Posted on 04/01/2026 8:06:52 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
A call came to my home one night in late June 2003: “Do you want to see The Passion?” Of course, I did. Everybody in Christendom did...
Looking back now, it’s hard to believe how the political fuss pretty much overwhelmed any discussion of the artistic merits of the movie. No one could have fathomed in that moment that Gibson would be the first victim of the cancel impulse, as his stunning and very personal movie about Jesus arguably destroyed his career, even as it made him the wealthiest man in Hollywood.
Few faith-based filmmakers have any idea what makes The Passion the GOAT (Greatest of All Time). Evidence for this is in the spate of generally uneven, albeit earnest, Christian melodramas that have followed in its wake. There is nothing in the 21st-century library of Christian movies — evangelical or Catholic — that comes close to delivering what Gibson did in the work he told me was meant to be “less of a movie and more of the Stations of the Cross.”
Lessons from the film about what makes for great sacred cinema have largely gone unlearned. Lessons like, you don’t make a great work of art by watering down the more esoteric points of Scripture or theology, but rather by pushing them. Or that great sacred art is characterized by the mysteries it offers and not in earnest truisms. Or that showing the intersection of grace and sin is probably going to require R-rated truths, which Christian artists should always prefer to G-rated lies.
Finally, The Passion should have taught the Church of our era that great sacred art is first and foremost beautiful, but not necessarily pretty; it is profound not through didactic verbiage, but through imagery...
(Excerpt) Read more at ncregister.com ...
Just Nasty. 🥰
And that’s not nearly the flex you think it is.
CC
That could be I suppose. He’s done quite a few movies since then but I haven’t seen any of them so I can’t say how good they were or how good his performances have been.
FWIW the fact that I haven’t seen those movies is because I only watch a movie if it’s free and I haven’t seen his work come up on the free movie channels.
My mom had the same opinion when all the people in her church were going. Of course she was never into violent films regardless. I saw it several years after it came out. It was memorable in that it wasn’t JUST that Jesus died for me, but that he went through the torture as well.
As you may already know, Mel Gibson will be shooting two new films focused on aspects of Jesus life.
At first I was hearing that Jim Caviezel would be returning as Christ. As impressed as I was with Jim, I thought it would not be a good idea, since he, like all of us, has aged over the last 20 years.
Plus, the audience may think they already know what to expect with the same actor. May be it’s time to give a chance to a newer actor. Turns out, another actor will be filling that role. Finnish actor, Jaakko Ohtonen has been cast in lead role.
I didn’t know that. Thanks for the heads up.
You’re right about Caviezel having aged out of the role. Not his fault, time just marches on.
I look forward to anything Gibson does. Some of his movies weren’t great but I still like to see him act. The movies he produces and directs have all been good. The ones I’m aware of anyway.
Bookmark
Mel Gibson new movie will be called: “The Revenge of Jesus”.
“It was a huge boost to Jim Caviezels career. however, it may also have become the ceiling to his career. Jim may have become typecast as a film version of Christ, in the same way as Chris Hemsworth became typecast as the actor who played Thor.”
Mr Spock, I mean Leonard Nimoy, probably agrees with that statement.
I went to see it because the Left was screaming about it. Anything that really gets the Left angry is something I make it a point to watch. This is why I watched most of the films by Elia Kazan.
exactly.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.