My husband, daughter and I went to see it yesterday as well.
This is not a movie, it is an experience. The woman playing Mary (Maia Morgenstern) just ripped my heart out. I cannot remember ever seeing a movie, where at the end of it, I didn't want to get up out of my seat. I felt, I don't know, stunned(?).
My husband actually said that he doesn't want it to get any Academy Awards because this goes so beyond being a "movie". My daughter (16) said that she wished it had gone on further. I think she was ready for the "good news" part.
As for blood and gore that the critics are constantly harping on, I thought it was not as much as the critics seem to indicate. Mel cuts away from the torture often, and you are left with the sound of it vs. having to watch it non-stop. Also, the flashbacks are very well placed and give the viewer a break from the violence.
Very well done.
This is not a movie, it is an experience. The woman playing Mary (Maia Morgenstern) just ripped my heart out. I cannot remember ever seeing a movie, where at the end of it, I didn't want to get up out of my seat. I felt, I don't know, stunned(?).
Our daughter is only 10, so she did not go with us, but otherwise our experience was just as yours. We sat in our seats until the credits had all completely rolled by. We spoke very little on the way home--but did just a bit later, mostly I shared with my husband some of the discussions I had seen posted on FR, about the "baby" Satan was holding and that kind of thing.
So very powerful. I thought I knew the clip of Mary seeing her very young son falling, and I'd seen freepers say how they'd wept at that part. Well, I'd only seen a portion of the entire scene in the online trailer and I probably cried (not sobbed, but more than teary-eyed) hardest at that entire part--culminating in her running up to him getting back up and taking up the cross and saying "See mother? I make all things new again".
There is much to ponder and absorb regarding this movie and Scripture.