|
|
|
| Mel
Gibson says, "I want to show the humanity of Christ as well as
the divine aspect. It's a rendering that for me is very realistic
and as close as possible to what I perceive the truth to be." |
(2004) Film Review |
| This
page was created on January 16, 2003
This page was last updated on
February 6, 2008
THE PASSION Recut (2005)
It's back with 6 minutes cut out to make it less violent. Last year Mel Gibson's amazing release remained #1 three weeks in a row and biggest Wednesday opening ever and it became the largest religious film of all time!
Chris Utley's review.
—Overview
and Reviews
—Mel Gibson Posters
—More Reviews
—News
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film w/Links
—Spiritual Connections
—Forum
Reviews
on this page:
By David Bruce
By Melinda Ledman
More reviews on next
page
Dial
up modems will take a few moments
3,170
theaters 4,400 screens = Largest independent opening
Biggest February
opening and the sixth biggest opening of all time!
Opening
day $26.6M
First weekend $83.3M
1st week Total Gross $125M
March 24, 2004 reaches $300M
8th
week Total Gross $361M
Now the highest grossing religious film of all time
|
| CREDITS |
|  Directed
by Mel Gibson
Screenplay by Benedict Fitzgerald and Mel Gibson
James Caviezel .... Jesus Christ
Maia Morgenstern .... Mary
Monica Bellucci .... Mary Magdalene
Francesco Cabras .... Gesmas
Rosalinda Celentano .... Satan
Claudia Gerini .... Pilatus Wife
Ivano Marescotti .... Pilatus
Matt Patresi
Sergio Rubini .... Dismas
 Produced
by
Bruce Davey .... producer
Mel Gibson .... producer
Stephen McEveety .... producer
Enzo Sisti .... line producer
Cinematography by Caleb Deschanel
Casting by Shaila Rubin
Production Design by Francesco Frigeri
Set Decoration by Carlo Gervasi
Costume Design by Maurizio Millenotti
Rated
R for violence
For rating reasons, go to FILMRATINGS.COM,
and MPAA.ORG.
Parents, please refer to PARENTALGUIDE.ORG |
| TRAILERS
AND CLIPS |
| —Trailers,
Photos (updated) |
| CD |
The
Passion of the Christ (Score)
John Debney, Mel Gibson
1. The Olive Garden/Night Sky Medley 2. The Olive Garden 3. Night
Sky 4. Bearing The Cross 5. Jesus Arrested 6. Peter Denies Jesus 7.
The Stoning 8. Song Of Complaint 9. Simon Is Dismissed 10. Flagellation/Dark
Choir/Disciples Medley 11. Flagellation 12. Dark Choir 13. Disciples
14. Mary Goes To Jesus 15. Peaceful But Primitive/Procession Medley
16. Peaceful But Primitive 17. Procession 18. Crucifixion 19. Raising
The Cross
21. Jesus Is Carried Down 22. Resurrection
|
| BOOK |
The
Passion of Jesus Christ: Fifty Reasons Why He Came to Die.
by John Piper
The
most important questions anyone can ask are: Why was Jesus crucified?
Why did he suffer so much? What has this to do with me? Finally,
who sent him to his death? The answer to the last question is that
God did. Jesus was God's Son. His suffering was unsurpassed, but
the whole message of the Bible leads to this answer.
Why
did Jesus suffer and die? The central issue of Jesus' death is not
the cause, but the meaning--God's meaning.
This
is what this book is about. John Piper has gathered from the New
Testament fifty reasons. Not fifty causes, but fifty purposes--in
answer to the most important questions that each of us must face:
What did God achieve for sinners like us in sending his Son to die?
IBS
Bibles with Passion Photos
IBS has created a special edition New Testament ($0.99)
and Gospel of Luke ($0.40)with scenes from the movie, The Passion
of the Christ. Each piece contains imagery from the movie, as well
as helps to assist first-time Bible readers.
https://shop.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/ibsdirect.storefront/en/catalog/1101?AD=passionoutreach
The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ
by Anne Catherine Emmerich
|
| POSTER |
|
| AVAILABILITY
ON VIDEO AND DVD |
CHECK
AVAILABILITY AND PRICING OF THIS MOVIE ON VIDEO OR DVD.
Just type in movie title and click go.
Also,
check out 100
Hot Videos
and the
100 Hot DVDs
|
|
| SYNOPSIS
|
 Mel
Gibson produced this film in Sassi
of Matera, as Pasolini did in 1964 with his Gospel
According to St. Matthew. Even Richard Gere did his David
here in 1985. It focuses on the 12 hours of Jesus' life leading
to his crucifixion. Jesus speaks Latin and Aramaic without the aid
of subtitles.
"Obviously,
nobody wants to touch something filmed in two dead languages,"
Mel Gibson explained at a news conference Friday in the Sala Fellini
at Cinecitta. "They think I'm crazy, and maybe I am. But maybe
I'm a genius.
 "I
want to show the film without subtitles," he added. "Hopefully,
I'll be able to transcend language barriers with visual storytelling.
If I fail, I'll put subtitles on it, though I don't want to."
"The
idea came to me 10 years ago and has been rambling around in my
empty head, very slowly taking shape ever since,"  Gibson
said. "I think this is a pretty timeless and timely story to
tell, involving an area where there's turbulence now just as there
was turbulence then because history repeats itself.
"I
want to show the humanity of Christ as well as the divine aspect,"
he continued. "It's a rendering that for me is very realistic
and as close as possible to what I perceive the truth to be." |
REVIEW
BY DAVID
BRUCE
Host
of HollywoodJesus.com
|
Bringing
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
to the Screen
A
Film by Mel Gibson and why it is important
|
The
reason why Mel Gibson's The Passion of The Christ is such an important
film is that it underscores the emotion, pain and passion of the
crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Through
the centuries Christian depictions of the Crucifixion of Christ
became so decorative that they lost the original passion. Beautiful
works of art indeed, but they became nearly bloodless with no evidence
of real emotion or pain. Artistic depictions of the Passion were
reduced to a mere religious symbols. These works of art have deep
connection to the faithful, but no connection to rest of the world
apart from their obvious decorative beauty. Neither of the depictions
below have the crown of thorns, nor evidence of the whipping, nor
emphasis on blood, pain or passion. All the characters look bored,
even Jesus looks bored. Again, no passion. |
|
The
depictions of Jesus below are typical in that they do not reflect
the horror of the crucifixion. Note, for example, how the wound
on Jesus' side minimizes the scripture: "One of the soldiers
stabbed him in the side with his spear. Blood and water gushed out.
(John 19:34 MsgB)." Additionally, they do not reflect the agony
of a painful death on a Roman cross as mentioned in Scripture: "Around
mid-afternoon Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, "Eli,
Eli, lama sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God,
why have you abandoned me?" (Matthew 27:46 MsgB). Beyond all
of this there is absolutely no evidence in these depictions of the
flogging at the hand of the cruel Roman leader Pilate, who had "Jesus
flogged with a lead-tipped whip. (John 19:1 NLT)."
|
|
Mel
Gibson's artistic masterpiece restores the lost dimention of the
suffering of the Christ in a very graphic manner (as pictured below).
|
Cecil B DeMille’s “King
of Kings” (1926) had a very do-not-touch
non-passionate traditional Jesus. DeMille was a Protestant Christian.
For
centuries the Protestants have taken pride in presenting an empty
cross, emphasizing the resurrected Christ over the passion of
Christ.
In
fact, several Protestants groups have discounted the observance
of Good Friday (the day for remembering the Lord's death) and
emphasized Easter Sunday (the day remembering the resurrection
of Christ from the grave). Additionally, historically much of
the Protestant church has de-emphasized the use of images altogether.
Of all the denominations of Christianity the Roman Catholic Church
has done the best job of preserving the passion of Christ within
its art. It is out of this rich tradition Mel Gibson comes.
Mel
Gibson's film becomes a wonderful gift of remembrance. It restores
an important dimension of the life of Christ.
The
true Passion of Jesus became lost to The Culture.
If
much of the art in the church lost the significance and passion
of the cross, then so did the world around it.
In
the both the film and stage play Jesus Christ Superstar the question
is asked, “Jesus Christ, Superstar, who are you, and what
have you sacrificed?” And it further states, “I don’t
know how to love him.”
  PIER
PASOLINI
If artistic expressions of the crucified Christ within the church
lost their passion, then why can't God use an “outsider”
to reintroduce the pain and suffering of the Christ on the screen.
And so it happened. It was Pier Pasolini, a Communist, but a devout
Catholic, who was first to bring the real Passion of Christ to
the screen in 1964 in his now classic masterpiece "The
Gospel Of According to St. Matthew.
Pier Pasolini, used hand held cameras to get a realistic documentary
“you are there” feel. He used non-glamorous actors.
Mel Gibson was so impressed with this film that he used the same
film location for his film.
To
view Pier Pasolini's Film on RealVideo go
here
CBS
CENSORES JESUS’ PASSION.
In 1999 CBS-TV bought the rights to The Jesus Mini Series. However
they censored the “passion” of Jesus.
CBS cut out the nail scene.
CBS cut the screams of Jesus.
CBS cut out Jesus loving the children in the final scene.
CBS said they wanted a “more traditional Jesus.”
To
view the RealVideo of the scenes CBS-TV censored go
here
2003
A NEW MORE REALISTIC JESUS COMES TO THE BIG SCREEN
Visual Bible released The Gospel of John –a
3 hour film that contains all the words from John’s account
of Jesus.
See review, trailer and photos here.
  MEL
GIBSON
God works in strange ways. The Spirit of God moved on Mel’s
heart to bring the passion of Christ to the big screen.
Interestingly, Some of Mel's past films have a Christ-like feel
to them. Christian screenwriter Randal Wallace, who wrote “BraveHeart”
once referred to it as Jesus Christ in Kilts.
|
Few
people are aware that Mel Gibson’s ICON production company
brought the well done Claymation “Miracle Maker”
Jesus to the TV screen.
|
 ROCK
THROWING RELIGIOUS LEADERS ARE TO BLAME FOR THE ATTACK ON MEL GIBSON’S
FILM
During the summer of 2003 a group of biblical scholars (so-called)
associated with the U.S. Bishops Council obtained a stolen copy
of an early draft of the script and came forward to denounce it
as scripturally incorrect and potentially injurious of Christian-Jewish
relations. Mr. Gibson protested, and the bishops more or less fled
the scene, but the damage was done.
JUST
AS WHIPPED JESUS WAS PUBLICLY WHIPPED, SO RELIGIOUS LEADERS "WHIPPED"
MEL
|
 BILLY
GRAHAM
On Dec. 01 2003 Billy Graham came to the defense Gibson film on
Christ, saying he was "moved to tears."
"The
film is faithful to the Bible's teaching that we are all responsible
for Jesus' death, because we all have sinned," the 85-year-old
evangelist said. "It is our sins that caused his death, not
any particular group."
Billy
Graham also stated: "I doubt if there has been a more graphic
and moving presentation of Jesus' death and resurrection, which
Christians believe are the most important events in human history."
Hollywood
has long recognized the importance of Billy Graham and included
him in the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Time
Magazine named Billy Graham as one of the top 100 Heroes of the
Century.
|
 POPE
JOHN PAUL II
Dec 5, 2003. John Paul II, who even with the challenges of his
current illness has more good sense than many of his cardinals,
knew of the controversy surrounding Mr. Gibson's film, and wanted
to see it. Producer Steve McEveety, who had flown to Rome uninvited
to show the film to as many Vatican officials as he could, gave
the DVD to Msgr. Dziwisz on Friday, Dec. 5, 2003. The monsignor
and the pope watched it together. Mr. McEveety said of John Paul.
"He's pretty well booked. But he really wanted to see it."
|
 MEL
GIBSON'S FILM AS GOD'S INSTRUMENT
As
a matter of fact, we should not be surprised to learn that God is
at work in pop culture. Consider these words of Celtic spiritual
leader George McLeod:
"I
simply argue that the Cross should be raised at the center of
the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am
recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral
between two candles; but on a cross between two thieves; on the
towns' garbage heap; at a crossroad, so cosmopolitan they had
to write his title in Hebrew and Latin and Greek... at the kind
of place where cynics talk smut, and thieves curse, and soldiers
gamble. Because that is where He died. And that is what He died
about. That is where church-men ought to be and what churchmen
ought to be about."
The
Passion of The Christ reminders us that God brings light
to the darkness of the world. It reminds us of how God works within
the garbage of our culture, and even within the garbage in our souls.
To free us and make us whole.
Jesus
said of his crucifixion on that garbage heap, "And I, as I am lifted
up from the earth, will attract everyone to me and gather them around
me." -John 12:32. With all the attention that Gibson's film is receiving
one can see the truth of Jesus' words.
God
is at work in the culture because everyone is precious to God. Everyone
has value.
The
cross is rough,
and it is deadly,
but it is effective.
--A. W. Tozer
More reviews on next
page
—Forum
|
|
|
|
| —Click
here for more Photos |
| |
 Review
By MELINDA LEDMAN
I
made a concerted effort to avoid e-mails, television shows, and
newscasts regarding this movie, The Passion of the Christ. I wanted
my “experience,” as many have called it, to be unbiased.
Now, I have to admit I was biased going into it. I expected an unrealistic
and sensationalistic film with performances that would not be convincing.
However, it was the media and not the movie that was overdone. I
was surprisingly convinced and enthralled throughout the film. Having
read my share of books on the scourging of Christ, I took a greater
interest in the way that Christ interacted with people. What I saw
was a personal Christ who spent a great deal of time protecting
the people.
Review
continued here |
More reviews on next
page
—Forum
|
| BEST
LINKS |
—Links |
| Continue: |
|
| COMMENT
ON THIS FILM |
| BULLETIN
BOARD (Rules)
Post
your thoughts in the forum
View or post comments -click
here.
Your
Private Comments.
I will not post these comments.
What are your personal thoughts? I also welcome your spiritual
concerns and prayer needs. I will correspond with you, usually
within two weeks.
Click here |
OFFICIAL
SITE
The Passion of The Christ Copyright © 2003 Newmarket Films
All Rights Reserved.
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other uses are permitted without the prior written consent of
owner. Use of the material in violation of the foregoing may result
in civil and/or criminal penalties. Credits and dates are subject
to change. For more information, please visit their official site.
THIS SITE IS NOT AN OFFICIAL SITE FOR “THE PASSION OF THE
CHRIST” AND IS INDEPENDENT OF ICON DISTRIBUTION, INC. AND
ITS OFFICERS, AFFILIATES AND ASSIGNEES. THE VIEWS AND OPINIONS
EXPRESSED ON THIS SITE DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF
ICON DISTRIBUTION, INC. AND ITS OFFICERS, AFFILIATES AND ASSIGNEES.
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