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The Passion of the Christ (Widescreen Edition) Customer Reviews (136 - 138 of 160 Reviews)

Best movie ever by far
This film breaks the ceiling of amazon.com's five star limit. Regardless of your religion, loyalties, or personal beliefs, to remain unmoved by this film means you're Satan himself.

The film revolves around the last 12 hours of Jesus Christ's life on Earth. As a viewer who's actually read the New Testament before laying judgement on the film's accuracy, I'd say there was extremely little deviation from the original Gospels. The film is an overwhelmingly emotional roller coaster ride beginning at Jesus' mock trial under Pontius Pilate to His crucifixion and resurrection. The fact that the entire script was spoken in Aramaic and Latin lends credit to director Mel Gibson's seriousness in portraying the events as accurately as possible.

The film was violent and bloody, but no more than the average reel spewing forth from Hollywood nowadays, none of which receive so much as a blink for their levels of gratuitous violence. But then again, none of those films promote Christianity. Hmm....

The film was no more anti-Semetic than "Schindler's List" was anti-German or "Seven Years in Tibet" was anti-Chinese. This film simply portrayed events as we know them historically. The Jewish high priests happened to be one group of people who wanted Jesus dead. The Romans and Pharisees were the true villians of the movie, nor was Jesus spared betrayal by even his own Apostles. The movie does, on the other hand, show two Jewish high priests defending Jesus' innocence at his trial, and it shows Simon being mocked by a Roman guard for being Jewish. These two events I do not recall reading in the New Testament, lending creedence to Mel Gibson's effort to make the film NOT anti-Semetic. The high priests condemned Jesus to death, but it was the Roman guards who took true sadistic pleasure in His suffering.

The violence and bloodshed served a purpose. It was to show what Jesus went through, the amount of pain He suffered, for mankind. Reading it in a few Biblical passages is one thing, viewing it on the big screen for two hours straight puts a different perspective on it. The entire movie intertwined scenes of Christ's suffering with scenes of Him earlier in time giving sermons on love and forgiveness. This served to cement the fact that Jesus did not just practice what He preached. The most emotional scene was probably when Jesus was being nailed to the cross, the whole time praying for God to forgive His persecutors.

I've seen the film three times since it premiered five days ago, and I plan to see it many more times before it comes out on DVD. To warn you, the film makes you feel about an inch tall, but it is a much needed reminder of just what sacrifices were made by Him on our behalf. The closing scene was my favorite, and I hope you watch to see what it is. Amen and Hallelujah!

The Passion of the Christ
After so much media attention - most of which was not favourable in New Zealand, I saw the movie and was moved beyond anything I has experienced before. The acting was flawless and it was very easy to identify as a Mother myself, with Mary the Mother of Jesus, watching helplessly as events unfolded. Mel Gibson and Jim Caviezel can only be commended for such an outstanding film and performance. As a Catholic, and a Mother I didnot find the film overly violent, it has to be seen in the context of the time it was set and the sacrifice made by Jesus for all of us. As for being anti semitic - I would totally refute that claim, except to say that just because we may not like the course history took, does not mean we can re write it. I hope and pray that this film will be the beginning of conversion within the Catholic and Christian community. This film was made with the love and grace of God by people deserving of our love and gratitude. Man makes time for the things he loves, now is the time to love God and make time for Him - this film is the beginning for the whole world.

Cathartic and Moving
I'm sick of hearing every Tom, Dick and Harriet selfishly using this film as a staging area for attacks on the social ills of their choice. People come up with the most ridiculous bones to pick with this movie; it's "porno violence", it's sexist because Satan is portrayed as a woman(actually much more of an androgynous figure, so ignore this moronic quibble when you see it), it's "unfocused". The real problem for many of these critics is that it's a blockbuster movie about Jesus Christ and that's just not a valid subject for serious "cinema". Anti Semitic? Absolutely not; if anything the film portrays Judas and Peter as the biggest jerks in the story, and people aren't so stupid as to become racists and bigots from viewing a Hollywood picture, thank you very much. Overly violent? It's a film about THE LAST TWELVE HOURS OF CHRIST'S LIFE! What do you think you're going to get? If graphic violence is "gritty", "hip" or "brilliant" in a Tarantino movie it's just as valid here for my money. Mel Gibson deserves a lot of respect for his guts and vision in putting his own money where his mouth is in order to maintain the artistic integrity of his project. This isn't "Bad Boys", "Charlie's Angels" or "Dirty Dancing" here folks, and we should be grateful that there is a filmmaker in Hollywood who still produces work of this caliber.
Okay, now that I've vented, the acting is top notch, from the brilliant Jim Caviezel through the sadistic Roman soldiers, the photography is lush, the score is great, and it passes the real litmus test: you absolutely will not find your thoughts drifting to your grocery shopping, laundry, annoying co-workers, or anything else while viewing this film. Bravo. Here's hoping Gibson films a prequel.

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