Here's mine, which actually got printed in our local paper under letters to the editor:
Go and see the greatest story ever told."Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34) "Behold, I make all things new!" (Revelation 21:5)
These verses make up the heart of "The Passion of the Christ." You may have heard them before, but after seeing this movie, you will never hear them in the same way again.
Theater doesn't reflect a culture as much as precede its future direction. Who controls the theater determines the future direction of society. Why? Because the theater is the greatest of all the arts, in that it so closely imitates life itself, and engages every aspect of human sensibility. For good or evil, the sights and sounds of the theater directly affect the soul. For the theater goer, intellectual examination of what has been taken in may or may not follow. Therefore, it is critical for the health of a society that what its members absorb through the theater be moral and uplifting.
At a time when the arts seem to have been captured by the demonic, we have been graced with a movie that conforms with the proper object of the medium. Most importantly, the subject matter of the movie is the greatest story ever told. Secondly, but just as important for the movie's success in changing hearts, the artistic quality of the film is of the highest order.
This movie is brutally honest. The characters are real. The setting is real. The dialogue is real. The pain is real. At no time was I conscious of watching a dramatization. Within a few minutes of the film's opening I felt that I was there with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. I was there with Him at the scourging. I was there with Him at the crowning of thorns. I was there when they crucified my Lord.
There are several keys to the films realism, perhaps the most important being the use of the original languages. Another key is the characterizations of Jesus and Mary. Both are convincing. Unlike previous "Jesus movies," Jim Caviezal captured Jesus' dual nature perfectly. Jesus is neither too human nor too otherworldly. Mary's portrayal surpassed my expectations. In her there is no sentimentality. She courageously and stoicly embraces her cross. In one stunning scene Satan moves along the route to Calvary, mirroring Mary's movements. Mel Gibson is contrasting God's two greatest creations, Mary and her evil antithesis. Perhaps for this reason Mel cast a woman as Satan. The androgenous figure is striking not so much for its malevolence but for the fact that Satan appears as a shell of a being, something that once was but is no more.
Further heightening the realism are the many crowd scenes. The camera alternately takes the viewpoint of the crowd and the central characters. This is most effective when Jesus is carrying His cross. The camera places you in Jesus' position and then in the crowd. I could see and feel myself in both positions, sometimes as an innocent victim and sometimes as Jesus' antagonist, sometimes as a helpless bystander and sometimes as someone going along with the crowd.
Perhaps this is what makes the film so effective, in that it forces you to take a hard look at yourself and your own life. This lesson is reinforced with the portrayal of Simon of Cyrene. In Gibson's rendition, Simon is singled out by a Roman soldier to help Jesus carry the cross. At first unwilling and proudly indifferent, Simon eventually sympathizes with this man who is being so horribly brutalized. Eventually he summons the courage to defend Jesus against the sadistic soldiers. He is transformed by Jesus' suffering.
But what sets this movie apart from all other depictions of Jesus' life, above all else, is its unflinching portrayal of Jesus' brutalization. Jesus is sadistically beaten with canes, and then with a flagrum by His Roman captors. It is very difficult to watch. I wanted to shout, "God, make it stop!" And then when it appeared that Jesus was going to be released by His torturers, they began beating Him again. The effect is stunning. It breaks through your emotional defenses. It breaks you. "No greater love has a man..."
The effect continues through the Crucifixion, where the words, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" take on new meaning. This is superhuman, supernatural love. It is a transcendent moment, one of many in the greatest movie ever made.