by NebulaQueen » Thu Mar 04, 2004 3:30 pm
Actually, when I saw the holes, I didn't read that as "Arrgh, vengeance!" I read that as, "Hot damn! This guy's walking, even though he was just crucified to death! Just look at 'dem holes!"
So...yeah. I think the holes were supposed to be a symbol of the miracle of his rebirth as opposed to "lets go kill us some Jews".
And now, for a belated movie review.
Basically, Passion of Christ was a pretty good flick, in my opinion. As I didn't hear too much of the hype beforehand, I didn't have that much bias other than "the only reason I'm seeing this is because the family wanted to, and I'm being dragged along". In other words, apathy with some mild curiousity put into the mix.
However, when I saw the movie, I was pleasantly surprised. Some of the parts were pretty moving...others, though...well, more on that later.
Basically, what I think the movie was trying to pull off was the whole "courage in the face of adversity". While good ol' Buddy Christ wasn't as stoic as many another play would pull off, he kept on going. Whatta trooper.
Anyways, like I said earlier, some parts were pretty moving. Other parts, however, went overboard. I'm not talking about violence or gore here-I'm talking about the drama in general. Some parts felt like they were trying to hard to make it "HARDCORE AND EMOTIONAL, WOW!" (For example, was the surround sound really needed as the drops of blood fell from the hammered nails?) Really, it could have been better if they didn't try to force some stuff.
And now, for the moment you've all been waiting for...the infamous Anti-Semitism.
To be honest, I didn't see any. When the crowd went after Jesus, I didn't think of it as Jews everywhere slovering over his death. Instead, I saw a group of scared extremists trying to get rid of what scared them.
Damn fundies.
Now, as for Mel's supposed anti-semitism, this is the most I've heard about it. I heard a bit about him rejected Vatican II, but since I wasn't sure whether or not it was just hearsay, I just brushed it off. Also, to be frank, I didn't really care, since I didn't care that much about the movie at the time-keep in mind that going to see Passion was a surprise for me, not a planned event. If I had took the rumors a bit more and payed more attention to the hype, perhaps I would have entered the movie with a different outlook. However, whatever bias Gibson may have, I didn't see it corrupt the film.
As for Pilate, there was one thing about him that stood out the most-exasperation. Honestly, I almost expected him to shout out, "Fuckin' mob! Get off my damn lawn!" *coughs* But anyways. I saw Pilate as being more tired the whole mess as opposed to being kindly and benevolent. But to be fair, that's a personal thing...I doubt that's what the movie was trying to pull off.
So, as for Pilate, they did portray him innacurately in some/many (circle for preference!) ways. However, I imagine that even in history, he had a, "Shit! No matter what I do, I'm screwed!" mentality. Which...well, he was. If he allowed another riot/rebellion, he'd be screwed. If he crucified another non criminal, he was screwed. Really, no way for him to win.
Final Statement: While the Passion of Christ isn't the best movie out there, it's definately not a waste of money. While I'm not a Christian, I still managed to enjoy it, despite moments of over-the-topness that occured from time to time. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, though. I imagine that most would be pretty much "meh" over it. <p>
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"Hello, I'm Troy Mclure! You may remember me from such realms as Hell, and Gaera!"-Shinigori, OOC</span></p>