Posted on 03/23/2004 6:58:35 AM PST by presidio9
LONDON (Reuters) - The Hollywood screenwriter behind the last controversial film about Christ says Mel Gibson (news)'s new film on the crucifixion is violent and disturbing.
"It's a well-made movie but it's very violent and infused with a great sense of self-flagellation,", screenwriter for "The Last Temptation of Christ," told Reuters.
Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," to be released with an adults-only certificate in Britain Friday, has been heavily criticized for its bloody portrayal of Christ's final hours.
A 56-year-old woman died of a heart attack in Wichita, Kan., last month while watching the film's climactic crucifixion scene.
Some Jewish groups even branded the film anti-Semitic, arguing that it revives old accusations that Jews bear collective responsibility for killing the Son of God.
Schrader's "Last Temptation," released in 1988 and directed by Martin Scorsese, was attacked by Christian groups for a brief scene in which Jesus is seen having sex with Mary Magdalene.
But the screenwriter, who penned such cinematic classics as "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull," distanced his film from Gibson's.
"They are two totally different movies," he said after giving a talk in London about his acclaimed career.
"My film was essentially a humanist story about the struggle to find God in which Christ is used as a metaphor," said Schrader, who was raised in a strict Calvinist household and studied theology.
"But screenings of Gibson's film have been more like evangelical meetings. The audience comes into the film with such a powerful belief system that they think they have a religious experience. It's quite an interesting and disturbing phenomenon," he said.
Gibson's film has been a huge success in the United States. According to studio estimates, it has earned more than $250 million since its Feb. 25 U.S. opening.
Shrader said the film would never have been made without the backing of a big star like Gibson.
"This is not the sort of film Hollywood likes," he said. "But Gibson was uniquely positioned to make it and he successfully tapped into a ready-made audience made up of conservative religious groups."
Gibson, who reportedly spent $25 million of his own money on the film, is a follower of a small traditionalist Catholic church that denies the legitimacy of Vatican decrees made since the mid-1960s.
The media's war on The Passion of the Christ has been systematic and increasingly frantic. It is part of the overall culture war that is being waged by the Left on America specifically and the West generally. The chief theoretician of this war was the Italian Communist, Antonio Gramsci, who died in 1937. Gramsci understood eighty years ago: Christianity is the enemy of Communist revolution. He wrote in 1921:What remains to be done? Nothing other than to destroy the present form of civilization. In this field, 'to destroy' does not mean the same as in the economic field. It does not mean to deprive humanity of the material products that it needs to subsist and develop. It means to destroy spiritual hierarchies, prejudices, idols and ossified traditions.
I think this is exactly what's going on with this movie. It goes against the socialist mentality of the liberals, hence their need to destroy it.
Am reading it as well, and I found the thinking behind Inherit The Wind sound.
The liberal philosophy has been to undermind the Christian message.
Notice how Ben-Hur (The Tale Of The Christ) is never referred to by that name, and that the chariot race is what gets the attraction.
That movie continues to be one of my favorites. The fact that Judah Ben Hur releases his anger while witnessing the death of Christ is so heart rendering.
John was the youngest Apostle by a large margin. Mel included him specifically for his role as companion to the Blessed Mother, but it is not a reach to think that he would have remained deferrential to his elders.
No, the Roman soldiers chase it off with a spear.
This writer is disturbed that people are watching this movie and having a religious experience. I hope he's even more disturbed as attendance increases during the days leading up to Easter.
BTW, my daughter and son-in-law who both speak Latin observed something which escaped me because I do not. When Pilate is interrogating Jesus, he first asks Him a question in Aramaic (the common language) but Jesus responds in Latin and then Pilate looks impressed and continues to speak in Latin.
I remember! The whole thing was really well done. Satan is angry because the crucifixion marks a major reduction in Satan's authority and abilities.
And God is upset because the very people he sent his son too have rejected him, and in a very real way, they have rejected the father as well as the son.
The movie does a great job visualizing both of these metaphysical truths.
The more I think about 'The Passion,' the more I'm convinced I need to see it again!
Thanks so much for your comments betty!
This film is a like a dazzling, perfect, multifaceted diamond: I am still looking, and marveling at the many facets of God’s Truth it presents -- all of which, in all probability, I haven’t even seen yet.
But I can give you some early impressions. (I’ve jotted down a few in earlier posts already, and don’t want to repeat those here.)
There is no way this film is in any way anti-Semitic. What this film plainly is, on one level, is anti-politician. The key “politicians” in the piece are Caiphas and Pontius Pilate. Neither comes off looking particularly well – or good -- in the end.
The amazing thing this film captures is the absolute determination of Jesus to die for us. Satan was telling Him in Gethsemane that no man could do what Jesus had in mind to do: To offer Himself as the redeeming sacrifice for human sin, thereby to restore man to God’s Grace and win for him eternal life. Satan clearly suggested that no man could do that, was strong enough to do that....
Fast forward from there. Consider: Jesus was already half-dead by the time of the crowning with thorns, from hypovolemic shock, hypotension, tachychardia – he had been bled out by at least half at the scourging. Subsequently saddled with a Roman Cross on the Via Dolorosa, at that point, he likely had to command all His strength just to stand up, to bear Himself up -- never mind bear the weight of the Cross laid on Him. And yet He dragged Himself all the way to Calvary -- by the help and grace of Simon still bearing the Cross up to the bitter end -- just so He could be crucified for us.
My thoughts are active, but language fails me here…. Were I to try to express the inexpressible, however, it might (very crudely) go like this: Here we have a case of a man, Jesus of Nazareth who, with his whole heart and soul and mind and strength, deliberately sacrificed himself to his Father, Who is God; and his Father sacrificed God in and for Jesus the Christ – and all this together, for one purpose: the salvation of mankind. (Talk about the intersection of the human and the divine, of Time and Timelessness, of immanence and transcendence, of matter and Spirit….)
It is simply stunning to realize what happened there, on Golgotha, over two thousand years ago. Truly, it is the most important event, the most important story, ever to occur or be told in all of human history.
And Mel Gibson has retold this absolutely unique and glorious story with genius and profound spiritual sensitivity and insight. His The Passion of the Christ is a sublime treasure of the human spirit that beckons to each and every one of us -- heart, mind, and spirit. Praise God that so many have been drawn to the film. May it find widespread resonance in human hearts and souls, and help us to “turn our life around,” to the glory of Christ Jesus.
Amen!
Thank you for the beautiful review! We've seen it twice already, got the book and the sound track and hope to see it again very soon.
Each picture in the book is a masterpiece I would gladly frame and hang on the wall. And the sound track is mesmerizing; I frankly didn't notice the music on the first viewing but after the second viewing, it was a "must have" for meditations.
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