how was the passion of christ movie written

The Passion of the Christ is, first and foremost, a devotional aid. The film attempts to be true to the traditional understanding of Jesus’ last 12 hours, and it does so in a most powerful manner. There have been many other films that have represented Christ’s death none, however, sought to use the medium of film as a way to express what heretofore has only been expressed in writing or in the heart. Critics and Catholics should not be asking if the film is entirely historically accurate or if the violence is overwhelming rather, we should look at the film in the context of similar meditations on Christ’s suffering that have been written throughout the ages. Those who seek to judge this film in the same manner as they would a film on a secular topic, or even those who compare it to other onscreen treatments of Jesus’ death made over the past 30 years miss a major point about the film.

Despite the fact that little has been made of it, the film contains a message for contemporary Catholics. He is, at some level, directing the film at the initiated. Gibson’s failure to explain the context of Jesus’ death is not a flaw, but an artistic and devotional device. It is true that while Gibson assumes that one is familiar with Jesus and the story of His death, the fact is that many Americans are not aware of the details that Gibson assumes.Īs I left the theater last week, I heard two teenage boys in front of me asking who some of the characters were - they had been able to figure out who the Virgin Mary was, but they had no idea who Mary Magdalen was, and they assumed that St.

People writes that the failure to provide context or identification of characters weakens the story. The secular press, the Anti-Defamation League, and Catholic university scholars have all weighed in on Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ for its violence, its alleged encouragement of latent anti-Semitism, or its contradiction of some supposed historical 'facts' about Pilate and the Romans who occupied first-century Judea.īut what have we heard of the film’s message for 21st-century Catholics? What does Gibson hope to tell us through the film? People magazine states that one of the film’s major flaws is its assumption that the viewer knows the story. Shop: Roman Catholic 'RC' Brand Modern White Logo Collection Cap

How was the passion of christ movie written