Hello everyone,
I had gone to see the movie one week ago, and to sum it up in one sentence, I can say that Mel Gibson is very faithful to his Roman Catholic beliefs.
Contrary to what many mainline Protestant leaders are saying about the movie, that it is totally faithful to the Bible, there are many non-biblical scenes in the movie. And like Mel Gibson confessed, he got much of his inspiration from the writings of 2 female Catholic mystics who lived in the Middle Ages (Their names escape me at the moment)
Many non-biblical scenes involve Mary, of course. One is Pontius Pilate's wife handing Mary and Mary Magdalene white linen sheets with which to mop up the blood of her Son from the scourging floor after the scourging scene. Another is when Christ is on the cross, and Mary says to Him, "Let me die with you!" She also kisses her Son's feet, and in the process, appears to suck the blood off His feet (drinking the blood of Christ to inherit eternal life?) And in a previous scene, when Christ is taken away to be scourged, He turns back to His mother, and she says to Him, "It has begun, Lord." As if she totally understood exactly what was going to happen to Him, and why He was going through it.
Was the movie violent? Absolutely. Anyone who can't stand the sight of blood or the screams of pain should not see the movie. And anyone with any kind of bad heart condition shouldn't see the movie either, because the soundtrack is filled with drums beating, music which is akin to African tribal music. It had my heart racing like crazy. Even my father, who is not a Christian, who saw the movie with me, said the next day that he was physically exhausted after seeing the movie. Probably due to the fact that he is out of shape, first of all, and second, the constant beating of the drums, which has been proven to increase one's heart rate. It is very likely this may have been a factor in the death of the woman in Chicago by a heart attack.
Another big downside to the movie is that anyone without any understanding of basic Christianity is not going to understand the movie at all. If anything, I think the impression non-believing people will get out of it is, "How can people be so cruel?" They will get the impression that Christians believe that Christ redeemed us through His physical torture and suffering. This, we know, is not the case AT ALL!! Yet this is actually a foundational Catholic belief.
For more insight on this movie, I highly recommend this link to the MSN SDA chatroom community, where you will find a six-part scholarly review by Samuele Bacchiocchi:
SDA Chatroom Message Board To be honest, the physical beating and the crucifixion were not scenes in this movie that had moved me to tears. What was it that moved me to tears? The scenes in which Christ spoke the very words of God. Words that I have read over and over again on the pages of a book. It then occurred to me that EGW said that the events of earth's final days are going to run parallel to the closing hours of Christ's life. I've been terrified for a while of having to go through the time of Jacob's trouble, and when I drove home from the movie, those fears revived, and I agonizingly prayed, "Lord, what will happen to me? Will I be tortured? Will I brought in a court? Imprisoned?" Did He give me the specific answer as to what will happen to me? Of course not. But He did seem to answer me with three words:
"You will rise."
That seemed to say to me that whatever it is that God allows me to go through, He will keep me from falling, and I will rise with Him, as Christ did on the day of His ascension.
So again I say, non-Christians, if they go and see the movie without a Christian friend and try to interpret and understand it for themselves, will get many wrong impressions, for "the natural man does not receive the things of the spirit, neither can he know them."
And may I add one last thing. This motion picture of the last hours of Christ's life was made by a mere human, whose life is as a bubble, a single breath of air. But EGW reminds us that after the millenium, when all of humanity through all the ages, saved and unsaved, stands before Christ, there will be a panoramic view, which I believe will be just like a movie screen, of the fall of Adam in the garden, and then the final scenes of Christ, the REAL events, as they actually happened!! (Read it in the last chapter of Great Controversy) That is when I will stand in absolute, wondrous awe, because I will be seeing a replay of a real event, not a man's depiction of it.
Until next time,
Kim