The Passion

Of all the afterlives created after the Bible none are as famously controversial as the movie The Passion of the Christ (2004), directed by Mel Gibson. This movie tells the story of the final days of Jesus of Nazareth in a gruesome, horrific, and gut wrenching fashion. Right away you realize that this biblical story is nothing like what you have read in the great text and that is shown by the continuous bloodshed and violence. The movie goes into detail of Jesus’s trial, suffering, crucifixion and death which spanned the course of about 12 hours. These sections of the Gospels are known as “The Passion of Christ”. Gibson’s movie is the most famous and highest-grossing Christian film of all time grossing over $612 million. Despite this, no other religious film has been more criticized and disliked than The Passion of the Christ. The horrid nature behind this movie blew up with rumors around the world, something that helped its popularity but also gave it its infamy.

Violent Intentions

Violence and the way Gibson portrays this religious story are looked at as the biggest reasons why this movie is so criticized. The most disturbing aspect of the film is the torture and brutality Jesus takes in these two hours on screen. Jesus is arrested, scourged, publicly humiliated and crucified. This picture from the film shows just how vicious and hard to watch it is and when critiquing The Passion of the Christ, famous film critic Roger Ebert claimed it was “the most violent film I have ever seen.” I was nineteen when I watched this film for the first time and there were parts that were even too violent, bloody, and massively unpleasant for me. Gibson’s response to these backlashes about the violence being too much is that those reactions were intentional. Gibson said in an interview, “I wanted it to be shocking. And I wanted it to be extreme…. So that they see the enormity, the enormity of that sacrifice” (History.com). The enormity of Jesus’ sacrifice was definitely shown in this film and Gibson’s choices did impact the audience. Controversy aside, understanding the reason this movie was made can be clearer if you compare it to another famous and lighter biblical movie, Evan Almighty, which retells the story of Noah’s Ark in a modern and playful way. These movies are similar because they both come from Biblical texts but also could not be more different when looking at the movie’s intended audience and the choices the directors make.

Truth in the Bible

Unlike Mel Gibson who tried to tell the story of The Passion of Christ in the most brutally honest way, Tom Shadyac diverged from the Genesis text and created his own story of Noah’s Ark. The real story of Noah’s Ark started when God was angry and dissatisfied with humans because of their evildoings, so one day He came to a man who loved and believed in Him, Noah, and told him to build an ark to save his family and the world’s animals from a flood that was going to destroy Earth and all mankind. Noah did so and after the flood humans were wiped away and mankind started over with Noah’s descendants. Shadyac’s main goal for this film was to make a family-friendly, entertaining movie that educates kids on the story of Noah’s Ark. In order to make this applicable to kids Shadyac couldn’t possibly make a movie about the real story of Noah’s Ark because the message is too discouraging. Shadyac had to make a director’s decision to move away from the text and make the ending more appropriate for kids. In relation to The Passion, Gibson made the same decisions Shadyac had to make in order to get his intended message across, which was to show his audience the real story of Jesus’s death and all he endured to sacrifice himself for us. The most gruesome and important part of the movie, when Jesus is tortured and scourged, is only mentioned once in the Gospel of Mark when it says, “Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified” (Mark 15:15). The word flogged is so minuscule in the context of the entire Gospel but the meaning of that word is so immense. The Bible does not go into detail of Jesus’s flogging but Gibson knew he had to in order to shock his audience, a choice that has been negatively looked at even though it was the truth. When Pope John Paul II saw the film and was asked about its accuracy, he famously responded, “It is as it was”. The impact of this quote from the Pope gives justification for Gibson and in my opinion excuses him of all the backlash and cursing he received. By not changing the text and purpose of the story like Shadyac, Gibson made us all look at the death of Jesus in the most accurate light possible and showed us all how truly horrible, yet incredible Jesus’ sacrifice really was. You may have liked seeing Evan Almighty more because of its make believe, but the horror of the true story Gibson makes you sit through impacts your life as a Christian forever.

Hi, my name is Michael Minicus and I am a first year student here at Colgate University. I am from Darien, CT and I am an undeclared major. I am a student-athlete at Colgate and am a member of the Men’s Lacrosse team. I hope you enjoy what I have learned this year in Legacies of the Ancient World!