January 23, 2004
Dear Concerned Citizen,

tothesource was invited to a preliminary screening of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ this last weekend in a private residence. As we settled into their home theatre, the hostess introduced the movie by saying, “I’m not going to say ‘enjoy the film’. This is not a film you enjoy. This is a film you experience.”

She was right. The movie confronts you with the harsh reality of what Jesus went through.

Gibson set out to make a film of the passion of Jesus “like traveling back in time and watching the events unfold exactly as they occurred…as the Bible tells it.” Along the way he has created a work of art. The Caravaggio lighting and earth tone coloration blends beautifully with the dialogue performed completely in Latin and Aramaic. Gibson’s decision to use the ancient languages was a stroke of genius. They not only add to the overall realism of the picture, but their poetic and guttural quality is deeply moving.

Another stroke of genius was casting James Caviezel as Jesus. Best known for playing the lead in the 2002 surprise hit, The Count of Monte Cristo, Caviezel brought a transcendent strength to every frame he was in, which is nearly the entire movie. Certain movies succeed or fail on one casting decision. This is one of them. Caviezel was so consumed by his part he dislocated his shoulder during the filming. Like Gibson, Caviezel comes from a devout Catholic family.

The movie opens in the Garden of Gethsemane and continues through the final hours of Jesus’ life. It is a gut-wrenching portrayal of love-filled forgiveness and hate-filled violence. The film grabs you and never lets you go.

At the end of the film we sat in complete silence for several minutes. No one moved.

The next morning in the Sunday New York Times there was an article by Frank Rich that ridiculed Gibson for making The Passion of the Christ. Rich contends that the controversy over the film may have a negative effect on the film’s impact and box-office success.

For months the film has been at the center of a firestorm of criticism. Critics have castigated Gibson for the hubris in making a movie about the life of Christ. In another article Frank Rich dismissed the film with, “To the extent that there can be any agreement about the facts of a story on which even the four Gospels don’t agree, his movie is destined to be inaccurate.” If we did accept this criteria then no one could speak of the life of Jesus with confidence.

The other main criticism associated with The Passion is the claim that Gibson is anti-Semitic. Christians should be more aware of the very real danger of continued anti-Semitism. The Anti-Defamation League has “grave concerns” about the film according to Rabbi Eugene Korn, the director of the organization’s Office of Interfaith Affairs.

Before ADL Executive Director Abraham Foxman had seen the movie, he told CNN that they are troubled that the film has portrayed “the Jews, the Jewish community, in a manner that we have experienced historically. Seeing passion plays used to incite not only a passion of love in terms of Christianity, but at the same time, to instill and incite hatred of Jews because of deicide.”

On Wednesday night, the 21st of January, Foxman was one of three Jewish leaders who pretended to be pastors in order to see the film. Their verdict? “At every single opportunity, Gibson’s film reinforces the notion that the Jewish authorities and the Jewish mob are the ones ultimately responsible for the Crucifixion.” They found the inclusion of one scene especially troubling. Pontius Pilate washes his hands to show he is innocent of Christ’s impending death, and the crowd cries out, “His blood be on us and on our children!” This passage has been interpreted to mean that Jews alone are collectively guilty of Jesus’ death.

Passion Plays, such as the one held in Oberammergau, Germany every decade, were once common throughout Europe. They have on occasion incited violence by Christians against those they call ‘Christ-killers.’ Any attempt to show Jews and Judaism as collectively responsible for the death of Jesus is cause for alarm to current Jewish leadership. It is understandable that the Jewish community would be concerned when the number one box-office star in the world would make a modern film adaptation of the Passion. They know history has an ominous habit of repeating itself when it comes to Jewish persecution.

The Anti-Defamation League position is best expressed by a statement taken from their web site. “Passion Plays are, in general, sources of theological anti-Judaism and do not help to improve the relationship of Christians and Jews.” Such a sweeping statement by the ADL is excessive. People of faith must be allowed to express their faith. There are aspects of all religions that someone else finds offensive. The danger is not the expression of faith but actual acts of discrimination. A reenactment of the passion of Jesus is not the moral equivalence of a cross-burning.

However, Christians must be careful here. There is reason for real concern by the ADL. The usual rebuttal to the charge of Christian anti-Semitism is that Jesus was Jewish and all of his initial followers were Jewish so how can rational Christians honestly believe Jews are inferior or evil? But for hundreds of years, in almost every Christian country, some did believe exactly that. These facts did not stop Christian persecution of Jews in the past. The question of anti-Semitism can not be dismissed with this over-used generalization. Gibson’s film itself must be considered on its own content.

Some key questions regarding the film’s possible anti-Semitism are, “Was Caiaphus’ decision to push Pontius Pilate into crucifying Jesus overemphasized and portrayed as irrational hatred?” “Was Pilate portrayed as a compassionate and reasonable person who was outmaneuvered by the cagey Jewish leadership?” “Did Gibson disproportionably select those gospel texts that most emphatically place the responsibility for the decision to kill Jesus on the Jews?” And finally, “Is the conflict portrayed as Jews vs. Christians or does the struggle take place within the Jewish community?”

Regarding all four of these questions perhaps even more care could have been taken. But is the film anti-Semitic in its emphasis? Certainly not. Caiaphus insists that those who wish to defend Jesus must have their say. He demands to hear with his own ears blasphemy from Jesus. Though tight lipped throughout his trial and crucifixion, here Jesus seems intent to set his own death into motion. He answers Caiaphus that he is the Christ. He knows he is boxing Caiaphus in with his words. Caiaphus rips his robes and proclaims Jesus guilty. The film, by using this event as the inciting incident, gives Jesus the rightful role of protagonist. Jesus knew that for Caiaphus, blasphemy was considered the greatest sin, one punishable by death.

And there is another point to remember. Gibson is not a theologian. He is a filmmaker. A very successful one. He knows, like all students of good film know, that the protagonist must make the key decisions that drive the plot line. From the vantage of film structure it was not Caiaphus or the Jewish leadership that killed Jesus. It was not even the bloodthirsty Roman soldiers who beat him to near death and then nailed him to the cross. It was Jesus himself who made the decision to lay down his life.

The vitriol surrounding this movie puts into question the larger culture issue of pluralism; namely can we live well with others while holding fast to our own core beliefs? This means allowing others to express beliefs that are troubling or at odds with our own. All of us are a bit too sensitive when it comes to our worldview. This is certainly true of many Christians. In this case it may be true for some in the Jewish community. Strong dialogue should be encouraged. But when it crosses over into condemnation that seeks to dismiss or silence those with whom we disagree then everyone suffers.

To facilitate much needed communication Icon Productions, Mel Gibson’s production company, plans to convene meetings with significant Jewish leaders over the next 30 days.

So how will the film do? Entertainment publicist Michael Levin told the Washington Times that, “This film has all the makings of a (box-office) bomb.” Mr. Levine will almost certainly be proven wrong. The distributors of The Passion of Christ, New Market Films, plan to open the film on 2,000 screens across the nation on Ash Wednesday, February 25th. If they secure additional financing the number will increase to 3,000 screens, which is considered broad distribution. They are hoping for strong box-office revenues in the first two weeks to propel the film into must-see status.

All of this controversy has not hurt preliminary ticket sales. Bob Berney, the president of New Market Films, said of the demand that he “knew it would start building and building, but now it’s like a tsunami.” Church groups have been ordering large blocks of tickets, and ticket chains have set up toll-free numbers to take advance orders.

Once you see the movie I believe you will agree with me it is not about who gets blamed for killing Jesus. Christian faith teaches that we all do. In the film there is a series of graphic close-ups of a Roman hand holding a hammer, driving the spikes into Christ's hands and feet. The Roman hand was Gibson's. It is his only acting role in the film.

At the end of the day the film is not about the passion of Mel Gibson or the New York Times or the Anti-Defamation League. The movie is about the passion of Christ.

Gibson's Turning Point

In an August, 2002, interview with the Australian website Urban Cinefile Gibson was asked if he had ever questioned his own religious values.

“I’m sure we all have had doubts. I was raised in a very particular way but from the age of 17 to 35, I gave it all away. But it slowly came back. I did walk away but some lessons brought me back. You usually return to it in a state of disarray in your life and that was certainly the case for me.”

Later Gibson was even more frank with the New Yorker. “You can get pretty wounded along the way, and I was kind of out there. I got to a very desperate place. Very desperate. Kind of jump-out-of-a-window desperate. And I didn’t want to hang around here, but I didn’t want to check out. The other side was kind of scary. And I don’t like heights, anyway. But when you get to the point where you don’t want to live and you don’t want to die- it’s a desperate, horrible place to be. And I just hit my knees. And I had to use the Passion of Christ and wounds to heal my wounds. And I’ve just been meditating on it for twelve years.”

What is so astonishing about what Gibson tells us is that at this time he was the number one box office star in the world. He was wealthy and blessed with a large, loving family.

Gibson quit drinking. He joined Alcoholics Anonymous in 1991. He came to a firm conviction that “There has to be some kind of order and some moral code. I don’t know how people can function without a belief in a deity.” Gibson is now a devout follower of a Roman Catholic splinter group that holds their Mass in Latin and rejects changes made in the Church by Vatican II.

“I had to reconsider and say to myself, now hang on a minute, this isn’t a fairy tale and this actually happened. This is real. And that started me thinking about what it must have been like, what Christ went through and I started seeing it in film terms.”

“I’m trying to access the story on a very personal level and trying to be very real about it,” he explained to Crosswalk. “I’m doing it in a realistic manner so that it doesn’t suffer from the traps of a lot of biblical epics, which quite frankly, suffer from either being too corn, or laughable.”

“I didn’t invent this story. I do happen to believe it. It’s something that just gets inside of you and has to come out. I’m just trying to tell it well, better than it’s ever been told before. Open-minded people will appreciate it for what it is.”

According to the latest Harris poll, Gibson remains America’s “favorite movie star.” His decision to make The Passion of the Christ may change this. Recent criticism of Gibson has included money, not faith, as his ultimate reason for making this film. In Gibson’s own words, this movie is a “career killer.” It is irrational to think Gibson would give up a multimillion dollar career on the hopes of breaking even on The Passion of the Christ.

He has poured more than $30 million of his own money into this film. “My hope is that this movie will affect people on a very profound level and reach them with a message of faith, hope, love, and forgiveness.”

In an interview with ZENIT Gibson elaborated on how his film compares with other Hollywood depictions of Jesus. “I don’t think other films have tapped into the real force of this story. I mean, have you seen any of the others? They are either inaccurate in their history, or they suffer from bad music or bad hair. This film will show the passion of Jesus Christ just the way it happened. It’s like traveling back in time and watching the evens unfold exactly as they occurred …We’ve done the research. I’m telling the story as the Bible tells it. I think the story, as it really happened, speaks for itself. The Gospel is a complete script, and that’s what we’re filming.”

Regarding the attacks against the film? As Gibson told The New Yorker, “I didn’t realize it would be so vicious. The acts against the film started early. As soon as I announced I was doing it, it was, ‘This is a dangerous thing.’ There is a vehement anti-Christian sentiment out there, and they don’t want it. It’s vicious.”

"When you look at the reasons why Christ came, why he was crucified," Mr. Gibson told an interviewer, "He died and suffered for all mankind, so that, really, anybody who transgresses has to look at their own part in his death."

"The immediate object of the League is to stop, by appeals to reason and conscience and, if necessary, by appeals to law, the defamation of the Jewish people. Its ultimate purpose is to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike and to put an end forever to unjust and unfair discrimination against and ridicule of any sect or body of citizens."

ADL Charter
October 1913

"Anti-Semitism, like all forms of racism, distorts the truth in order to put a whole race of people in a bad light. This film does nothing of the sort. It draws out from the historical objectivity of the Gospel narratives sentiments of forgiveness, mercy, and reconciliation. It captures the subtleties and the horror of sin, as well as the gentle power of love and forgiveness, without making or insinuating blanket condemnations against one group."

"According to industry insiders, films that are over three months from release rarely enjoy awareness ratings over 4%; conservative estimates put Gibson's film at an awareness rating of 38%."

De-briefing the film

The Passion of the Christ contains overwhelming violence in the depiction of Jesus’ scourging and crucifixion. It is grueling and torturous. The numerous and prolonged graphic depictions of Christ’s suffering has earned the film an R rating.

Should children see this film? That, of course, depends on the child. Yet care should be taken. If a parent has any doubt tothesource recommends that the parent see the film first before bringing the child to the film.

For this same reason tothesource recommends that you see the film with a friend or in groups. This is the kind of film that you will want to talk about afterwards.
Groups attending the film might host gatherings in homes, schools, churches or synagogues to provide de-briefing opportunities.

The debate continues

Jewish stereotypes and Jewish culpability in Christ’s death are much more pointed in the 1971 Webber/Rice rock opera than in Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. After the play opened on Broadway over thirty years ago, The American Jewish Committee issued a seventeen page report and concluded that Jesus Christ Superstar was bad for Jews and that it rivaled even the Passion Play of Oberammergau in posing a threat to Jewish-Christian relations.

Yet the concern of the American Jewish Committee was not reflected in most reporting or reviews of the play and subsequent film. Tothesource has studied dozens of articles and reviews on Jesus Christ Superstar and we found only one reference to this anti-Semitic charge.

We could find no recorded protest to Superstar by The Anti-Defamation League (founded in 1913). If you type Jesus Christ Superstar into their search engine on their official web site you get this result:

Search: Jesus Christ Superstar
Found: Nothing!

If you type in The Passion of the Christ you get 271 pages. A press release on The Passion of the Christ is currently on the ADL home page.

Those who were concerned that Jesus Christ Superstar would flame anti-Semitism in America have been proven wrong. America remains the most philo-Semitic nation in the world with support for Jewish issues the highest among the Christian community.