Re: passion

["Peter T. Chattaway" <petert@interchange.ubc.ca>]

On Thu, 4 Mar 2004, Melanie Shannon wrote:
> so far i've been told everything from 'it's not worth it, especially
> considering it's only blood and gore,' . . .

There is some merit to this argument.  The film is rooted in a very
Catholic obsession with the blood and wounds of Christ -- so if you do not
share that particular form of spiritual meditation (and even if you do),
you may come away from the film thinking it was nothing more than an
excuse for Mel Gibson to express his sadistic tendencies in an even more
extreme form than usual, all under the cover of religious piety.

(Listen to Mel's commentary on the _Braveheart_ DVD.  Listen to him talk
about how he wanted the disemboweling scene to be really explicit, but the
scene was toned down because women were running up the aisles and leaving
the theatre at preview screenings.  For that matter, listen to him wish
wistfully that the entire film could have been shot in Gaelic.  Never mind
Mel's talk of religious devotion to Christ, etc., sincere though it may
be.  The fact is, Mel is, to a certain degree, just indulging himself on
_The Passion_ in a way that he could not indulge himself on his
studio-financed films.  And wrapped up in that indulgence is the fact that
Mel just likes to film torture and execution scenes, period.  He just
wanted to film an ultra-gory torture scene -- anybody's -- and since he
couldn't do it with William Wallace, he is now doing it with Christ.)

> . . . to 'of course you should see it, every believer should see what
> Christ suffered for them.'

Well, this notion that the film is showing us what "really" happened is a
bit of a crock, since a lot of the violence in the film is not based on
history but on the somewhat lurid so-called visions of a stigmatic
Catholic nun named Emmerich, and even then, there are still bits of
gratuitous sadism and masochism that appear to be purely Mel's own
invention (never before have I seen Jesus pull himself off the floor and
stand up after his beating was over, thereby practically *inviting* a
second round of abuse -- definitely not how Emmerich describes it).

--- Peter T. Chattaway --------------------------- peter@chattaway.com ---
Nothing tells memories from ordinary moments; only afterwards do they
   claim remembrance, on account of their scars. -- Chris Marker, La Jetee

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