By Jamie Dodson (March 11, 2004)
 

"The Passion of the Christ," directed by Mel Gibson, is a captivating depiction of Jesus' 12 final hours. The 126-minute movie was entirely spoken in Aramaic and Latin with English subtitles. It was feared that the subtitles would take away from the experience of seeing this epic film; fortunately that was not the case. Critics have been criticizing Gibson’s directing capability and his idea of replicating The Holy Bible since before the movie was released. I feel Gibson did a very commendable job of sticking to the Christian gospels. The film starts with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane praying. The Garden of Gethsemane looks more like a mysterious foggy graveyard than a garden. This is when the viewers start to get a little knot in their stomachs, some would call anticipation.

Graphic by Matt Meyer

The scared Jesus, played by the astounding Jim Caviezel, is then confronted by a pale Satan (Rosalinda Celentano) clothed fully in black with a sinful gleam in her eye. Shortly after this scene the film goes from dark and mysterious, to sheer gore. For most of the remaining part of the movie, Jesus is a prisoner who is being dragged and beaten from one high-ranking official’s house to another and through Jerusalem to his final resting place.

The film is rated "R" due to "sequences of graphic violence" and the rating should be a good warning to its viewers. I would advise viewers who have a difficult time watching bloody war movies or the Discovery Channel’s surgery shows to rethink seeing this film. This is by far the most gruesome and fleshy movie I have ever seen. One scene in particular, when Jesus is chained to a cement block and is being whipped by two overgrown men with chains that have sharp objects attached to the end, is especially vivid. One man whips Jesus and then tries to retract the whip but it has been implanted in Jesus' side. When he forcefully rips it out, blood and skin are flung everywhere. At this point every member of the audience is cringing in disgust and that little knot in their stomach has grown to a bigger knot.

Another scene to be aware of occurs when Jesus is being nailed to the cross with nine-inch nails. This scene is extremely difficult to watch and looks extremely lifelike. Many viewers who I sat close to covered their eyes or looked away. It is this scene that Mel Gibson is supposedly said to be in, and his hands are supposedly the ones hammering in nails into Jesus' hands. 

Besides Jim Caviezel, another amazing actor is Maia Morgenstern, who plays Jesus' mother Mary. Viewers are introduced to her early on in the movie and as the film goes on she becomes a more and more profound character. Mel Gibson managed to direct the film in a way that the audience felt Mary’s pain and really just opened up their hearts to her love. By watching her on screen you could almost feel the pain and sorrow that she was experiencing.

Many people have gone to see "The Passion of the Christ" for many reasons. I would encourage anyone who is willing to sit through 126 minutes of extremely gory scenes to go see this one-of-a kind film.