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

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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:

Movies about Jesus Christ tend to ignite almost everyone who watches them (and quite a few who don't). Mel Gibson's extremely personal film stays uncannily faithful to both biblical text and Catholic tradition, so to call this film anti-semiticic is to say the same thing about New Testament (actually, Gibson toned down the Gospels in this sense). Meanwhile, it can be argued that the extremely graphic violence is only a hint at the historical accounts of how Romans treated convicts. But the story is the thing, and Gibson's makes it clear that Jesus goes willingly through this for a specific purpose.

The story follows the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus (Caviezel), as he's betrayed by his follower Judas (Lionello). The Jewish religious leader Caiphas (Sbragia), terrified that Jesus is undermining his authority, takes him to the Roman ruler Pilate (Shopov) for judgement. But Pilate doesn't want to get involved in a local scuffle. He thinks having Jesus brutally flogged will end the riot. But the crowd bays for blood, so Pilate relents and orders his crucifixion. Jesus' mother Mary (Morgenstern), as well as his closest followers John, Peter and Magdalen (Jivkov, De Vito and Bellucci), watch all of this in horror. While the spectre of Satan (Celentano) laughs with glee.

Gibson is obviously striving for authenticity, having the actors speak ancient Aramaic and Latin and filling the film with images that recall classical artwork and iconography. This dark, lushly textured visual style makes the film look like a baroque religious thriller, especially when combined with horrifically graphic gruesomeness. This is basically a two-hour movie about one man being beaten, tortured and executed by one of the most vicious methods in human history. But of course, Gibson has a point in all this.

He's telling a powerfully emotional story about redemption. While Caviezel has little to do besides writhe in agony and utter the familiar lines, he also has a solid intensity in his encounters with Pilate and Herod (De Dominicus), and even in his cat-and-mouse interaction with Satan. But it's the other actors who shine, especially Shopov's Pilate and Morgenstern's Mary, as well as Gerini as Pilate's terrified but compassionate wife. The interrelationships make the film extremely involving--the way Mary and John cling to each other, Peter's denial and hot temper, Magdalen's overwhelming grief and gratitude, Judas' guilt and confusion. These things are heightened by a series of flashbacks, most of which are rather too reverent but add strongly to the characterisations.

In the end, the film remains strikingly true to the Gospels without watering them down to make the story family friendly. But it's not literal or gritty, this is poetic filmmaking drawing on--and continuing--a long tradition of religious art. The spirituality will appeal to believers, while the humour, pain, inhumanity and overwhelming love should speak to everyone. But you have to endure a lot of brutality to get there.

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The Passion Of The Christ (2004) review written by: Rich Cline