Review: The Passion of the Christ (**)

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
A film review by Steve Rhodes

Copyright 2004 Steve Rhodes

RATING (0 TO ****): **


An R-rated movie with a pervasive NC-17 level of gore, THE PASSION OF THE
CHRIST is simplistic and relentlessly pedantic but undeniably effective with
its single theme that Christ suffered. With little subtlety, the movie
features more realistic violence than JASON X.



Mel Gibson's THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST is an awkward blend of BRAVEHEART
level of brutality, art house subtitling and a Sunday school level of
storytelling. Told exclusively in the original tongues, it was originally
slated to be released without any benefit of subtitles. The movie relies so
exclusively on the visuals that the English subtitles turn out to be almost
superfluous. (According to the Internet Movie Data Base, it's the fourth
movie ever made in Aramaic. Bet you can't name the other three.)



The movie does a good job of showing in great detail just how much Christ
suffered. No matter how unbearable the scenes become, Gibson never lets his
camera cut away from the violent cruelty. This could have worked so much
better, however, if he could have made the flashbacks more believable.
Instead, FREQUENCY'S James Caviezel, who plays Jesus with all the
earnestness he can muster, reads his lines of faith flatly in the
flashbacks, which take place before he is captured.



Most of the movie occurs in the last twelve hours of Jesus's life, beginning
at about the time when Judas Iscariot (Luca Lionello) betrays him for the
infamous thirty pieces of silver. In order to follow the narrative, you'll
need to know your New Testament fairly well. Otherwise you're going to be
very confused about the relationship of the two Marys, Mary (Maia
Morgenstern) and Mary Magdalene (Monica Bellucci), about who hangs
himself -- many of characters are very similar in appearance, about who
hates Jesus and who doesn't and why and about many other things. But
needing to know the answers to these questions all presupposes that the
movie has more than one theme, which it doesn't. It only wants to be a
gorefest for a good cause. And at that it succeeds. But where is its
spirituality?



THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST runs too long at 2:07. The film is in Aramaic and
Latin with English subtitles. It is rated R for "sequences of graphic
violence" and would be acceptable for older teenagers.



The film opens nationwide in the United States on Ash Wednesday (February
25, 2004). In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters,
the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.



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Finally, a review that does justice.

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