mel's movie: wwjd?

[bluegreen17]

(from an article by joan ryan highlighted on rob breszny's site)

By the time Jesus was spilling his first quart or two of blood, and the Roman torturers were still swinging their spike-tipped whips for all they were worth, and the Jewish high priests were watching the horror with their cold little eyes, I was thinking, WWJD? What would Jesus do if he were with us now at San Francisco's Metreon theater watching Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ''?

He would leave, was my guess, not so much in anger as in exasperation and perhaps sorrow. He might have wondered why Gibson used his money and considerable stature to bring to life this section of the gospels. Why not the many passages about kindness and hope, which would seem a more useful -- one might even say more Christian -- contribution to a world grappling with war and fear?

I imagined a puzzled Jesus tapping Mel on the shoulder. "I lived a life of healing, helping those in need, teaching people to be generous and not to be afraid - and this is the part you show? Where's the spiritual nourishment in watching two hours of human depravity?

the rest of the article is here

Comments

[miscelenaclosed.livejournal.com]

Excellent article; thanks for posting it.

I haven't seen the movie, and had no interest in doing so...but I couldn't really elucidate *why not* other than to say that I didn't like to watch torture; I think this author has put my aversion into words better than I could.

[dahliablue.livejournal.com]

That's such an excellent article and pinpoints precisely why I have no interest in seeing the movie.

[bluegreen17]

i didn't have much interest in seeing it in the first place,but now i have an actual aversion to it.

[kittycat33.livejournal.com]

excellent- do you mind if i steal this for my journal?

[bluegreen17]

don't mind at all!

I saw it..

[solarfields.livejournal.com]

...and I can attest to the fact that this is EXACTLY how I came away from it..feeling beaten myself. I'm going to post this in my journal too.

...in addition...

[allogenes.livejournal.com]

I decided to not see the movie because I do not want Mel to profit from an artificially constructed controversy that gave him more free press than, er, well...God. That pisses me off.

But I have been thinking along the same lines as the article you posted. Thanks!

(BTW: I will be waiting to find out if the subtitle line--the one that was the straw that broke the camel's back, it seems--gets re-inserted when the film gets released abroad...especially in the muslim/arab markets.)

subtitle

[bluegreen17]

what was the subtitle? did i miss something? (quite possible).

Re: subtitle

[allogenes.livejournal.com]

The line about how "all jews are damned for all times" or something like that. It is still there in the Aramaic, but left untranslated. Several people are suspicious that it will be re-entered when the movie moves to certain international markets. We'll have to see.

[laverick.livejournal.com]

ooh, excellent points and food for thought. thanks for sharing this article. I haven't had any interest in seeing the movie myself--where *is* the spiritual nourishment in seeing two hours of torture?