Reviews of ‘The Passion of the Christ’ by our staff
The Layman Online, March 10, 2004
Members of the staff of the Presbyterian Lay Committee went together to see The Passion of the Christ. We all agreed that it was Biblically solid, incredibly powerful and beautiful in a terrifying way.
We sat around the table we use for our morning prayer conference and talked about The Passion – some of us tearfully, others with great bursts of reinvigorated faith.
Here are some of our thoughts:
Angie Treadway
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect because I normally discount much of the media hype that precedes many movies. By the same token, I was not prepared to be so moved.
This film is a wake-up call for those who profess to be Christian. It is bloody and brutal. But the scenes were not unnecessary, nor do I believe they were exaggerated. They are honest.
Never again will the words of the creeds roll off my lips by rote. Never again will communion merely be a nice part of worship fellowship. Never again will I gloss over Holy Week, too much in a hurry to get to Easter or too busy to take the time to reflect on the magnitude of what Christ did for us.
It is impossible to fully comprehend the depths of God’s love that he would make such a sacrifice for us. For me.
Steve Strickler
“We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise” (Mark 10:33-34).
That prediction of Jesus is chillingly depicted, accurately, as you’ve never seen before. It is deeply disturbing, as it should be. The shocking violence, however, gives way almost immediately to what the film is really about: the love of the Savior who told his disciples: “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
The use of flashbacks is brilliant. Jesus’ mother, disciples and those whose lives he touched and saved were drawn by his suffering to remember his love for them, his words of life, his forgiveness. In that, redemption and hope were found.
This film is for Christians. It is a deeply devotional experience for believers to discover anew the Savior’s love, the terrible price he paid to forgive us our sins and to call us into relationship with him. This film is for seekers who wish to know the originator and giver of life.
Debbie Mast
The talk about The Passion of the Christ seems mostly centered on the violence in the movie. Was The Passion of the Christ violent? Yes! Did it need to be? Yes! The crucifixion was not the quick, sterile event that some Christians wish to believe it to have been. We forget that Christ was taking on the sins of every last one of us and the price for removing the sin was high.
Interlaced with the scenes of violence are flashbacks to scenes of peace, which give small but uplifting respites from the cruelty of mankind. Use of symbolism in the movie is quite powerful throughout and affected me almost as much as the scourging and crucifixion of Christ. The movie begins with a distraught Jesus in the garden; sweat (or is it tears?) flows from every pore of his face and even from the hair on his head, as much as the blood will flow from his body later. Past images of Mary rescuing Jesus from a fall as a boy and then running to his side as he falls carrying the cross; scenes from the last supper with the breaking of bread; Jesus’ eyes that pierced through into the soul of everyone that he looked at; the haunting and death of Judas; a thundering teardrop from heaven – these are just some of the brilliant images brought to life in this movie.
Unfortunately, most of the professional reviews have not mentioned the love, symbolism and emotions that are revealed in The Passion of the Christ. The actors and actresses are so real in their performances that no English language is needed, nor are the subtitles necessary, and further you are drawn into the movie, as if you are there experiencing the event yourself.
This is not a movie for young children. It will leave visuals behind that will make you thankful that God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son… one so willing to die to save us from our sins.
Parker T. Williamson
I thought, “If they hit him one more time, I’m going to scream!”
They did … and I did, albeit inaudibly. It was too horrible for words.
Having read Alex Metherell’s description of the crucifixion in The Case For Christ, I thought I was prepared to witness that excruciating event. But the scourging caught me off guard. It was so brutal, so incessantly, meaninglessly, cruelly, violently brutal. And it didn’t stop when he was cut loose from the post. We slashed, pounded and spat on him all the way to Golgotha.
Yes, “we.”
That’s the truth that reduced me to tears. And that unacknowledged truth is probably what has provoked such open hostility against the film. He was bruised for our transgressions, wounded for our iniquity, and by his stripes – those ugly furrows that we saw streaming across his body – we were healed. Surely, this was the Son of God.
Paula R. Kincaid
It was director Mel Gibson’s use of flashbacks – always at the point when I had to close my eyes because I couldn’t watch anymore – that was the genius, the beauty of The Passion of the Christ.
In the midst of the beatings and the humiliation that Jesus faced, Gibson flashed back to a scene depicting the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus said, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matt. 5:43-44 KJV).
In graphic detail, Jesus was nailed to the cross – first one hand, then the other. The nails were huge, and the blood poured and, even though I closed my eyes, I still cringed as I heard every blow fall and every pain-filled gasp. In the midst of that, Gibson flashed back to the Last Supper, where Jesus said, “Take, eat; this is My body. … Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” Matt. 26:26-28, KJV.
In the theater that day, Jesus Christ – fully human, fully God – was made real to me in a way I had never experienced before.
Craig M. Kibler
With all the controversy stirred up before Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ even opened in theaters, a person may have had conflicting thoughts and emotions before he or she actually saw the film.
Those thoughts and emotions, however, should have crystallized once they viewed The Passion of the Christ. It is a powerful, soul-stirring accomplishment that is faithful to the Gospel.
And maybe that’s why there has been so much controversy. In an age awash in permissiveness, the straight telling of the script written by God – far from being a novelty to be dismissed for whatever nonsensical excuse that can be imagined – grabs the viewer and forces him or her to confront what was and is today. Truth can be brutal, it can be disturbing, it can be emotionally and spiritually searing. But that doesn’t make it any less the truth.
Deb S. Corley
The Passion of The Christ is stunningly intense, remarkably moving, sickeningly brutal. Throughout the film, however, shines the majestic love of the Christ who endured this unspeakable agony for each one of us.
Scenes from The Passion of The Christ are heart-wrenching and visceral, generating emotions that run the gamut from harrowing to comforting to uplifting. The unwavering love in the eyes of our Lord is an image I will never forget. The fact that my sins were on each nail, each lash of the whip, is also a truth I’m grateful to have been reminded of once again.
That I am a child of this magnificent God is beyond my comprehension. I left the theater with scenes that will forever remain in my mind. I also carried in my heart a renewed feeling of gratitude and love for my Savior.
John H. Adams
Some in our Reformed tradition say we should be iconoclastic and reject those symbols that use graven images to depict Christ. But how far do you carry that? Is the minister who reads the sayings of Christ providing an image in some respect? Do our Christmas plays, with the Baby Jesus in the manger, provide a false image of the incarnation? Can a film, which follows the Script of the Gospels, capture the essence of God without being a graven image? The Passion of the Christ is no mere image. It is a powerful, demanding sermon that that inspires faith, not in an icon, but in the One about whom Isaac Watts wrote:
- Alas! and did my Savior bleed
- And did my Sovereign die?
- Would He devote that sacred head
- For a worm such as I?
- Thy body slain, sweet Jesus, Thine–
- And bathed in its own blood–
- While the firm mark of wrath divine,
- His Soul in anguish stood.