"I've Seen The Kansas Of Your Sweet Little Myth"

Went and saw The Passion of Christ last night. Many hours removed, I'm still not quite sure what to think about it. I know one thing for sure--it was a decidedly violent movie. Almost macabre in its violence, you might say, though I understand why it was done and why the violence bothered me.

Really, there was no more violence in this than, say, your average action/adventure movie. Each installment of LOTR probably had twice as much violence in it. But the difference was the spirit or the feeling of the violence. In LOTR, when you see Aragorn chop down an orc, you don't feel anything beyond, "dude, that looked really cool." It's almost cartoonish violence, not real in a way.

The violence in Passion was not that way at all. It seemed very real, very unnerving, and very painful. Whoever did the makeup and CG effects for this movie did a phenomenal job, I can tell you that much. I won't go into any of the gorey details; suffice to say, if you have a weak stomach, or are prone to feeling ill at the sight of blood, you may want to skip this. It's not for the faint of heart.

The other significant issue with the violence was that the majority of it happened to one person. In your typical action film, the violence is spread out. The hero kills or beats up a few dozen or a few hundred faceless enemies, or maybe suffers a few blows himself, or a bruise or a grazing bullet wound or whatever. But in Passion, it's virtually all happening to Jesus, and you really wonder how one person could withstand such abuse. And make no mistakes, he was abused. Severely. I noticed a number of people having to hide their eyes at key moments, and I can't say I blame them.

But what of the more important concerns with the film? Was it really unfair to Jews, was it really anti-Semitic? Did it fairly and accurately depict the last day of Jesus's life? Hard to say, really. Some of the Jewish characters in the film appear to be very wicked, almost caricatured individuals, Caiphas especially. They seem downright demonic, with rotten teeth and nasty expressions. They seem to goad the people into calling out for Jesus's death.

But then you also have Jewish characters who are not like that at all. For every Jew calling for the crucifixion of Jesus, you have another weeping as He is dragged and whipped through the streets. You have the Jewish man who is roped into helping Jesus carry the cross when He was too weak to continue by himself. You have Mary, Peter, and Mary Magdelene, who seem to have nothing in common with the Jews who call for punishment and death.

Really, it's hard to say whether it was anti-Semitic or not. Fact of the matter is, Jews did call for the death of Jesus. If you're making a movie based on Gospel accounts, and the Gospels say "this is how it happened," that's how you have to say it happened. Since the Gospels clearly indicate (at least, the Gospel of Matthew, which is rather more biased against the Jews than the other three) that Jesus was condemned by his own people, that's how you have to portray it.

Deeper issues--what does this movie do for faith? Personally, something about the film bothered me. I think it's the way it focused on the violence Jesus suffered, on the torture and pain He underwent. I know that stuff is important to the Gospel account, and to the whole death and ressurection of Christ. But should that be the point? I always thought the purpose of the Easter story wasn't that Jesus suffered these horrible, horrible things, but that He overcame them, that He rose again as He said He would. It's a story of hope, not one of anguish and pain and hatred. I almost wonder if this movie focuses too much on the violence to the detriment of the message.

All told, I am glad I saw the movie. It was a worthwhile experience, I think, and one that's left me thinking about what I believe and why I believe it.

In other, less religious news, I'm leaving tomorrow to present a history paper at the annual Oklahoma Phi Alpha Theta History Conference down in Lawton. I should probably figure out how to get there before I leave.

I'm also rather annoyed that Bob Dylan is playing a show up in Tulsa Saturday night, and I won't get a chance to go see him because I won't get back from the conference in time to drive up to Tulsa. I swear, school and my profession keep getting in the way of me attending kick ass rock concerts. First McCartney, now this. What's the world comin' to, I ask ya?

~chaos cricket

Song of the Moment: The Wallflowers, "One Headlight"