The Passion

When I first heard that Mel Gibson was making a movie about Jesus, I thought to myself, "nobody's gonna go see this thing". I mean, being a Christian and all, I thought it was a cool thing for him to do, and fund with his own money. But looking at our culture and generation, Christian-themed media doesn't tend to do very well in a primarily non-believing population. For example, I really doubt that any non-Christians ever watch the Christian channels on TV, nor do they spend much time in Christian bookstores, or listen to Christian music. A lot of Christians don't even do that stuff. So I figured that a Christian movie, even one associated with a big name like Mel Gibson, would inevitably be ignored too.

Then came all the controversy with the movie's portrayal of Jews, and the whole thing started generating so much attention and hype to the point that everyone in this country, not just Christians, wanted to see this movie. Whether it was out of pure curiosity or what, I don't know, but by the time the movie came out, it seemed that everyone, Christian and non-Christian alike, was interested in going to see this movie. And right now, the Passion has already made more than $200 million in two weeks time, so obviously I was wrong about the movie being ignored.

Meanwhile, I found that for some reason, I was feeling less excited about seeing the movie than everyone around me, including my non-Christian friends. Something about the whole situation kind of bothered me, and I still don't really know exactly what it is.

I think part of it was that I felt like God was being commercialized or trivialized, that all my beliefs were being reduced to a 2 hour movie. I don't know if this is a reasonable way of looking at the situation, but I guess I feel like throughout the years, I've watched so many meaningless movies, and maybe if I saw the Passion in the same way I've gotten used to seeing every other movie, it would just become like all those other movies in my mind. It's like my Christian faith has been brought down to the same level as Starsky & Hutch, Hidalgo, and Eurotrip. Again, maybe I'm just overthinking, but a part of me wants to keep anything to do with God on a higher level than everything else in my life.

Also, everything I was hearing about the movie was that it was very graphic and powerful. And while seeing the bloody crucifixion of Jesus laid out on a movie screen might move someone to tears or maybe even bring a non-believer to Christ, I don't know that it would be a good thing. In my opinion, you shouldn't ever "guilt" someone into believing in God, is what I'm saying.

Or for someone like myself, I don't want to "guilt" myself into becoming a better or more passionate Christian. Having been a churchgoer my entire life, I've experienced my share of retreats and revivals, with plenty of those moments when I felt so incredibly moved by a speaker to be more passionate about God. But with all those high moments came the inevitable "post-retreat letdowns", when I discovered that you can't run purely on emotion in this world. As invincible as those revivals and those speakers made me feel at the time, the reality of life and the world around me eventually set in each and every time, and in the end I found myself feeling even lower than before. It became confusing as to whether or not I was really being touched by God, or merely being touched by guilt from the speaker's message. At some point, I decided that if I continued to put myself through the emotional spin cycle every summer, spring, or winter break, I would someday stop caring entirely and become a cold, hard-hearted old man. And that's definitely not something I want to happen.

So when it comes to the emotional impact of watching a movie like the Passion, I couldn't help but hesitate to subject myself to it. I'm not really afraid to see bloody scenes, but I do feel like with every violent movie or TV show I watch, I get more desensitized and start to lose my capacity to care about stuff as a human being. If you see people getting killed or limbs being blown off all the time, it doesn't make those things any less horrible, but in your mind, you can't help but to start losing perspective. In my Christian belief, the crucifixion of Jesus was the most horrible thing in the history of man, and my personal worry is that the magnitude of his sacrifice would gradually lose its meaning in my mind if I see it played out repeatedly on a movie screen.

All these concerns aside, I still ended up watching this movie anyways on Saturday afternoon, with my mom and sister. And you know what, after watching it, I still don't know how I feel about the whole thing.

As far as the movie itself goes, I thought it was pretty well done. It stayed true to the Bible for the most part, and it did effectively show just how brutal the Roman act of crucifixion really was. Also, despite the controversy, I didn't see the film as being anti-Semitic at all. You can't skirt the fact that it was the Jewish leaders who wanted to get rid of Jesus, just like if you made a movie about Pearl Harbor, you couldn't simply ignore the fact that it was the Japanese who made the surprise attack.

However, if one were to focus on the fact that Jesus's execution was engineered by Jews, it would be missing the larger point. Maybe the film doesn't convey it perfectly, but in the end, it's not really the Jews or the Romans who were responsible for his death. Christianity is not about hating Jews for killing Jesus, it's about recognizing who Jesus was and why he came to this world. The point is, the blood of Christ is on everyone's hands, and not one specific group -- in the big picture, it is because of the sinful nature of all men that he laid down his life.

The one thing about the movie that bothered me was the portrayal of the devil. I don't think it added anything meaningful, and instead made the film feel kind of silly, actually. Do we really need some androgenous-looking "scary" character playing the devil? I don't think so. It tends to make the movie seem less credible and more like a cartoon.

As for my personal reaction, the movie definitely had a strong impact on me. Even as I went into the theater expecting very graphic scenes, it was still extremely powerful and moving to see the extent of brutality and the depth of Jesus's sacrifice on that screen. However, I still don't know what the eventual effect of the movie will be on my life. In the long term, will there be a positive result of me seeing this movie? I have no idea. Also, would I recommend watching this movie to someone else? I don't know what to say to that either.

I will say this: whether you are a believer or not, remember that the Passion is definitely not like any other movie. So if you do go watch it, don't approach it like any other movie. You don't go in there with a bag of popcorn and nachos, nor do you cheer with the crowd when Jesus is resurrected at the end. It's not a chick flick or a date movie, it's not a thriller or a comedy.

But on the other hand, in the end this is still just a movie. If you're not a Christian, I really don't think you can expect to spend 2 hours in the theater watching this movie and all of a sudden become "born-again". Other than some scattered flashback scenes, the Passion is about the last hours of Jesus's life, and while this is a critical part of the Christian faith, there is definitely more to it. At most, I think seeing the movie may inspire some to start seeking to learn more about Christianity, which isn't bad for a 2 hour film.

Anyways, if anyone else sees the movie and wants to discuss it with me, I'd definitely be eager to talk. Other than that, I don't know what else to say at this point.