Gibson's 'Passion' simply 2 hours of brutality, gore
'Nail' pendants, some of 'The Passion of the Christ' movie's official merchandise, is on display at the Christian Publilcations bookstore in New York, Monday, Feb. 23, 2004. Sales in the controversial film's merchandise at the bookstore have been reported
Most movies based on the New Testament convey something of Jesus’ teachings. The parables and sermons loom large in “The Gospel According to St. Matthew” and “Godspell,” as well as “The Greatest Story Ever Told” and “Jesus of Nazareth.” Roman cruelty may drive the plot of “Ben-Hur,” but the movie is ultimately about the emptiness of revenge and the Christian promise of redemption.
Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” which is appropriately R-rated for its chamber-of-horrors gore, is unique in the history of Bible movies. It tells us next to nothing about Jesus, aside from the fact that he said a few things about loving one’s neighbors and then died horribly: flogged, jeered at, tormented with a crown of thorns, brutally crucified, with a Roman lance puncturing his side.
The movies listed above didn’t miss this detail, but they didn’t present Jesus only as a victim. Nor did any of them...