Posted on 08/04/2003 1:35:30 AM PDT by yonif
Is "The Passion"--Mel Gibson's upcoming film about the hours leading up to Jesus' death--anti-Semitic?
That depends on how you interpret the Bible, says Cardinal Francis George, who saw a rough-cut version of the film two weeks ago.
"It's a very graphic presentation of the passion of Christ in the Gospels," George said Saturday. "For people who think that the passion narratives are themselves anti-Semitic, well then, it's a presentation of those narratives.
"For those of us who don't believe they're anti-Semitic, that Christ died for our sins, all of us, and so therefore we all caused his death, it's a way to portray, very graphically, the brutality of that execution in a Roman style."
The film--which isn't scheduled for release until Ash Wednesday but has been screened for select audiences around the nation--has come under fire from some religious scholars and Jewish groups who say it could foster anti-Semitism.
"We believe this film in its present form has the potential to set Catholic-Jewish relations back decades with one brush stroke," said Richard Hirschhaut, Midwest director of the Anti-Defamation League. "It is clear that the characters who are the Jews are cast as . . . distrustful, scheming and evil."
The controversy has centered largely around a committee of Roman Catholic and Jewish scholars who have not seen the film but read a script version, the New York Times reported. The committee, which said it was called together by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Anti-Defamation League, has criticized the script, saying its depictions of Jesus' death are not in line with Catholic teaching, particularly the Second Vatican Council's 1965 declaration dismissing the belief that the Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus.
Cardinal George, who attended an invitation-only screening at the Gene Siskel Film Center in the Loop, said he was hesitant to make a final judgment because the film is not yet complete.
But he said the movie presents some of the most graphic, moving images he's ever seen.
"I've read the Passion narratives of the Lord and contemplated them and prayed over them many, many times, and I've never thought of the crucifixion with the images that I received while watching this," George said. "I'll never read the words the same way again."
Among the scholars who reviewed the script is the Rev. John Pawlikowski, an ethics professor and director of the Catholic-Jewish Studies Program at the Catholic Theological Union in Hyde Park.
"This was one of the worst things we had seen in describing responsibility for the death of Christ in many, many years," Pawlikowski told the Times. He could not be reached Saturday.
The scholars sent a report of their findings to Gibson. The Anti-Defamation League also sent a letter to Gibson but said it has yet to hear back from him or be invited to a screening.
Gibson has screened the rough-cut version of "The Passion" for other religious groups and leaders, including the National Association of Evangelicals, to garner their support. They say his film, while gory, is a significant work that accurately tells the story of Jesus' death.
Gibson, who is a member of the traditionalist Catholic movement that rejects all church teachings since the Second Vatican Council, has not publicly commented on the controversy. He released a statement in June saying that the movie is "meant to inspire, not offend."
"My intention in bringing it to the screen is to create a lasting work of art and engender serious thought among audiences of diverse faith backgrounds," the statement read.
The film, which Gibson directed and is financing with $25 million of his own money, stars James Caviezel as Jesus. The dialogue is in Latin and Aramaic, and Gibson had wanted to release it without English subtitles, which do appear in the rough-cut version. Now, they may remain, the Times reported.
George said he was impressed that the film gave a more complex and thus accurate depiction of Jesus, who is often thought of as "this nice-boy-next-door . . . who floats around and smiles and is untouched by the sufferings of the human race he came to save.
"That's as much a false representation of Jesus as anything else, and this is a kind of corrective to that," George said. "We hope it doesn't have other consequences, but that will have to be seen."
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