Areactor Posted March 9, 2004 Report Share Posted March 9, 2004 What do you guys make of the success of The Passion of Christ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielshrugged Posted March 9, 2004 Report Share Posted March 9, 2004 Not much. I'm sure it enjoyed much of its success from a Christian audience. This isn't unexpected. There are a lot of Christians in America. I'm not sure how much of the Passion's success was due to this, but I think Christian organizations purchased large quantities of tickets and distributed them to people for free. For instance, the Christian Fellowship at my college did this, and over one hundred students (including myself) took advantage of the offer, most of them just trying to get a free movie out of the deal, not acting out of any devotion to Christianity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidV Posted March 9, 2004 Report Share Posted March 9, 2004 There have been a number of reviews correctly identifying the essence of the movie. Here two of the best: JESUS CHRIST SUPERSCAR The Worship of Blood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard_Halley Posted March 11, 2004 Report Share Posted March 11, 2004 bet it nails christianity right on the head Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Geezer Posted March 12, 2004 Report Share Posted March 12, 2004 (edited) I agree with DS Iwould also like to add the following thoughts. 1. As "religion" has become more secularized in this country and people have stopped going to church/sunday school etc, I think that people that Identify with a particular Religion have become a little curious about what exactly is supposed to have happened. 2. It seems to me that western Europe has been experiencing some Xenophobia partially fuelled by immigrant pressures from eastern europe, internal population explosion of its Arabic/Islamic population, and an at times anti-Israel bias in the press.... and as this has influenced "liberal" americans, I would not be suprised if the same old tired anti-semitic theories started arising, especially amongst those who cite our Friendship with Israel as the thing that needs to go in the war on terror. 3. its violent... Our culture is in love with violence. Edited March 12, 2004 by RadCap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capitalism Forever Posted March 12, 2004 Report Share Posted March 12, 2004 bet it nails christianity right on the head Hehe, good one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AutoJC Posted April 3, 2004 Report Share Posted April 3, 2004 Dr. Onkar Ghate gives this violent, gory flick a really good slamming. A Passion Against Man Jim Caviezel, the actor who plays Jesus, explains: "We're all culpable in the death of Christ. My sins put him up there. Yours did. That's what this story is about." When Diane Sawyer asked the film's director and cowriter, Mel Gibson, who killed Jesus, he replied, "The big answer is, we all did. I'll be the first in the culpability stakes here." And as if to leave no doubt that this is his considered view, Gibson's only on-screen appearance in the film is in the form of the hands that drive the nails into Jesus' body. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â It is frightening that so evil a message could receive so welcome a reception. (boldface mine) The mainstream press, like Time and Newsweek, were no less receptive to ths movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Invictus Posted April 13, 2004 Report Share Posted April 13, 2004 My curiosity got the better of me and I finally went to see The Passion yesterday. Mel Gibson is a great director. The Patriot was good and Braveheart was one of the best movies ever made. I can thus fully understand that those who believe in the teachings and stories of Christ would be able to connect with the events taking place on screen and be quite taken aback by them. But I, not having any emotional affiliation with Jesus or Christianity, couldn't help but come out of the cinema thinking that Gibson is just a sick weirdo. The length and brutality of the whipping scene was ridiculous and the close ups of [both] nails going through Jesus were totally unnecessary. Accusations of anti-Semitism are not to be written off. While virtually everything contained in the film is straight from the bible, it seems that Gibson has gone through all four gospels and selected those segments that most vilify the Jews. Additionally, while the Roman soldiers eagerly torture Jesus, the upper echelons of the Roman forces appear very reluctant to have him executed (Pilot nearly cries at one point). The Jewish crowds also resemble a group of marauding orcs. Having said this, I couldn't really care if the Jews of ancient Judea killed Jesus. The idea that a people can be held accountable for the deeds of their ancestors is absurd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capitalism Forever Posted April 13, 2004 Report Share Posted April 13, 2004 Having said this, I couldn't really care if the Jews of ancient Judea killed Jesus. I'll go further than that and say that a film that portrays the Jews as responsible for the death of Jesus actually sends, from my point of view, a PRO-Jewish message... (Besides, from the POV of the New Testament, weren't those who killed Jesus doing the will of God?----I'm not one of those who enjoy ridiculing people's sacred beliefs, but come on, if your religion is built upon self-contradiction, some things are bound to be funny about it...!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
argive99 Posted May 4, 2004 Report Share Posted May 4, 2004 What do you guys make of the success of The Passion of Christ? Tracinsky has just reviewed The Passion in The Intellectual Activist. As usual, his review is awesome. He identifies the true meaning of the film and shows the superficial criticism it has received from the secular left. He ends up by showing it to be a revival of the Medieval Christian worldview. His review is well worth reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tryptonique Posted May 4, 2004 Report Share Posted May 4, 2004 My review of the movie: Frankly, I thought the movie was sort of bland. It was a window into sadism and brutality of a bunch of ignorant 2000 year old civilizations. The cinematography was awesome and I LOVED the flashbacks. The time when Mary is trying to get up the strength to go help Jesus and has the flashback to when he fell down as a child was seriously seriously moving. Maybe I'm the only one that was emotionally touched by that moment, but I thought that demonstration of a mother's love for her son was very timeless. Frankly, Satan was the most interesting character in the movie. I wish Mel had done a movie on the biblical story of Satan and all the big bad stuff that Satan has done. That would have been entertainment. Satan doesn't really have much gender in the movie and frankly...I think he/she looks like Billy Corgan a bit. Her voice has some amazing affects and the black hood/slightly modified voice, and the way she moves in that cloak is simply one of the coolest things in that whole movie. Aside from that, I was really disappointed. This movie is a bloodfest and past that, it doesn't do much. You are left pretty hardpressed to say that The Passion had much going for it past the usual Christian bromides of "love thy neighbor." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Areactor Posted May 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2004 You know what? This is the third time I've heard that someone looked like Billy Corgan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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