The Passion of the Christ is a brilliant, powerful, shocking, but deeply moving and challenging film. It depicts vividly the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As a Catholic, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Messiah. Watching Mel Gibsons remarkable film, at a Birmingham preview, was a profoundly spiritual experience. Throughout the film the events of my own life were brought to mind. It was for my sins and the sins of all of mankind that the Christ died an excruciatingly painful death, on a cross at Golgotha outside Jerusalem 2000 years ago. Never again will I be able to read or hear the gospel accounts of the passion and death of the Christ in the same way, especially on Good Friday afternoon. The facts are there for all to read in the four gospels, but they are sanitised by their familiarity. They dont bring home the brutality and reality of Roman crucifixion, one of the most painful and barbaric forms of death ever devised. In the film, the flagellation scene is certainly graphically violent as Jesus body is savagely torn apart with the hideous whips and tools of the ancient Roman Empire. The merciless sadism of the colonising Roman legions is terrifyingly portrayed and symbolised their contempt for the whole Jewish people. The graphic scenes of the journey to Calvary are indeed violent, noisy and cruel, so that even a Roman officer has to intervene to prevent his soldiers knocking every breath of life out of Jesus. Its a pity that the film has been given an 18 rating as it prohibits it from being shown during religious lessons and discussion groups in schools. I have seen gangster films filled with gratuitous violence and bloodshed that have been granted a 15 rating. Mel Gibsons film is an interpretation of the events of the last 12 hours in the life of the Christ. He uses a conflation of the gospel accounts and other writings including The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by the Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824), a German Augustinian nun. The film is interwoven with traditional Catholic devotion such as the Stations of the Cross, which date back to St Francis of Assisi in the Middle Ages. The Agony in the Garden, the Arrest, the Scourging the Crowning of Thorns, the Trial by Pontius Pilate, the Carrying of the Cross, the Crucifixion and the Dying on the Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ are all portrayed. Other elements of the gospels are inter-woven in a series of clever flashbacks. These include the command to love from the Sermon on the Mount, and the washing of the disciples feet before the Last Supper. I found the scene where Veronica wipes the face of Jesus after he has fallen under the weight of the cross particularly moving.
Passion of Christ
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The film is in Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus, and Latin. There were no famous actors or actresses or American accents to distract my attention. There are some historical inaccuracies including the fact the Christ was shown carrying a cross, whereas victims of Roman crucifixion carried the crossbeam to the place of execution. The film depicts the long nails being violently hammered into the palms of the hands of the Christ with blood flowing to the ground. In fact, the Roman soldiers would have smashed the rusty nails through the wrists of their victims in order to keep them firmly fixed to the cross and prolong the agony. Some critics have accused the film of being anti-Semitic. I did not find it so. Mel Gibson is a committed Catholic and this compelling work of art has been born out of his deeply held Christian faith. Having seen what is undoubtedly one of the most talked about and controversial films ever made, I would thoroughly recommend it. I encourage people of all Christian traditions, religious faiths and none to disregard the media hype. Forget the controversial reviews and news stories and see it for yourself as soon as it goes on general release. The Passion of the Christ is a compelling work of art. It ends with the Resurrection of the Christ from the dead. For some this film has proved to be a life changing experience! | 
