Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ is based on the stories and writings from the bible about the last twelve hours of Jesus’s life. Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John are the only stories that tell of the last few hours of Jesus’ life and his crucifixion. After watching the film, however, the audience sees there are parts of the film that are historically accurate, but there are many parts that are inaccurate and have a more creative depiction of Jesus’ final hours. We see through the inclusion of a significant amount of anti-Semitic content, along with the excessive use of violence and gore, that parts of the film are not from the Gospels. Mel Gibson also directed this film towards a heavily Christian audience who would want to see a Jesus character who showed unwavering sacrifice and determination for his present day and future followers.
The Passion is focused on the intentional blaming of the Jews for the death of Jesus Christ. The main storyline presented by Mel Gibson shows Jesus being pursued relentlessly by a wealthy sect of Jews, headed by high priest Caiaphas, who blackmailed the Roman Governor into putting Jesus to death. Throughout the course of the movie and in particular scenes that involved Pontius Pilate and Caiaphas, Jesus is berated and blamed for blasphemy by his own people. This notion, though, is not explicitly discussed in the Bible. Also, at some of the most important conversations in the movie where Jesus is being interrogated by Pilate, Caiaphas, and Herod about his actions and the allegations he faced, Jesus remained silent about his opinion, and was unwilling to answer questions. When looking back in the gospels though, Jesus is not shy about his beliefs. In the movie Jesus is preaching abo...
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...ty, as opposed to governor Pilate. By highlighting every piece of mangled flesh, Gibson elevates the audience’s sense of sorrow for the gory Jesus. This sorrow brings anger towards those who wanted this to happen, and as shown, Gibson places all the blame and hate on the Jews.
Mel Gibson, director of The Passion of the Christ distorted the truth told by the gospels by adding in excessive violence to the movie. In addition, the film intentionally blames the Jews for the death of Jesus creating an anti-Semetic rhetoric throughout the movie. Gibson shows an enormous amount of violence initiated by the Jews and indicates that no Jews had any interest in saving their Messiah. Instead, they turned their back on Jesus for reasons, which remain unexplained in the movie. The result is that Mel Gibson accomplishes his goal of having the movie appeal to a Christian audience
...ude the controversial issues about Jesus. Andreas seemed to have been on the border line with following Jesus and believing he was some guy that was telling lies around the cities. It’s not until Jesus is up for execution when he becomes a follower of Christ. Once Andreas returns, he learns that Barabbas and two zealots were arrested. Barabbas is Andreas’ friend, so he decides to propose ways of rebellion to the Romans. Pilate decides to have a meeting with Andreas about his proposal leads. Pilate manipulates Andreas’s proposal by giving the people of Jerusalem the decision which criminal to keep from execution: Barabbas or Jesus. In the end the people chose Barabbas which meant Jesus, including two other criminals, was sent to be crucified. The story concludes with Andreas recognizing Jesus’ power after so many of the people in his life have been changed by Jesus.
Over the past few days, the class and I have watched a film titled One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Throughout the film, you began to see some parallels to the main character, McMurphy, and that of Jesus Christ. There are many references to the Christian religion within the film.
"A Critique of Inherit the Wind: Analyzing One of the Most Anti-Christian Films in History." Protestantism. Web. 02 June 2010.
The Passion of the Christ is one of many films about the life of Jesus, but this particular one is different to the others. Released in 2004, directed by Mel Gibson and filmed in the ancient Aramaic language, The Passion' focuses mainly on the death of Christ and shows us the full extent of what he suffered to save mankind. Before seeing The Passion of the Christ, I hadn't heard much about it except that it was very violent and politically incorrect. In fact, I hadn't seen or heard a review that said if it was good or bad, or if it was well acted, or if it was worth the watch. Everyone just seemed to be interested in saying that it is too violent, the movie should not have been made, and Mel Gibson shouldn't be making money from a story about Jesus.
Jesus and the two criminals are the main characters in the story but a mass of people, soldiers and leaders of the church are also present. Luke is the only synoptic account to focus a lot of attention on the other crucified criminals and Jesus. I believe this is Luke’s attempt to show Jesus’ mercy and forgiveness for all humankind, even criminals. It is also interesting to note that Luke is the only one to draw attention to masses of people. Mark and Matthew mention that “those who passed by derided him” (Mark 15:29 and Matthew 27:39), but Luke really calls attention to them using a pretty dramatic writing technique: “And the people stood by, watching”. You can almost sense the disgust and shock of the writer at the passiveness of the people.
"The Passion of the Christ" by Mel Gibson, recounts the last twelve hours of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, portraying his arrest, trial, crucifixion and death. One of the most popular religious movies in modern times, it therefore becomes susceptible to criticism. Although the film is based upon the stories within the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, there are many exaggerations and non-biblical elements present in the movie. This is not unexpected, since it is a movie, but the vivid detail of the brutality in the movie as well as the Anti-Semitic theme are the most publicly criticized elements of the movie. The Passion emphasizes the brutality Jesus endured to give himself for his people, but at the same time in the movie the Jews are the ones that cry for his death. During several scenes of The Passion of the Christ, there are elements such as characters, themes, and motifs that are not found within the gospels, but are in the movie to add more dramatic elements.
Hall, Gerald. "Jesus' Crucifixon and Death." Academics' Web Pages. School of Theology at McAuley Campus. Web. 26 Feb. 2012.
Moreland, J.P., and Wilkins, Michael, ed. Jesus Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents the Historical Jesus. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995.
Throughout the novel “a prayer for Owen Meany,” by John Irving, the main character is portrayed as a very religious martyr. In the Christian faith Jesus Christ is a martyr as well. Although there are many differences between the life of Jesus, as depicted in the bible and Owen Meany, there are many similarities as well, so many in fact, that the reader is forced to ponder if these similarities are intentional.
When I saw Lars and the Real Girl on the choices of movies for this project, I knew exactly what I wanted to write about. I really enjoyed this movie and its uniqueness. This movie has the most unique plot I have ever witnessed in a film. At the end of the movie, Margo says to Lars, “There will never be one like her” in reference to Bianca. In reality, there will never be a movie like this one. What I enjoyed most about this film was it was a Christian film but wasn’t a Christian film. What I mean by that is that it didn’t just throw Christianity in your face while watching it. Nothing about this film seemed fake. It never seemed as if the writer was trying to tell you one specific message of the film. The writer was simply telling a story, and leaving it up to the audience to figure out what the message of the story was for that particular person. The writer left it up for the audience’s interpretation. Everything in this film seemed genuine and real. It was something that I really could see happening at my church community. I will be honest when I first read the initial plot before I watched the movie; I was skeptical of how this movie would involve Christianity, but after watching the whole movie I saw that there were elements of Christianity all throughout the movie. From the perception of the church to the common beliefs of the characters, the Christian faith was shown in all aspects of the movie. Lars and the Real is not only a movie, but it is a lesson that through faith and the strength of a community a troubled soul can be healed. There are four specific items I am going to address in this paper: the message of the film regarding the Christian metanarrative, the way Christianity was...
The image of Jesus nailed to a wooden cross by the palms of his hands and with a crown of thorns wrapped around his head is one that has transcended all time barriers. It has inclusive been replicated into figure form that is utilized in various ways but whose primary function is to serve as a constant reminder of the physical suffering endured by Jesus. In The Dream of the Rood however, the perception of Jesus Christ as not only the son of God and savior of mankind but also as a human with the capacity to feel pain, is subverted when through the perspective of a personified cross he is conveyed as a warrior in the midst of combat. The portrayal of Jesus in this way immediately evokes the image of an ideal stereotypical hero who is strong, courageous, and unrelenting in appearance. Nevertheless, it can be said that this type of hero is more inclined towards fantasy than it is based on reality because these idealized heroic figures have only ever truly existed in a fictional universe. The depiction of Jesus as a warrior thus, undermines forms of heroism that stem from explicit suffering that is not concealed but rather expressed by the individual.
Pilate is one of the most well-known characters in the Bible because of his decision to have Jesus killed. At the time of Jesus' death, the citizens of Jerusalem loved Pilate and supported his decision to crucify Jesus (Matthew 27:26). Warren Carter, in his book Portraits of a Roman Governor, explains that Pilate joined forces with a powerful figure named Sejanus in early 26 B.C. Sejanus oversaw the Roman troops at the time and was an extremely powerful man. Sejanus was also known to be Anti-Semitic and exhibited much hostility against Jews. This Anti-Semitic sentiment greatly influenced Pilate, who later acted in the same hateful way, with the culmination being his orders to kill Jesus. It was Sejanus who sent Pilate as governor of Judea just to provoke the
The Last Temptation of Christ by Martin Scorsese shows the life of Jesus Christ and his struggle such as fear, reluctance, depression, doubt, and fear. However, the movie departs from the accepted Biblical depiction of the life of Jesus Christ. In other words, the movie is remotely derived from the Gospel of John, Luke, Mark, and Mathew. The movie starts with the renunciation that it is not based on the above gospels. Instead the movie is derived from the book, The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis. The book focuses on the dual nature of Christ or his humanity (Greydanus).
The rise of Christianity in the ancient world created many problems for leaders at the time. Alexandria had the largest population of Jews. There was a lot of social conflict between the Jews, Christians, and Pagans in the city. The movie shows scenes of mobs of Christians rioting in the streets of
All three parts, in some fashion, present the religious play of the passion of the Christ by coming together as a community and rehearsing to perform the show. It is the performance of the passion as well as the double casting that links the three parts together. The play within a play creates a static backdrop for the action and conflict between characters to occur, as well as a link to religion and history dating all the way back to the Middle Ages. The passion has historically been a show that could be easily manipulated for the wills of the people to show a particular point. The original words were derived from the liturgy of the church and spoken aloud during services. Main points included the events taking place on Good Friday (the day of the crucifixion) like Judas’ betrayal, Jesus’s trial and sentence before Pontius, the carrying of the cross, and dying on the hill side. Jesus’s self-sacrifice for the sake of the sins of the world is the core value of the Christian faith, thus making it a storyline to survive the ages and surpass international boundaries. However, the versions of the passion seen in Ruhl’s play did not come to fruition until many years after the original liturgy. As popularity for the spoken passion grew, members of the church thought the death of Jesus would be more appreciated by the people if the context of Christ’s teachings was also presented. The self-sacrifice