This whole controversy over The Passion has me rather confused. I can see that Mel Gibson is obviously a close-minded bigoted Xtian with a sense of righteousness blinkered by his susceptibility to confuse myth and storytelling with reality, and while that’s a shame (I always liked Mad Max) it’s sadly all to common. There are enough idiots in the world that this film is probably not going to help the cause of peace love and understanding, that much I’m sure about.
What’s confusing me is this whole “Jews killed Jesus” malarkey. Surely in order for the whole Jesus thing to work he has to die? My understanding of the Easter story was that he knew he was going to die and that everything and everyone around him was, essentially, manipulated by forces unknown (God?) to make sure this happened. That whole thing about Peter disowning him to save his own skin and so on. Surely the only reason the Jews killed Jesus, if indeed they did, is that there were a hell of a lot of Jews around at the time. And more to the point, if Jesus hadn’t died then, well, that whole thing about “he died for our sins”, which seems to be the cornerstone of mouthy Xtian theology, it kinda wouldn’t work. “He grew old for our sins” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. Surely the Jews did the Xtians a favour and should be celebrated by Mel Gibson for making sure that this rather fundamental cornerstone event in his religion actually took place?
But what do I know. I’m just a hell-bound heathen on the fast road to damnation.
Well said.
Jesus retired to a popular Dead Sea resort for our sins…
i’m a christian and i agree with you (except the bits slagging off christianity i guess). also, it’s only a film isn’t it? what’s the fuss all about?
From what I’ve read I think the main charge of anti-semitism comes as a result of the portrayal of all the jewish people as undredeemable evil bloodthirsty hoards and the casting of Jesus as racially distinct from all the hateful god murderers.
I’ve been following this story in the Houston Chronicle letters to the editor column. A very interesting dichotomy of opinion as you can imagine. Those who take the Bible literally are the ones who seem to be the most defensive of Mel Gibson’s film. In a way it’s rather like the Harry Potter movies in that they follow the books very closely and therefore (1) are loved by the readers of the books and (2) are panned by the critics for not having their own individuality. Gibson’s film got an “F” review by the Chronicle – worst possible rating – which naturally incensed the faithful, most of whom have not been nor will actually go to the cinema to see it!
There is no doubt that the Bible is a great story, perhaps one of the greatest we have. It is certainly a very popular book, has been read by many, studied by many and maintains its popularity over the centuries. What I find rather amsuing is that the fundamentalists always choose to quote from the King James’ Version. This translation is possibly the most “political” version, essentially set up to support the concept of the “Divine Right of Kings”.
Back to the thread – Mel Gibson has his problems, no better summed up than in the first Mad Max movie. I don’t think he was acting in that one!
Interesting that the Passion is being released at this time of year. Easter has nothing to do with the crucifiction of Jesus Christ. It’s a pagan holiday that was purloined by the early missionaries to further their own needs. Try this. Search for “easter” in an on-line bible and it comes up between 7 to 14 times, as part of the word “eastern”.
i would like to read a review of the film that doesn’t mention the contoversy over anti-semitism. that’s all reviewers seem to focus on. personally i think all of mel gibson’s films are pretty rubbish (aparts from signs and braveheart) so i would be interested to know if this one is going to be any different. it’s hard because the bible is a book that means a lot of different things to a lot of different people (just look at the number of denominations that christianity has) so people are bound to disagree about it.
I have not seen the film so can only go by what I have been told. I think the objection from the Jewish community is that the leading Jews are shown in the film as watching and rather enjoying the rather graffic scenes of christ being tortured. Also I understand that this goes somewhat against current Catholic teaching (post Vatican 2) which absolved/forgave the Jews for the death of christ.
I also think some of the controversy if fueled by Gibson Snr saying that the holocaust did not happen.
“Surely the only reason the Jews killed Jesus, if indeed they did, is that there were a hell of a lot of Jews around at the time.”
Why would that be a good reason? Presumably there were lots of Aramaics, Syrians, Carthaginians and whatnot in Jerusalem at the time, as now.
Anyway, I thought the Romans gave the order, no the Jews.
I find it impossible to read comments on this film without thinking of Life of Brian.
I find the idea of the movie being in Aramaic (the language of christ) quite amusing. Like ancient Egyptian and Hebrew *nobody* knows what the spoken language actually sounded like.
The situation in Jerusalem under Roman authority meant (iirc from my history lessons) that the Jewish religious court could condemn someone but that the Romans were enforcing authority and as such would carry out the punishment.
This is similar to the catholic churches own Inquisition, they could comdemn a heretic but the secular authority would carry out the burning/killing. This kept the churches hands free of blood.
The Odeon lists its genre as “controversial drama” … Damian said they should do a film about all the cool stuff Jesus did. “They already did,” I said, “It’s called Jesus Christ Superstar…”
Your comments echo the confusion I’ve seen from a few people about the whole anti-semitism issue, which I also share.
I think it’s because my early religious teaching was from people who interpreted the passion in such a way as to implicate everyone in the guilt for Jesus’ death, just as they extended the redemption to include grace for everyone.
Everyone got their hands dirty — from his best mate to the local governer — and I had at least one teacher who said, “and you would have joined in, too!” — (You should have heard the little Christians hotly deny it, only to have the teacher ask them if they thought they were better than Saint Peter, then!) — and to shove the blame onto any one group of people is to ally yourself with Pilate’s hypocritical handwashing and miss several important points about humility, responsibility and the evil that can be done through consent, inaction and weakness.
On the whole, though, I’d rather watch Life of Brian … or Sebastiane (Derek Jarman’s film about Saint Seb’s martyrdom) which also sets the scene by having the actors speak in Latin.
Jesus Christ Superstar is a brilliant film, i love all the afros.
Thought this was quite funny
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1159037,00.html
Blimey… I was only having a rant…
Anway, please move along to the next post ;)