Sealbasher's Official Movie Review:
Warning....possible spoilers may appear in this review. Do not proceed unless you accept this fact...
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Seriously...turn back if you don't want to know....
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Okay. So you must REALLY want to know what I thought of The Passion of the Christ. Here it is:
This was a great movie. It was dramatic, it was impassioned, the acting was very moving, and the cinematography quite striking.
The movie followed the text as it is written in the New Testament very closely, and omits surprisingly little. Even despite the fact that I was watching a 2 hour movie about a story that I've read time and again, it only felt like a 20 minute film...It succeeds in keeping the viewers interest extremely well (with the exception of a few gratuitous torture scenes which were done in true Mel Gibson epic fashion).
The film, despite any whining, rabble rousing, or finger pointing that you may have witnessed, is NOT anti-semitic. It presents the story as it was written in the New Testament--wherein the Pharisees (the corrupted Rabbis running the Temple at Jerusalem) were the primary condemners, and cruel villains. Although Pontius Pilate was portrayed in a sympathetic light, (and Herod in a rather comical one), most of the Roman soldiers were placed as antagonists--cruel and sinister ones at that.
It is MY opinion that anyone who still insists this film is anti-semitic has either NOT seen the movie, or has, and really just WANTS it to be controversial. I hate attention hounds.
Now, I don't cry at movies, and I did not cry at this movie. It was in essense comparable to the torture scene in Braveheart drawn out for an hour and a half.....dramatic, but not enough to make people sob. There are, of course, those who feel it is their purpose to annoy me at movie theaters, and this film drew many of those types.
1. Church group who tried to lead a "group prayer" before the start of the film. Sit down, shut up, and watch the damned movie before I throw my popcorn at you.
2. Religious family who believes this experience should be shared with even the youngest members of the family....including the 4 month old baby (that needed to be breastfed mid-movie, of course). Be courteous enough to get a damned babysitter...and when your 5 year old is pointing at the dying Christ yelling "Dad, that's so COOL!", he probably isn't mature enough to be watching an R rated film, anyway.
3. Maniacal couple who sobs from the first ten minutes of the film until its end...and sit right next to ME....don't touch me, you snotty freak of nature...don't touch me...
Final notes:
Go see the movie. It's worth the $8, and whether it is a mythology of your faith or not, it is a good story. CBS gives it 5 WHACKs out of 5.
P.S.---The guy who plays Satan is SCARY. Made me jump....he kind of reminded me of "Powder"....and Veronica was freaky looking, too--in that holocaust victim sort of way.
Although, I never go to the LP theater anyway.
