Film- The Passion of the Christ- what do you think? - Page 2 - PhillyBlog

Winston · #11 (**permalink**) 02-06-2004, 02:32 PM

I'd only go if they screened it as a double feature with Monty Python's Life of Brian. We heretics demand equal time!

eldondre · #12 (**permalink**) 02-06-2004, 02:34 PM

i'm not so sure about dialogue either. so it's not going to be in theaters?

peacemover · #13 (**permalink**) 02-09-2004, 03:22 PM

Quote:

I'd only go if they screened it as a double feature with Monty Python's Life of Brian. We heretics demand equal time!

Life of Brian is funny despite it's attempts to lampoon the story of Jesus. I believe that Python's Life of Brian speaks volumes about the doubts that agnostics struggle with. I prefer The Holy Grail or Meaning of Life, though, if you are going to talk about Monty Python- politically and religiously incorrect, but infectiously funny.

Seriously though, I think it is cool that Gibson is taking this leap and making a cinematic statement of faith- what's wrong with that?

At least 75% of all movies that are released these days have gratuitous violence, sex and nudity, but the vast majority of people accept this unquestioningly. Now you have (big gasp), a film with overt religious content in it, and all of a sudden people are stirred up over it.

Quote:

i'm not so sure about dialogue either. so it's not going to be in theaters?

This has the semblance of a dialogue. I would also look forward to hearing more diverse perspectives.

The Passion will be released on February 25th.

There will also be an hourlong special on ABC on Monday February 16th from 10-11pm.

Peace,

John

peacemover · #14 (**permalink**) 02-09-2004, 03:56 PM

Here is an article from this Sunday's Inquirer that I thought gave a balanced presentation of some of the various perspectives and offered hope for interfaith dialogue:

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/ent...nt/7899957.htm

Quote:

A $25 million act of faith stirs passion pro and con
Christians and Jews gird for Mel Gibson's film on Jesus.
By Jim Remsen and Daniel Rubin
Inquirer Staff Writers

Jim Caviezel plays Jesus in the Mel Gibson movie, which has stirred controversy.

When Mel Gibson announced his plans 18 months ago for a film about the last hours of Jesus, he said what many in Hollywood were thinking.

"Nobody wants to touch something filmed in two dead languages," said the star, who anted up $25 million for his act of faith, which is in Aramaic and Latin with subtitles. "They think I'm crazy, and maybe I am. But maybe I'm a genius."

Audiences will finally get to make up their own minds come Feb. 25, Ash Wednesday, when The Passion of the Christ debuts at more than 2,000 theaters nationwide - a huge release for an independent foreign-language film.

Gibson's much-talked-about film has been picked up by a savvy distributor, Newmarket Films, and is riding a storm of controversy over its depiction of Jews' role in the crucifixion, and a surge of support from evangelical Christians.

The buzz has resulted in what Ralph Winter, producer of the X-Men movies, calls "the lowest-cost, widest-publicity campaign I've seen in a long time." Winter, who also has produced religious-theme movies, predicted Gibson would recoup his investment by the first weekend.

"He has tapped into some grassroots stuff that normally the big companies don't tap into," he said.

In a remarkable synergy, Gibson's Icon Productions and church groups are promoting Passion with posters and postcards, door hangers and tracts.

Evangelical groups are gearing up for what Morris Chapman, a leader of the Southern Baptist Convention - the nation's largest Protestant denomination - calls "a mighty witnessing tool for reaching people in America who may never have been reached in any other way."

In the last two months, Gibson has shown rough cuts of the movie - the final editing is just being completed - to more than 10,000 pastors, part of a campaign to screen it for influential Christians, including evangelist Billy Graham and Pope John Paul II.

The Christian Booksellers Association has asked 2,500 U.S. retailers to sell tickets and post Passion displays. The National Association of Evangelicals, representing more than 50 denominations, has put a link on its Web site for buying tickets.

In Plano, Texas, a Baptist church reserved a 20-screen multiplex for the premiere. The pastor of a church in Lake Forest, Calif., rented out 10 movie theaters and canceled Sunday services for the showing.

"From an impact level, I'd compare it to Schindler's List or Saving Private Ryan," said Dwight Robinson, who saw the film for the third time Thursday at a convention of Christian retailers in Indianapolis, where he was selling Passion lapel pins in Aramaic. "You feel that is the way it unfolded - as if you are almost watching a documentary."

Many Jewish leaders and Christian scholars, however, say Gibson has patched together gospel scenes - and added gory touches - in a way that casts Jews in a sinister light. Concerned that Passion could tap latent anti-Semitism, they are organizing programs in Philadelphia and elsewhere to turn the controversy into a teachable moment. Their fear is that the skilled hand of Gibson, who won an Oscar for directing 1995's Braveheart, will lead the impressionable to take his interpretation as history.

Burt Siegel, head of the Jewish Community Relations Council in Philadelphia, said Gibson "serves up the resurrected message of deicide," an age-old belief that the Jews killed Christ.

Such a claim incited centuries of deadly "Easter rampages" against Jews. That view has been repudiated by modern biblical scholars and many Christian groups, who lay primary blame on Roman authorities of the time and say that Jesus sacrificed his life for the sins of all humanity.

In an interview to appear in the March issue of Reader's Digest, Gibson said the idea for Passion had been "incubating" in his head for a dozen years. "I was spiritually bankrupt, and when that happens, it's like a spiritual cancer afflicts you," said Gibson, 48, who belongs to a Roman Catholic splinter group that rejects many church reforms of the last 40 years.

He has called the film a potential "career killer" and a story that has "a lot of enemies."

His select screenings have served as both a marketing and an evangelical tool. Yesterday, Marlton United Methodist Church was to be the regional host for a live, nationwide simulcast for churches featuring Gibson and actor Jim Caviezel, who plays Jesus in the film. The sponsoring Church Communication Network is mobilizing Christians with "training rallies" and outreach materials.

Marlton Pastor Lew Hiserote found the movie "powerful, graphic and hard to forget." He discounted the critics, saying that Gibson appears in a cameo role and "puts the spike into Christ's hands to characterize that it's everyone who crucified Christ, and not just the religious leaders of the day."

In the Philadelphia suburbs, pastors at several churches said they might rent theaters for special showings and talks.

Not every church leader who has seen the movie has been pleased. At a July screening, Ukrainian Catholic Archbishop Stefan Soroka complained to Gibson about the violence and the harsh depiction of Jews, and raised another objection: "Where is the hope?"

In a letter to parishioners, Soroka said, "There is very little offered to help the viewer come to know and appreciate Jesus in his humanity and his divinity."

The film poses a strategic challenge for Jewish groups. While concerned that the film may feed into rising global anti-Semitism, they do not want to incite a backlash by disparaging Christian beliefs. Instead, they are working to present a united front with Christian allies.

"We don't want this to be a Jewish-Christian kind of thing where the Jews are complaining and the Christians are responding," said the Rev. Donald G. Clifford, head of the Jewish-Catholic Institute at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia.

"We want our educational efforts directed at churches and parishes, to bring them up to date... about accomplishments in the last 40 years," he said.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia has told priests and educators that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is offering a guide, "The Bible, the Jews and the Death of Jesus: A Collection of Catholic Documents."

The local American Jewish Committee chapter has produced a 60-page resource packet that includes summaries of Christian documents exonerating Jews for the crucifixion. The Auerbach Central Agency for Jewish Education, in Melrose Park, will be holding a workship on the Passion story for synagogue teachers, rabbis and youth group leaders.

Jewish agency officials sent a letter last week to 17 local Christian leaders, urging them "to consider steps you might undertake to reinforce a positive message" and convey mutual respect.

"It's quite possible we will have seen two different films," said local American Jewish Committee chapter director Robert Seltzer, whose group will meet to talk about the movie with the Bucks County Christian Coalition.

"We will see how the Jews are portrayed, and they will see their lord brutally killed in order to create a better world," Seltzer said. "So how can we tiptoe closer together around some of these issues? We'll see."

SteveJohnston · #15 (**permalink**) 02-09-2004, 08:44 PM

Gibson’s ‘Passion’ concerns local Jewish community
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/ne...email=referrer
By MATTHEW HARWOOD, Bucks County Courier Times

Quote:

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP - The Bucks County Jewish community is voicing concern about Mel Gibson's controversial new film "The Passion of the Christ."

On Saturday night, the Jewish Community Center of Bucks County held a kallah, an evening of study that was attended by about 400 people, where the troubling nature of the film was discussed. One of the sessions, "The Crucifixion: The Rabbi Confronts Mel Gibson," was the most popular attraction of the night, demonstrating the Jewish community's uneasiness about the film.

Rabbi Elliot M. Strom of Shir Ami, the Newtown Township synagogue that hosted the kallah, led the study session. He described the film as a "dangerous piece of cinema." Strom had not viewed the film but had spoken with Rabbi Michael Cook, whom he described as "a Jewish authority who had seen it."

peacemover · #16 (**permalink**) 02-11-2004, 04:52 PM

How can these leaders call it a "dangerous piece of cinema" if they in fact have not seen it?? Isn't it a bit premature for that? I agree that certain people could take the film the wrong way but that could happen with any film.

I am not endorsing the film, I am just bringing it up for discussion, because I see a lot of potential for dialogue.

It would seem to me that people might fear that it could spark bouts of anti-Jewish sentiment- based on what has happened over human history, particularly when Passion Plays have been revived in Europe- history shows that there was in fact a wave of anti-Semetism. We are in a different day and age now, and I would hope that our religious leaders of all faiths would reach across cultural and religious boundaries to cultivate dialogue with people of diverse backgrounds.

Why not form a panel of people from different faiths- i.e. Jewish, Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, even Eastern religions. Seek common ground, common understanding. Jews and Muslims may not recognize Jesus as Messiah, but they surely would agree that Jesus of Nazareth was Jewish, and that his teachings, including the Golden rule, were morally instructive.

I think the easy way out is for each sect- whether they be Christian, Jewish, Muslim, whatever, to stir up resistance to interfaith dialogue.

I may have a different perspective after I actually see the film, but I do know that I will still be open to interfaith dialogue and will seek it.

This stirring up of fear-mongering is gratuitous and unnecessary.

Jim Caveziel, the actor who portrayed Jesus in the film said that the whole experience of making then seeing the film reminded him that the whole world, and each individual, is responsible for Jesus' death- not one specific ethnic or religious group. Others may not share that belief, but to say that the story of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is in anyway anti-Semetic (regardless of Mr. Gibson's portrayal of it) is not helpful to enhancing interfaith understanding. Instead of these leaders and journalists throwing the anti-semetism term around, let's talk about the concerns Jewish people have about this story openly and specifically.

I do not practice Judaism, or Islam, or other non-Christian religions, but I respect them, and I want to understand them and their followers as best I can, in order that I may be a good neighbor to them.

Let's keep the dialogue going.

Peace,

John

SteveJohnston · #17 (**permalink**) 02-11-2004, 05:52 PM

Regardless of faith, isn't the important thing that it is promoting open discussion of religion?

Sponge · #18 (**permalink**) 02-11-2004, 06:14 PM

What is the big deal? It's just a movie. I mean c'mon. Jesus H. Christ...oops sorry! ;-)

Winston · #19 (**permalink**) 02-13-2004, 04:59 PM

Nevermind the Mel Gibson movie, if I were a Jew I'd be furious about this.

Quote:

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -- Catholic officials have condemned the recent cloning of human embryos, with Pope John Paul's bioethics advisor calling it a repeat of what the Nazis tried to do in World War Two concentration camps.

"You can't kill human life in the hopes of finding medicines to save other lives," said Monsignor Elio Sgrecia, vice president of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life, Friday.

"That would be a repeat of what the Nazis did in the concentration camps," Sgrecia, who is close to the pope, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

That completely belittles the suffering of the holocaust victims and their families. What a great idea: let's disparage the suffering of millions during WWII while prolonging the suffering of millions more today by outlawing research that might alleviate many otherwise incurable diseases. Reason #86 I'm glad I ditched the Catholic church. Just when I was ready to praise the pope for having break-dancers perform at the Vatican (no joke, that really happened), they go and do this...

peacemover · #20 (**permalink**) 02-18-2004, 03:10 PM

Winston, that comment, whoever made it over @ the Vatican is certainly ill-advised and regrettable, but it has nothing to do with Gibson's film.

By the way, did anyone here see the hour-long special on ABC Primetime on Monday @ 10pm?

I checked it out and thought it was a very thorough, candid exploration of the film, as well as many of the questions raised by critics including the Jewish leaders who were critical of it.

I was really impressed by Gibson's candor in speaking of how his faith has changed him and his lifestyle. He talked about some of the trappings of celebrity that his faith has helped him move beyond.

He came across as quite genuine and humble about his work on the film and his belief that God guided him through much of the production of The Passion (www.thepassionofchrist.com).

In case you didn't see it and want to check out the interview Diane Sawyer did with Mel, here is a link to the article on the ABC website:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/Prime..._040216-1.html

Peace,

John

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Whatever It Takes - Fishtown Family Film Nights - Shrek June 24 8:00pm Fishtown Rec	AJ Thomson	Fishtown / Northern Liberties / Kensington	4	06-15-2005 09:28 AM
A review of The Passion	Anonymous	Spirituality & Faith	11	05-30-2004 11:53 PM
The Passion of The Christ film	peacemover	Spirituality & Faith	11	04-12-2004 11:40 AM
Philadelphia Film Festival	Anonymous	Culture	2	04-02-2004 09:35 AM
Film in the City Sneak Preview - 2/19 - Seating is limited	JenniferKronstain	Events	3	02-11-2004 11:37 AM