Having just seen this much-talked-about movie, I can't help but try to react to it. It is nothing if not a very personal, very emotional experience, sitting in that theater. In fact it is very hard to put it into words. The gore and violence is clearly offensive. Being confronted with such wanton brutality is hard to sit through! Yet, I don't in any way regret the experience. The accounts of the crucifixion in the gospels are almost too familiar, and we become used to the events they describe. It is certainly a benefit to be confronted with a retelling that brings these accounts "to life."
I believe it is absolutely essential, as we reflect on this movie, to remember that it is a work of art. It is not fundamentally different from a painting by Michaelangelo or Chagal or Rouault. It is an interpretation, with artistic license. I don't believe that this in any way takes away from the movie, and in fact, I believe it adds to it. We can appreciate in this movie a lively, intimate portrait of Jesus which clearly shows the influence of the gospels, but is obviously not bound to them, nor does it claim to be. But we should not treat it as a substitute to the gospels, nor as a replacement for them. Instead, let us appreciate the artistic achievement, and the power of the message it conveys, and let us react to it and critique it on these grounds.
One of the major themes of the movie, and of the theological controversy surrounding it, is that of suffering. Obviously, if you have seen the movie, suffering is one of the most memorable elements of the film. Gibson (rightly) uplifts the reality of Christ's suffering. He died a brutal and agonizing death amid torture and abuse at the hands of trained executioners. So what? Must we claim that Jesus suffering was the greatest ever undergone for it to be redemptive? While we claim that his suffering was immense, he certainly didn't suffer any more than countless others did at the hands of the romans, or than innumerable others have suffered down through the ages. It wasn't his pain that saved us, although its reality and agony are still essential to the Gospels' story. Much has been made by some that Christians glorify Christ's suffering and in so doing minimize the genuine suffering undergone by others, or often it means a glorification of suffering. In effect, this critique probably proves true in some cases. Because Christ suffered an agonizing death doesn't mean that suffering is good, something to be accpeted pasively because Christ was obedient unto death. As Christians we must stand up to suffering whereever it is found, in the name of that Suffering Christ. Jesus, through his suffering, experienced true suffering, and in doing so defeated suffering and death. We should long for the day when these foes will be vanquished, and we should work to have that reality show forth in our world.
