…and just as interesting as his brief thoughts on the film are his observations of the audience

Screening rooms are dismal little affairs, comfortable enough but far from atmospheric, and in no way suited to anything remotely approaching religious contemplation. This one, not surprisingly, was full of people making calls on cell phones and conversing in notice-me voices. One fellow was earnestly explaining how Mel Gibson couldn’t possibly be a good Christian, having previously expressed his longing to impale Frank Rich’s intestines on a stick. “On a basic level,” he intoned, “it occurs to me that Jesus was a gentle guy.”

The lights went down and the film started, accompanied at first by whispered conversation, though that faded out within a few minutes. I suspect that not a few people in the room were shocked into silence by the film’s obvious high seriousness, not to mention the high quality of its craftsmanship.