Life on Rural Street

"What time is it in your world? Is it too late for second chances or too early to care?"

Saw The Passion of the Christ last night. Quite a remarkable film. I'll do dislikes first.

Dislikes
1. The figure of "evil" in the film. First off, was it supposed to be Satan? I've heard both ways. I don't much care to be honest - it was evil whatever it was. I just think it was overkill. To me, the presence of evil was very much apparent without that figure being present. I didn't need the woman floating in the background of the crowd to sense the evil that was there.

2. Parts of Mary's character. This shows my protestantism I think. But I don't think Mary "knew" what was happening much more than any of the disciples did.

3. This one is still in my thought-process --> If Jesus was a human (and we know he was in human flesh) could he have actually endured beating THAT severe and still made it to the cross to be crucified. I think it wasn't that I had a problem with the severity of the beatings, so much as I felt it diminished the importance of the cross. I found myself thinking "goodness, just get to the cross and get it over with," which, in reality, may have been how Jesus felt. So maybe I'm way off base here... Like I said, this one is still in process.

4. I wish there had been a longer resurrection scene. I felt like half the story was told. I found myself wanting to yell after the movie "but there's more..." But to Gibson's credit - he was quite clear in what the focus of the movie would be.

Likes
1. The depiction of Mary as a mother. I am not a mother, but I cannot imagine anything more horrific than watching someone you love go through something like that. And whether or not she did know what was happening has no bearing on the fact that she watched her son die the worst death in history.

2. I'm contradicting myself here, but I did enjoy the evil figure in the first scene. The picture of the snake coming up to "tempt" Jesus to not fulfill his Father's plan and then Jesus crushing his head was quite striking.

3. The "extras." By this I mean things that are not in the scriptures, but help to make this film a work of art. The depiction of Claudia & Pilate, the scene with Herod, the way Judas was haunted and tortured himself. I especially loved the scenes from Jesus' life before his ministry.

4. The language. I am thrilled that someone finally did a movie that doesn't take place in America in the language of the land it does take place in. It seemed richer for it.

5. The actors ethnicity. The actor who played Jesus wasn't a blond, blue-eyed caucasian man. Kudos to Gibson for getting actors that made sense for the roles.

I recommend also the review Taylor Haley wrote for the CCO you can find it here (copy and past this address) http://www.ccojubilee.org/alumnifolder/AlumNews04/mar04/HaleyPassion.html

This Side of Eve plays Club Cafe, tonight @ 9PM. (I had to get my plug in...)