BRAVEHEART IN LOINCLOTH
First I read the reviews of Mel Gibson's epic THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST.
Here are two revealing ones ;
David Canby, The New Yorker, wrote ; " As a viewer, I am equally free to say that the
movie Gibson has made from his personal obsessions is a sickening death trip, a grimly
unilluminating procession of treachery, beatings, blood and agony.
Gibson is so thoroughly fixated on the scourging and crushing of Christ, and so meagerly
involved in the spiritual meanings of the final hours, that he falls in danger of altering Jesus
message of love into one of hate ..............the scourging, for instance, which is
mentioned only in a few phrases in Matthew, Mark and John, is drawn out to the point of
excruciation and beyond. "
Stephanie Zacharek , SALON , wrote: " Gibson has made the first true Jesusploitation
flick, a picture that, despite its self-righteous air of grave religiosity, is barely spiritual at all.
Instead, it's the most macho movie about Jesus ever made, one that catalogs his physical
suffering in a businesslike visual database of flayed flesh and spurting blood. If we turn
away from "The Passion of the Christ" -- in other words, if we fail to give in to Gibson's
bullying tactics, which are more like a peculiar form of martial arts than a style of filmmaking --
we will have failed the spiritual test. "
Having read these reviews I attended the afternoon showing at my
local theater in Sonoma ( which was nearly empty ) and settled in for The Passion .
The beatings of Jesus began within the first five minutes and never let up until he was
taken down from the cross approximately an hour and twenty minutes later.
Except for brief flashbacks there was virtually no character development and nothing that
reinforced his message of love .
This was the journey from hell and it bordered on over-kill.
As such, Gibson's PASSION is destined to become the ultimate religious victim film .
The only meaningful , although barely explored, human interaction was between
Pontius Pilate and his wife as they wrestled with the truth and their consciences over
the problem of Jesus.
Truthfully, I was not moved by the bloody carnage of Jesus's
humiliation and relentless scourging but more numbed by the
graphic sheer hatred and brutality of his captors.
What on earth, I thought, was Gibson trying to prove by depicting
almost two hours of the graphic pain and agony of Jesus at the
hands of his brutal captors.
It was inhumanity at its worst.
It was inhumanity at its worst.
Of course, a light went on with
the Mad Max triology and up through Braveheart , has been man's inhumanity to man .
What better way for Gibson to make this point than use the loving symbol of Jesus
endlessly tortured and abused by his fellow man and then graphically crucified - with
each flesh piercing nail pounding home that theme of inhumanity .
The resurrection is almost an after thought and barely delt with but , like Braveheart , he
survives and triumphs by defeating the ultimate challenge ~ Death.
This movie is indeed Braveheart in loincloth shock and
horrify its viewers and perhaps , possibly giving Gibson much to much insight , bring
us face to face with our own continuing worldwide inhumanity .
In that it succeeded but the pervasive passion was one of unmitigated hatred which all
but submerged the message of christ's love and soul consciousness .
But is that not also a reflection of our current world turmoil ?
Hmmm .
ONLY THE TRUTH IS REVOLUTIONARY
