The Passion of the Christ
It's been mentioned many times before, but as a Simpsons fan, I'll mention it again. An episode of the animated series featured a guest starring Mel Gibson remaking "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" with Jimmy Stewart. With the help of Homer, Stewart's poignant ending in Congress turned into a violent shoot-em-up with Gibson in the Stewart role killing everyone in the chamber, a decision that had audiences fleeing shouting it was the worst movie ever. In "The Passion of the Christ", all that violence is squarely focused on one character, one Jesus of Nazareth played by Jim Caviezel. The Pharisees, shocked and outraged by Jesus' blasphemous sayings, force upon the Roman governor Pilate to crucify Jesus, something he reluctantly agrees to in order to prevent any major bloodshed in the province. What follows is a graphic portrayal of the last hours of Jesus, complete with floggings all over his body and the torture he endures as he carries his cross to his eventual crucifixion. All of this occurs while his mother Mary (Maia Morgenstern) and sister Mary Magdalene (Monica Bellucci) weep from a distance.

This graphic bloodshed of Jesus director Gibson has given us seems both justified and excessive. The movie culls powerful images throughout in documenting the last hours of Jesus, a truthful rendition based on the Gospels with most of it that will be remembered for a long time. Yet at its base, Gibson has given us the basic shoot-em-up, only this time, there are no guns, just clubs and a cross. Gibson's narrow-mindedness to focus solely on Jesus' physical punishment loses the film's motivation as a film to teach, with not much opportunity at all to back up the violence when he clearly had a chance to more fully explain the inner thoughts of all the characters involved. Instead, only Pilate and his wife get this complex treatment of the inner struggle of the decision made. While probably pushing but not crossing the anti-semitic line, the film doesn't treat the Jews in a fairly positive light either, with most all pushing for his death, yelling when they needed to and spitting when they had the chance. Visually you get your money's worth but enlightened? You are not. 2.5 stars