Andrew Nguyen Mr. Duerr US History 4/19/2018 The Passion of The Christ L.I.D.O Love it or hate it; it’s really hard to deny whether “The Passion of the Christ” is a perfect movie for Christian to watch during the Holy Week. Is it difficult to find words to describe the graphic nature of the Passion of Christ? Offensive? Bizarre? Shocking? Revolting? None of these adjectives fully captures the movie's portrayal of the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The film is two hours of harsh, wanton brutality with almost nonstop bloodshed, pain, and torture. In this essay, I will go over things that positively impressed me in this movie. Furthermore, I will also go over the downsides and suggest some improvements for it. Now, let's talk about couple things that I liked about “The Passion of the Christ”. Mel Gibson has done an excellent job in lifting off a real-life story from the Bible. The movie was spoken in Palestinian Aramaic, and Hebrew, which were the ancient languages back then. Making actors articulate these tongues, in a script hardly crammed with subtlety and nuance in the first place, makes them sound very stilted. By doing this, it made the film successfully portrayed the Roman Society at that time, which hypocritically believed in the brutal High Priest who denied Jesus Christ. I also loved the scene when Satan throws the snake at Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. Watching that scene, I honestly knew the eternal power of Jesus. Just by a glance, the snake went away. “The Passion of the Christ” was a movie full of symbolism which I really liked. From my opinion, the image of the pigeon that Jesus saw when he stood in front of the governor represented for peace or somehow, for the Father. Maybe, that pigeon sent the signals to Jesus that he didn't need to fear the torture and the punishment because the Father was always by his side. Another symbol in this movie was the image of Satan carrying the deformed baby. 1"Many theologians have wondered what this symbolizes since it does not directly reference anything in the Bible. Some have said this baby devil could express humanity itself, steeped in sin, being fed daily by its "mother," the Prince of Darkness. Moreover, there in the background is Christ, on the path to the cross, to break those "maternal" bonds to Satan and replace them with obligations to our true father in heaven. Mel Gibson, who produced and directed the movie, notes how the baby devil retains some of its human characteristics even as this association with sin deforms it: "Instead of a normal mother and child, you have an androgynous figure holding a 40-year-old 'baby' with hair on his back. It is weird, it is shocking, it's almost too much. . ." he says”1. In additions, the image of Longinus, who pierced Jesus, was a great symbol also. After being stabbed, the blood of Our Savior has mixed with water and freely flow into the air. When the blood mixture touched the eyes of Longinus, his vision started to improve immensely; then he began to believe in Jesus. I had to say that “The Passion of The Christ” was made not only for Christians. With many flashbacks, the story of Jesus's crucifixion will make more sense towards Non-Christians audiences. Questions like "Who is this Woman? Who are they? Why are they doing this?” have been answered by these flashbacks. Through these throwback scenes, the complicated relationship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus has clearly showed to the audience. Obviously, from the Gospels, Mary Magdalene had a surpassing love for Jesus. She had been freed by him from stone grounded by seven devils, had followed him as a disciple, ministering to him from her means (Luke 8:2-3), and had been with Mary, the Mother of Jesus and the other women when Jesus was crucified (Mark 15:40-41). I also liked the flashback when Mary said “I'm Here” when the little Jesus fell. That flashback made the audience feel the motherhood between Jesus and Mary, and they would know why Jesus got up again when he realized that he couldn't bring the cross anymore. In the movie, the cinematography was as outstanding as the scripts. If the Cinematography is the science or art of motion-picture photography, Mel Gibson deserves to earn a Ph.D. in this Science. The director has put all his passion in choosing the camera angle, light, sounds or even every little prop. For example, when Jesus struggled in bringing the cross, the director wisely used the closeup and slow-motion techniques to make a freezing time effect which emphasizes the pain, the torment that Jesus was being suffered. Also, to make that scene to a higher level, they chose a piece of background music which use a lot of Arabic Traditional Instruments to add a " sorrow" spice into this movie. When Simon helped Jesus bring the cross, the slow-motion technique has successfully shown the helpful personality of Simon. All the sweat, blood or lineament has perfectly captured at that moment, made the films not only good at the content but also perfect in the cinematography aspects. On the other hand, “The Passion of The Christ” still has some downside that made audiences feel scared. At the very beginning, Mel Gibson has made the garden of Gethsemane too gloomy that somehow make this film more like a thriller movie than a historical one. I think the background would be better if they put more exposure to the scene and choose less scary background music. Also, the movie contains a lot of thrilling scenes which are not friendly for every audiences. The nail scene is an excellent example. I know the Director wanted to show all the torment that Jesus had to suffer, but there're many other ways to express the feeling of someone. I suggest putting an image of the Sky and put the sound of Hammer, a drop of water, and some yelling sound. It would make the audiences had a better experience with “The Passion of Christ”. Also, if I am Mel Gibson, I will make a version that's friendly for children because watching movies is a perfect way to study theology. In conclusion, “The Passion of The Christ” is an excellent choice to put in your Easter break's playlist. The movie is both good at content and cinematography aspects. Not only a movie, but the Passion of The Christ is also a valuable study material for people, who are researching about Jesus's Crucifixion. Furthermore, by watching this movie, Christians will be more appreciated for our Savior, who “sacrificed his life for our sins, not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1John2:2) Citations. 1 “Baby Devil.” AllAboutJesusChrist.org, www.allaboutjesuschrist.org/baby-devil-faq.htm.
