Hideous, Stupid and Barbaric (Anti-Passion Alert!)

Toronto Sun ^ | 2/25/2004 | Michael Coren

[Pyro7480]

Last week, I wrote a preamble column about Mel Gibson's new movie, The Passion of the Christ. I said that I was extraordinarily optimistic. In fact, I have never before wanted to enjoy a movie so much.

But I was wrong. Oh, how wrong I was.

I love God and Jesus with all my heart, but for the life of me I cannot embrace this film.

Forgive me if I cause offence, but I have to be honest.

This is some pre-Vatican II Roman Catholic blood cult. It is populated with medieval-type caricatures, screaming out of context, laughing at suffering.

Everyone is gruesome and grotesque, apart from a handful of people such as the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene and the apostle John. Mary, by the way, is hardly off of the screen, when in fact she is seldom mentioned in the Gospel accounts.

Herod is some cross-dressing lunatic, the Pharisee leaders, some of the brightest men of the age, are all obscene brutes and the Roman soldiers and the mob resemble crazed gargoyles.

No, no, no! The point has been completely missed. Hate me if you like, but please listen. The point is this:

We would have crucified Him. We would crucify Him. You, me, us. We'd smile, be tolerant and loving, do the right thing as we see it, and crucify Him. Then go home to hug our children and talk about how bad the world had become.

Evil seduces and beguiles. It is frequently attractive. If it was as ugly as director Gibson has portrayed, Jesus would not have had to die in agony. And agony is what it was.

Modern Christians have tended to play down the blood and gore of the Messiah's death. But Gibson compensates to such an extreme that he gives us a virtual fetish.

Indeed, the scene where a Roman soldier plunges his spear into Christ's side is, I am sorry, almost like something out of Monty Python. The soldier and those around him shower in the water and blood that cascades out of Yeshua's body.

I suppose we should not be surprised. Gibson made Braveheart and The Patriot, with all of their disembowelings, throat cuttings and, of course, massive historical absurdities. Somehow I thought he'd be more sophisticated with something this important.

The shame of it all is that we know more about what really happened 2000 years ago now than we have done since shortly after the events actually took place. We think in nuance and truth. Not Gibson. Nor does he appear to have read any of the books written in the past 50 years that make the Gospel story so believable, so fleshy and, thus, so convincing.

One example: Barabas. He was a Zealot leader, possibly a local aristocrat. We read our Hebrew and Greek, know about Essenes, Sadducees and Jewish life and culture. We understand. Yet here he is portrayed as a dribbling psychotic. As are most of the Jews in the movie.

So, is it anti-Semitic? Not really. Jews are generally shown as hideous, stupid and barbaric, but then so are the Romans.

Apart from Pontius Pilate, who is here compassion embodied. The thing is, he was a notorious killer who crucified thousands of people without a second thought.

Movie-making requires subtlety, and The Passion is relentlessly violent and nasty. There is no rhythm, no chance for light and purpose and meaning to shine through.

Yes, meaning. More than pain and suffering, so much more.

The flashbacks seem, with one touching exception depicting Jesus as a child, to be mere attempts to push Catholic eucharistic theology onto the audience.

There are vile moments, resembling outtakes from some remake of The Exorcist. A mob of Jewish children morph into tiny devils with murderous faces. Maggots eat away at a dead mule. Satan creeps around, worms crawling up his nose, carrying a perverse baby with hairy back and adult features. None of this is Scriptural, of course. It is also so, well, so anti-humanity.

I wanted majesty and pathos but was given clumsiness and thumping. Yet God's grace and His love still surround me.

If the movie works for you, I am happy. For me, it is prayer, Bible and a dwelling in a God-given imagination that this hyped Hollywood product can never rival.

Michael Coren is a Toronto-based writer and broadcaster. He can be emailed at info@michaelcoren.com and his web site is michaelcoren.com.

[Pyro7480]

It was John Derbeyshire on National Review Online's 'The Corner' that linked me to this article. He said, "No, haven't seen The Passion yet, and likely won't be. I have a suspicion that if I DO see it, my reaction will be close to this guy's," linking to the article. I've seen similar screeds like this on FR over the past few days. Is this really how some Christians are reacting to this movie?

[Reelect President Dubya]

In fact, I have never before wanted to enjoy a movie so much.

"Enjoy" a crucifixion?

It's evident who the real barbarian is.

[Puppage]

I said that I was extraordinarily optimistic

Are you also an extraordinary atheist?

[over3Owithabrain]

I trust my own judgment more than anyone else's, excluding perhaps my wife. We both saw it and didn't feel at all like this writer. The movie is well made, and Jesus and His love is fittingly the focus. The flashback scenes add far more than what is being reported. Of course there are stylistic interpretations by Gibson as with any movie. But it does the Gospel account total justice. It is not a feel-good Jesus smiling and handing out flowers movie, it's not supposed to be.

[Pyro7480]

No, the impression I got was that he was turned off by the scenes sympathetic to Catholicism in the movie.

[Thane_Banquo]

I think people don't realize how barbaric the original crucifixion was. So when liberals see this, they naively assume it wasn't as gory as Gibson made it out to be.

Truth is, it was probably gorier. And people need to know the true brutality of the crucifixion to fully appreciate the Gift they have been given.

[over3Owithabrain]

Yes! and that's what Gibson was clearly striving for. And he was successful, too successful for those who don't want to face it.

[Rodney King]

It is also so, well, so anti-humanity Yes it is. Exactly.

[marlon]

On another note what I've never understood is how cruxifiction kills someone. As I understand it they suffocate but I'm just not sure how or why that happens.

[Puppage]

It was intended as a rhetorical question.

[Jaded]

Most of the review is the same as 75% of the others. Except that line about: The flashbacks seem, with one touching exception depicting Jesus as a child, to be mere attempts to push Catholic eucharistic theology onto the audience. The eucharistic theology part was in the gospels. So is divide and conquer the new approach from the media?

[AFPhys]

You've got it right. and,


I apologize, but I believe it useful to cross link some of these articles:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1085936/posts?page=11#11

I've got to run very soon and don't have the time to restate too much of what I've already written about this, but
in the link above, and in later posts there, I discuss:

"... I've got a (weird) friend - a historian whose specialty is pre-Renaissance torture - techniques, results, etc. He
informed me long before this movie ever was a thought that there are many contemporary texts available which
describe the Roman methods of torture and crucifixion. "

Perhaps you may wish to check this out.

[biblewonk]

--snip--Everyone is gruesome and grotesque, apart from a handful of people such as the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene and the apostle John. Mary, by the way, is hardly off of the screen, when in fact she is seldom mentioned in the Gospel accounts.

I expected this.

[Dataman]

The eucharistic theology part was in the gospels. So is divide and conquer the new approach from the media?

Yes indeed, divide and conquer. There was only one thing overtly "Catholic" in the movie and it was harmless: The image on Veronica's cloth. I saw the movie. I wonder how many of the critics really went to see the movie?

[biblewonk]

--snip--I suppose we should not be surprised. Gibson made Braveheart and The Patriot, with all of their disembowelings, throat cuttings and, of course, massive historical absurdities. Somehow I thought he'd be more sophisticated with something this important.

Another part of our lunch break conversation.

[biblewonk]

Hollywood tends to make "Rocky" style violence. The blows that Rocky and whoever exchanged would have individually stopped any fight but they do 10 rounds worth. The human body in Hollywood is able to withstand unlimited punishment. I don't intend to see the movie.

[MissNomer]

While I haven't seen the movie yet (planning to tomorrow night), from what I've heard from those who have, I don't believe I will agree with this reviewer. However, I was deeply impressed by the following:

"We would have crucified Him. We would crucify Him. You, me, us. We'd smile, be tolerant and loving, do the right thing as we see it, and crucify Him. Then go home to hug our children and talk about how bad the world had become."

I think there's a lot of truth in this one quote, apart from its relationship to the review. Reminds me of the C.S. Lewis quote about busybodies and oh-so-compassionate liberal types persecuting others "with the approval of their own conscience."

All this notwithstanding, the point to be taken from this movie and the Gospels is that it's not about what people did or would do. It's about what He did for us.

[PrincessB]

The body is put in a position which cuts off air and eventually lungs colapse. Stand against a wall. Put your arms out, hunch forward. Try to breathe. It is much harder. Imagine hanging like that for three or four hours. You can breath easier if you push away from the wall with your legs and arch your back. Hence, the breaking of the legs.

[hosepipe]

Crucifixion ain't nice, the sword in the side was a blessing..
Crucifixion ends your life by lack of being able to breathe.
after almost unbelieveable torture before...

Romans we're not nice people and nether we're the Sanhedrin.. Feeding chistians too tigers and lions was mericiful in comparison.. Even Nero when he dipped christians into wax with a wick and burned them like candles (set on a pole) at his orgys was not as painful...

The price Jesus paid is all that more precious is the point of the movie.. Geese, you buy them books they eat the pages... or use the paper for other puposes..

[kimoajax]

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. While we may all have read and heard that "Greater love has no man than that he lay down his life for another," it is not all that surprising that a realistic picture of the gravity of those words would tend to make one feel just a bit uncomfortable if not naked....exposing the more sanitized fairytale veiws of the meaning of Christ as useless fig leaves.