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Posted on 02/25/2004 3:52:34 PM PST by unspun
Amid charges of anti-Semitism and mixed reviews, The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson's controversial film about the final hours of Jesus's life, opened Wednesday in about 3,000 theaters across the US.
Jewish groups reacted in advance of the opening with statements of concern, and Catholic leaders publicly reiterated church teachings absolving Jews of the deicide charge.
At Clearview Chelsea West Cinemas in Manhattan, viewers who attended a mid-morning screening of the epic, with dialogue in Latin and Aramaic and bone-chilling violence, said they didn't know what the fuss was all about. The charge that the movie is anti-Semitic "is the biggest load of crap I've heard in my entire life," said Chris DeYoung, a financial analyst who lives in the city.
"It was a wonderful production, very moving, very graphic, and very upsetting," he said after viewing the 126-minute film.
Some reviewers have noted that Gibson cast stereotypically Jewish-looking actors with hooked noses and bad teeth in the roles of Jewish priests and members of the crowd calling for Jesus's head, but Marjorie Harris, 33, from Queens, who said, "The same age as the Lord when he was crucified," after stating her age, said the film doesn't hold Jews accountable for his death.
"There was no blame placed on any group of people. It's all of us," said Harris, who bought her ticket 10 days in advance. "We crucified him."
According to The New York Times, the on-line movie-ticket seller Fandango reported that 70 percent of its advance sales last week were for The Passion, and Nielson NRG surveys predicted that the film will sell up to $30 million in tickets over its first weekend – potentially placing it in the No. 1 slot.
On Tuesday, hours before the film was released, Cardinal Edward Egan, the church's highest official in New York, released a letter, to be published in the upcoming issue of Catholic New York, stating that Catholicism firmly rejects the deicide charge. Jesus, he wrote, "gave His life for us. No one took it from Him. This is, and has always been, Catholic doctrine."
The Orthodox Union, meanwhile, sent copies of a 10-minute video promoting "passion for Judaism" to hundreds of OU synagogues across North America.
The video features a symposium with Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, OU executive vice president, Brooklyn College historian Prof. David Berger, and Rabbi Michael Skobac, Toronto director of Jews for Judaism.
The problem with The Passion, Weinreb says in the video, is that Jewish audience members may identify with Jesus, "disidentify with their own God-given identity as a Jewish people," and develop "inner doubts." The solution, he says, is for Jews to learn more about Judaism and Christianity so that "we can be proud of the ways in which we are different."
Other Jewish groups decided to actively protest the film. Wednesday evening, members of the Coalition for Jewish Concerns – Amcha planned to greet Upper East Side film-goers dressed in concentration-camp uniforms. "The film is born of the same theology that gave rise to the Holocaust," said Amcha vice president Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld.
For Alicia Gonzalez, a former addict who credits Jesus for her recovery, The Passion was a celebration of Jewish and Christian history.
"How can it be anti-Semitic? Mary is a Jew, Jesus is a Jew. It is going to touch so many hearts," she said. "My great dream in life is to go to the Holy Land, and this movie told me I have to do that pilgrimage," said Gonzalez after emerging, teary-eyed, from the theater.
Eric Sheehy, 65, a non-practicing Catholic, said he didn't see any hint of anti-Semitism. "Mel's father's comments are a little off the wall, and it didn't seem to be reflected in the movie," he said, referring to the elder Gibson's public musings that the Holocaust was exaggerated and the death camps were fabricated.
Nonetheless, Sheehy was shocked by the film's gore. "It's a horrifying depiction, and from my point of view it just went overboard," he said. "It's like taking the story of Moses and showing only the worst aspects of it. It's not a fun movie. It's not a family movie. It's gut-wrenching," he said.
Note however, the 6th paragrah from the bottom, repeated here:
The problem with The Passion, Weinreb says in the video, is that Jewish audience members may identify with Jesus, "disidentify with their own God-given identity as a Jewish people," and develop "inner doubts." The solution, he says, is for Jews to learn more about Judaism and Christianity so that "we can be proud of the ways in which we are different."
Problematic if not revealing "problem." Does it kind of confirm what you're thinking?
Good solution, however, "for Jews to learn more about Judaism and Christianity...."
May our Jewish Savior and Lord save us all.
AW
No surprise, those who didn't want to like it, don't, and those who do, do!
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