippling of a mother as she can't do anything to save her only son will make even the strongest man shed a tear. A commander forced to execute an
innocent man because a screaming mob wishes it. These events and how they are sculpted into the film are heart wrenching even for the most skeptical.

The second would be to look upon the actors and how they bring to life the characters within the story. Jim Caviezel's portrayal of Jesus is shocking.
There is not a moment in the film that we don't see him as his character. The torture, blood and perseverance maybe unnerving and hard to witness but we still could see the kindness and strength of character within him. This is all due to Caviezel. He is magical. Maia Morgenstern's Mary is almost as
hard to watch as Caviezel as we see the depth of an internal struggle. There are many scenes where she doesn't utter a word but just the slightest action
screams pain. I also enjoyed Monica Bellucci as Magdalen. The actress probably only has a handful of lines but like her co-star Morgenstern she
brilliantly accents the silent horror and pain that these two women endured.

The third would have to entail the film's scope and presentation. The decision to present this story in Hebrew, Latin and Aramaic was a bold one.
The flowing of the dialogue and impact that departure conveys on an audience is a powerful one. In some ways it breathes new life and texture into this many told tale. I also liked that the film wasn't afraid to show how brutal and naïve we as human beings can be. In some ways this film separates us even more from the logic of the animal kingdom. Any one species that can
come up with an inhumane idea like crucifixion must not be part of world as we know it.

Cynics, skeptics and rabid atheists are probably going to have a problem separating the religion from the story. I have never been the deeply
religious person but I can acknowledge a legendary struggle. If you can look past those deep-rooted dogmatic factors and just see the story as it is then
that could be the kind of enlightenment you are looking for.

Gibson's film is a bold statement on the religion he upholds but beneath the religious outcry and nitpicking dogma, "The Passion of the Christ" is like no other religious film before it. The humanity has been brought back to those holiest of stories.

So Says the Soothsayer.

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The Passion Of The Christ (2004) review written by: Dean Kish