Critics line up on both sides of Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion’
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, July 25, 2003
If this were Lethal Weapon VI, there’d be hardly a whimper that Mel Gibson was cashing in on millions of dollars for another rollickingly violent film.
Yet the soon-to-be-released The Passion is about a lethal weapon, the cross upon which Jesus was executed, and Gibson is footing the bill, $25 million, to portray the final hours of Christ’s life. From all reports, it is a gory and masculine depiction, detailed in its Biblical crudity. There are no fine cloths draped on The Passion’s cross, no vase of flowers at its foot.
The rough draft, which was shown to a small audience in Washington, D.C., this week, has stirred passionate attacks and defenses.
The New York Times, The Boston Globe, the Anti-Defamation League, some Catholics and some Jews have depicted Gibson and his portrayal of Christ as anti-semitic – and worse. But there has been a corresponding chorus of writers who defend Gibson and applaud his literal portrayal of Jesus and his excruciatingly (a word that comes from “crux,” the Latin for cross) painful death.
Without the benefit of having seen the movie and utilizing a stolen, unfinished script, The New York Times Magazine began the crucifixion of Gibson, accusing him of being a loony ultraditionalist Catholic and also attacking his 82-year-old father for the same reason.
The Globe lashed Gibson for having a straightforward narrative based on Biblical accounts. “What these people don’t understand, what Mel Gibson and his ilk don’t understand, is that the literal truth of Jesus’ story isn’t what animates Christian belief. Many of us are awed by the figurative beauty of a story that created a system of values and beliefs that has survived for 2,000 years.” The Globe’s criticism declared that the Biblical account was wrong – because the Jesus Seminar said it was wrong.
And the Anti-Defamation League has asked, “Will the final version of The Passion continue to portray Jews as blood-thirsty, sadistic and money-hungry enemies of Jesus? Will it correct the unambiguous depiction of Jews as the ones responsible for the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus?”
But there are other voices, including Jews and Catholics, who applaud The Passion. From media sources, The Layman Online has compiled some of their comments, as well as remarks Gibson has made in interviews. (Gibson’s comments are italicized and indented.)
“In the current global clash of civilizations, I’m surprised that some Jewish leaders would protest a movie portraying the final hours of Christ’s life. There is a great deal of pressure on Israel right now, and Christians seem to be a major source of support for Israel. For the Jewish leaders to risk alienating 2 billion Christians over a movie seems shortsighted,” Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, said. “On one hand, it actually feels trite. It would have been ridiculous for England to have launched a public relations effort against Braveheart because it portrays William Wallace in a positive light, who led a rebellion against the British.”
“I don’t see what the controversy is all about,” Motion Picture Association of America President Jack Valenti was quoted as saying. “This is a compelling piece of art. I just called Kirk Douglas and told him that this is the movie to beat.”
“Mel Gibson, a devout Catholic who is being skewered on the ‘liberal’ barbecue pit of Tinseltown. Mel made a mistake because he openly professed his faith in – dare I say it? – Jesus Christ,” NewsMax.com’s James Hirsen said.
- “I’m not a preacher and I’m not a pastor,” Gibson said. “But I really feel my career was leading me to make this. The Holy Ghost was working through me on this film, and I was just directing traffic. I hope the film has the power to evangelize. Everyone who worked on this movie was changed. There were agnostics and Muslims on set converting to Christianity.”
Don Hodel, president of Focus on the Family, called the film “certainly the most powerful portrayal of the passion I’ve ever seen or heard about. The movie is historically and theologically accurate.”
Archbishop Charles Chaput wrote in the Denver Catholic Register, “I find it puzzling and disturbing that anyone would feel licensed to attack a film of sincere faith before it has even been released. When the overtly provocative The Last Temptation of Christ was released 15 years ago, movie critics piously lectured Catholics to be open-minded and tolerant. Surely that advice should apply equally for everyone.”
- “If the intense scrutiny during my 25 years in public life revealed I had ever persecuted or discriminated against anyone based on race or creed, I would be all too willing to make amends. But there is no such record.”
Chuck Colson, the founder of Prison Fellowship, said in a Breakpoint commentary, “While The Passion is only the latest in a series of films about Jesus, it stands out for two reasons: First, it is unsparing and unsentimental. In Gibson’s opinion, previous cinematic efforts had failed to capture the enormity of Jesus’ suffering on our behalf.”
- “There have been a lot of obstacles thrown in the way of this picture; it’s full of discomfort. And I understand it’s the other realm warring. So I have taken steps to put on armor. And I try to stay squeaky clean.”
Michael Medved, a movie critic who is an orthodox Jew, criticized The New York Times Magazine profile of Hutton Gibson, Mel Gibson’s father.
“That is so out of bounds, so inappropriate, to be interviewing someone’s 82-year-old father,” Medved said. “It’s such a cheap shot. You wonder why The New York Times would run it. Shouldn’t someone in this country have the right to make a movie that follows the Gospel account closely? If there are people in the Jewish community saying Christians have to disregard certain passages in Scripture or else they will be accused of anti-Semitism, then that’s a bridge too far.”
Medved added, “I don’t want Christians telling me what aspect of my faith I must accept or disregard as the price of communal peace in the United States.”