Watching Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, I was breath-taken, shocked and literally found myself shattered by all that blood and other very infamous violent devices used on christ’s body to physically abuse him.
The Passion of the Christ follows the last 12 hours of Jesus’s life. Passion meaning suffering in Latin refers to the agonizing events in the final 12 hours of Jesus Christ’s life. Starting from Getsemane where Jesus is betrayed by Judas and gets arrested by the leaders of Pharisees, the movie walks along with Jesus from then to his last breath on the cross in Golgotha.
Much as been argued and debated on this highly controversial Mel Gibson’s adaptation of perhaps the greatest story ever re-told. Leaving the accuracy of movie and comparison of the depiction with the biblical truths to the biggies, I would stick with the movie and it’s clandestinely beautiful technical craftery.
As the scenes where the christ is beaten-up and tortured unfold, I couldn’t avoid the feeling that it is an exaggeration par excellence. But as the movie continues to unravel the true epic of Christ, one would accept it wasn’t exaggeration after all.
Perhaps the most authentic scene in the movie was when the Christ is scourged, whipped as the blood pours from all over his body by the Romans. Added to it, he is also beaten by a torture device called flagrum or the cat o’ nine tails, a whip with multiple straps and embedded with barbed metal tips to catch and shred the skin, leading to huge blood loss. In one of the most graphic shot where this flagrum is used on the christ’s body, it gets stuck below his rib cage and gets pulled violently causing a tear in the body from where the blood rushes out like a fountain.
As described by many, it is one of the most violent movies of all time. Mel Gibson as the director wants to show this torture of Christ in detail. It’s awe-inspiring and gruesome but the power of the movie lies in these scenes which are never scene before on-screen.
As Gibson being one of my favourite actors, I would have wished him to play the Jesus himself. But Gibson following the rule, no star bigger than the film itself, paves way to Jim Caviezel, the actor who stars as Jesus. With Caviezel’s amazing sharp eyes and some authentic photography by Caleb Deschanel, Mel Gibson’s brings to life a great hero.
Adding to the authenticity, the whole movie talks the biblical language. Aramaic, a ancient Semitic language closely related to Hebrew that today is considered by some linguists to be a dead language. So you sit through the whole movie with sub-titles that distracts you from watching the movie. This wouldn’t be called a compromise as Mel Gibson makes his Jesus talk like the same Jesus who lived 2000 years back.
This movie is certainly not an entertainer. As some said in a review, that if this movie entertains you, you are a sadist. Also for kids, this movie would be hard to sit through.
Mel Gibson as a director sparkles during those flashback scenes when Jesus recollects his past during Crucification. As Mary sees Jesus carrying the cross and falls down flat in the streets of Jerusalem, she remembers Jesus as a child who stumbles and falls down near the house. She runs fast to catch the child before it falls. But unfortunately the child falls down and gets hurt. This universally accepted sentinmental scene also finds a place in this movie.
With some appreciable BGMs and real-to-life Jerusalem street sets, The Passion of the Christ calls for a breath taking description of the life of the Christ. But what’s tough to comprehend is the human nature during the times of Christ which is dubbed as violent, barbaric and ruthless. Probably thats why Jesus preached Love thy Neighbour. Co-incidental to the above lines, as type them, Kamalhassan yells through the speakers, Anbe Sivam… Endrum Anbe Sivam. Do you think timing can be more perfect than this ?
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