A Passionately crafted masterpiece

John 19:6-7
As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted "Crucify! Crucify!" But Pilate answered, "You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him." The Jews insisted, "We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God."

Mel Gibson's focus on that verse of the Bible has caused countless Jews to stiffen at the scent of anti-Semitism with his new movie, The Passion of the Christ. And with reason. "Passion plays," theatrical productions of the same title blaming Jews for the death of Christ, have had a habit of stirring up anti-Semitic mob mentalities among Christians.

The shocker: Those weren't real Christians.

At least, according to this movie. The teachings of Jesus in The Passion of the Christ are about love and forgiveness. So even if you do believe John 19:6-7 was the way it went down, the movie provides no basis for a hate riot. And it doesn't turn good-hearted people into instant Hitlerites.

In any case, Jesus makes it clear in the film that he's laying down his own life for the good of all mankind. He repeats that he's doing everything of his own accord and that he could deliver himself from the sacrifice at any time. But he chooses to take on the burden of mankind's sins through his own death.

A very, very long death.

Twelve hours of it, in fact, crunched into a two-hour time span. Brutal, malicious, heartless torture on the part of the Romans, in the form of whips and sticks and thorns and nails slashing out pools of blood sickening enough redefine the meaning of Jesus' sacrifice. Gibson zooms in on every hack and whack of Jesus' physical demise, making sure you consider what kind of torture he may have gone through prior to the actual crucifixion.

As hard as it is to look at, The Passion is just as hard to look away from. Gibson's cinematography is crisp, clear, and confident. Riveting slow motion shots of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and Mary Magdalene magnify their anguish, enhancing and deepening the two-thousand-year-old story into a fresh, poignant masterpiece. Gibson has given us a beautifully crafted film about the ugliest capabilities of mankind.

It begins in the garden of Gethsemane, in which Jesus (Jim Caviezal) prays to God for strength to face the future. He is confronted by an unsettling specter of a well-crafted, though unnecessary Satan, who asks Jesus if he truly believes one man can bear the burden of sin for all mankind, setting the stage and tone for an almost epic journey to the cross.

Interlaced with flashbacks from then on, The Passion provides short chunks of relief from the bloodshed. Each flashback highlights the compassionately human side of Jesus, as a playful son, as a comforting friend, as an upright role model.

And surprisingly enough, he's a Jew. And so is his mother. And so are his disciples. And so is the stranger who tries to give him water as he carries the cross. And so is the man who actually helps him carry the cross. Anti-semitic The Passion is not. The pre-Passion buzz has gotten people so anti-hate that they've ended up hating unnecessarily.

Gibson, a Christian, is telling what he feels is an unadulterated Christian story. Was it the Romans or the Jews? Does it matter? The story is about forgiveness.

So what real Christian is gonna walk out with a two-thousand-year-old grudge?

The Passion of the Christ is rated R for sequences of graphic violence.