When adjusted for inflation, The Passion of the Christ is still the highest grossing R-rated movie ever released. The story of the crucifixion of Christ is kind of a big deal. It's an intense and important story and Mel Gibson didn't hold back as he set out to tell it visually in the format of a film. It's truly hard to rate such a movie as this. It feels a little wrong to rate it as low as I did given how important the event it depicts is. But it's almost two hours of watching an innocent man being brutalized. Blood and skin go flying in graphic fashion. While not fun to watch, the make-up artists deserve some praise. I'm no stranger to horror films, and I still found myself looking away at points. As Christians, we hear so much about the blood and death of Christ that the weight of what He endured doesn't always sink in. This movie jolts and shocks us as it reminds us how awful the suffering of Jesus was. It's bittersweet in that it's absolutely horrific what Jesus had to endure, yet because He endured it, salvation has been made available for mankind. I appreciate the respect given to the biblical account of this story. While there are moments in which artistic license was taken, there seemed to be great effort to make this as historically accurate as possible. Most of the extra-Biblical content seemed to consist of images or happenings that were meant to be symbolic more so than anything else. As for the filmmaking elements of the movie, it's shot very dramatically and artistically. There are a lot of close ups and slow motion shots that strive to drive in the emotion of each moment. There are back flashes which show short little scenes from Jesus' life before the present affliction, but these seem to serve more as temporary moments of relief between the scenes of brutality more than they do the storytelling. The dialogue isn't abundant but the language fits the context of the story. In the end, the goal here wasn't to simply entertain, but "to bring to vivid life the nature and magnitude of Jesus' sacrifice." And it is perhaps the closest to the real thing we've ever seen on screen. While you may not want to watch this one twice, it should stick with you even after one viewing. It's impactful, but it's not enjoyable.
Review of The Passion of the Christ
