First, am I the only one that finds it deeply ironic (or at least laughably stupid) that fundamentalist Protestants are running in droves to see a dogmatic movie made by a Traditionalist Catholic who has stated point-blank that all non-Catholics are damned?
Ironic, probably not. Laughably stupid, could be. I find it neither. As a Protestant (though not fundamentalist), I didn't find it dogmatic. There was some talk of an emphasis on the Stations of the Cross, but since I'm not familiar with that Catholic practice, I was unable to see this. I was a little disappointed by a lack of attention to the resurrection and a little creativity with the Temple. Aside from that it was pretty accurate in representing what is presented in the Gospels.
Keep in mind that Mel Gibson was very influenced by his father, who has always been very outspoken in his disagreement with the changes in the Catholic Church brought on by Vatican II.
Second (as pointed out by a columnist in the Lexington paper), isn't it odd that Gibson was supposedly so committed to authentic detail that he initially didn't even want subtitles for the Aramaic and Latin, and yet he cast a white Jesus?
I think the jury's still out on the exact ethnic origin of Jesus, but in any case, I wouldn't call James Caviezel the poster boy for white people. I'm sure the gene pool has been muddied over the centuries, but I didn't think Caviezel looked too different from any of the modern Israelis you see on TV.
Quote:
I am a high school teacher and the daughter of Holocaust survivors. Monday morning, Period 1, a student, age 17, comes into my room. She asks me if I had seen the film "The Passion."
I answer, "No."
She continues, "It was so sad. I cried so much. I hate the Jews."
Very, very sadly, that tells the whole story, Mr. Gibson.
Anna Paikow
Los Angeles
I think this actually shows how stupid people are.
Since this is the forum for religious debate, I posit the theory that since the Old Testament prophets foretold the coming of a Messiah who would die and be resurrected, that Jesus would die one way or another. Instead of hating Jews for killing Jesus, these people should stop and think, and then thank the Jews for allowing Jesus to be crucified. If he doesn't die, he can't be resurrected, and Christians have no salvation through Christ.
On a less religious angle... did this girl, or this teacher, see
Schindler's List? If they did, do they hate all Germans because of it? Did they see
Glory or any other Civil War movie? If they did, do they hate all southerners?
"It's great how you can control 60 musicians with one just stick-- I can't control these fuckers with two!" -- Ian Paice