The Passion Of The Christ (2004) Movie Information:

The Passion Of The Christ (2004) Directed by: Mel Gibson The Passion Of The Christ (2004) Written by: Ben Fitzgerald, Mel Gibson The Passion Of The Christ (2004) Cast: James Caviezel, Monica Bellucci, Maia Morgenstern, Francesco Cabras, Rosalinda Celentano, Claudia Gerini, Ivano Marescotti, Matt Patresi, Sergio Rubini

The Passion Of The Christ (2004) U.S. Distributor: Newmarket Films The Passion Of The Christ (2004) U.K. Distributor: Icon

Our Rating: User Rating:  Log in to rate this movie

The Passion Of The Christ (2004) Synopsis:

"The Passion of The Christ" is a film about the last twelve hours of Jesus of Nazareth's life. The film opens in the Garden of Olives (Gethsemane) where Jesus has gone to pray after the Last Supper. Jesus resists Satan's temptations. Betrayed by Judas Inscariot, Jesus is arrested and taken back to within the city walls of Jerusalem where the leaders of the Pharisees confront him with accusations of blasphemy and his trial results in a condemnation to death. Jesus is brought before Pilate, the Roman Governor of Palestine, who listens to the accusations leveled at him by the Pharisees. Realizing he is confronting a political conflict, Pilate defers to King Herod in the matter. Herod returns Jesus to Pilate who gives the crowd a choice between Jesus and the criminal Barabbas. The crowd chooses to have Barabbas set free and condemn Jesus. Jesus is handed over to the Roman soldiers and flagellated. Unrecognizable now, he is brough back before Pilate, who presents him to the crowd as if to say "is this not enough?" It is not. Pilate washes his hands of the entire dilemma, ordering his men to do as the crowd wishes. Jesus is presented with the cross and is ordered to carry it through the streets of Jerusalem all the way up to Golgotha. On Golgotha, Jesus is nailed to the cross and undergoes his last temptation - the fear that he has been abandoned by his Father. He overcomes this fear, looks at Mary, his Holy Mother, and makes the pronouncement which only she can fully understand, "it is accomplished." He then dies: "into Thy hands I commend my Spirit." At the moment of death, nature itself overturns.

The Passion Of The Christ (2004) Movie Review:

Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ is a great cinematic triumph about the last twelve hours of Jesus’ life on Earth. Drenched with controversy,
due to notions of anti-Semitism and the film’s intense violence among other things, The Passion of the Christ is a powerful piece of art that is memorable and will change people’s lives.

Based on the four Biblical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Gibson and co-writer Benedict Fitzgerald open the film with Jesus (Jim Caviezel) praying in the misty Garden of Gethsemane, where he is tempted by Satan
(Rosalinda Celantano). The film then progresses all the way to his resurrection after the Crucifixion. The audience is also given small flashbacks throughout the film, which include glimpses of The Last Supper, Jesus preaching, his occupation as a carpenter, as well as telling Peter he will deny him three times. All of these flashbacks are very sufficient, including one of the best scenes in
the film, when Mary (Maia Morgenstern), mother of Jesus, sees him fall carrying the Cross, then flashes back to seeing him fall as a child, in which she reaches to comfort him in both incidents. Gibson and Fitzgerald also included the diaries of Anna Catherine Emmerich and Mary of Agreda’s "The City of God" as sources for the script. This is the greatest story ever told from the New Testament that is about faith, hope, love and redemption. The script was also translated into the "dead languages" or Aramaic and Latin for which the
characters of the film speak with English subtitles.

Gibson does take his own liberties with elements in the script and his vision, which include the flashbacks that have already been touched on, as well as Satan. One depiction of Satan is as a hooded, pale androgynous woman who encounters Jesus and that Mary sees throughout the Crucifixion; another is as ravenous children and spirits that hound Judas (Luca Lionello). Gibson made these choices in his belief that Satan would come to earth as something innocent, such as a child. The Satan characters in the film are effective and scary. Gibson also shows sympathy towards Pontius Pilate as well as his own take on the high priest Caiaphas (Mattia Sbragia). Also brought into the film is a scene where Pilate’s wife Claudia (Claudia Gerini) brings the Virgin Mary and
Mary Magdalene (Monica Bellucci) white linens, in which the two then begin soaking up Jesus’ blood from the flogging torture he received at the pillar.

The violence in this film is unbearable, it is feverish, brutal, and Gibson does not hold back at all. This is the first time a film has portrayed Christ’s death as this harsh, in which the violence created is gut wrenching, but understandable to Gibson’s vision and the power of this film. Jesus is beaten to a pulp from the flogging to the nailing on the Cross. Watch very closely, it is Mel Gibson’s left hand that adjusts and hammers in the first nail. Due to the grotesquely violent content and extreme amount of blood in this film, parents if you choose to take your kids to see the film, please be sitting right next to them.

Inspired by the paintings of Italian Baroque artist Caravaggo, Gibson and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel create a visually ravishing film. The
production design and costumes are also fantastic, and the makeup in the film by Keith Vanderlaan and Greg Cannom is superb. Jim Caviezel, who plays Jesus, had to sit through seven-hours of makeup daily to cover his whole body for the latter moments of The Crucifixion. While filming, the makeup caused Caviezel’s skin to blister, which prevented him from sleeping. Through the makeup, a weird
case of getting struck by lighting on the set, and the physicality endured for the role, Caviezel delivers a stellar performance.

Outside of all the great technical achievements and enduring realism of The Passion of the Christ, the film is still first and foremost a emotional depiction about what Jesus did for all of us. It has a profound effect that is drilled into your psyche, and more than anything is unforgettable. This film is not anti-Semantic, it is reflected that all humans have sinned, and will continue to sin, which all of us are to blame. The Passion of the Christ is a beautiful, real, artistic, and conveying masterpiece that is not to be missed.

Our Rating: User Rating:  Log in to rate this movie

The Passion Of The Christ (2004) review written by: Bailey Henderson