Lots of differing views on the Passion at CT’s Film Forum

It seems to me that with each passing day, more and more film critics are publishing opinions on the film that will, eventually, show them up as reactionaries when it comes to religious art. They are so troubled by the intensity and focus of this work that they reveal a great deal of ignorance about Christianity and the way it has been represented in art throughout history. Many—perhaps even most—are showing themselves far more guilty of discrimination and prejudice than the filmmaker they seek to condemn. If they are so willing to assume that Gibson is anti-Semitic, in spite of his claims to the contrary, in spite of the way in which Gibson’s film incriminates those who despise Jews, then why have they remained silent, or even praised other films that exhibit obvious, undeniable prejudice against Catholics and Christians? Their two-faced behavior is almost laughable.

FF also quotes:

Michael Leary (The Matthews House Project) points out that “there are a number of films that ask much different questions about Jesus than Gibson does. The Life of Brian, Jesus Christ Superstar, and The Last Temptation of Christ just to name an important few. But there is also the rare film like Jesus of Montreal that does such a great job of describing Christ’s odd social significance that has mostly flown under the radar of the mainstream Christian audience over the decades. Not only are there other good Jesus films out there, but at the risk of sounding heretical, there may even be a few that are better than the one Gibson has offered us. … To be absolutely blunt, The Passion of The Christ is not the best film I will see this year.”

Jesus of Montreal is a good film – not suitable for young audiences for various reasons, but a good one. It’s in the tradition of “what happens to a group of people who are re-enacting the Passion” – Kazantzakis also wrote a novel on the premise entitled The Greek Passion.

Maybe my husband will write about a film he saw and had on tape for a long time – still does somewhere, I think. The Penitent, I think? It’s about the practice, in some countries, of ritually re-enacting the crucifixion by penitents who are actually crucified, or close to it. Someone famous is in it, but I can’t remember who.