Editorial Note: While I spent as much time researching, reading variations on scripture (in some cases, multiple translations of the Gospels as they carry key differences) and consulted those of many Christian affiliations in the making of this video, I'm a fallible person and may have failed to account for certain cultural or contextual signifiers. For this I humbly apologise and encourage healthy discussion and respectful diagloues in the comments. This does not include calling anyone - be that other commenters or me - names, slurs or other insulting language. This video represents my interpretation of the information, film, dogma and artistry presented and - as such - will undoubtedly take on my subjective inclinations and personal readings. These may differ from yours, and thats the wonderful thing about art. Thankyou for being kind and understanding, and please love one another. IFO x
Nothing to do with Gibson and his film per se (apart from the source material) but it just occurred to me that Lynch's "Fire Walk With Me" is a Passion film, in the religious sense. Laura Palmer undergoes her own Passion, and achieves her own kind of Divinity. Lynch is fond of reading the Bible and had said he does get some ideas from the scriptures, so it tracks. Caleb Deschanel also directed an episode or two of the TV series, so that's a nice connection to the Gibson film. I've never actually seen it. I may have to rectify that, if only for Deschanel's excellent work. You've made an extraordinary video. Kudos.
This was a really interesting video and (I think) the first and only serious critique I've seen of TPotC from a non-Christian. You were respectful and articulate and I really appreciate it. As a devout Christian, I've never seen this movie, because something about it didn't sit right. One too many anti-semitic accusations, one too many people bragging about how it was the most violent film they'd ever seen... It was very much caught up in (or an intentional part of) the culture war at the time, and that's just... eh. That leaves a bad taste in my mouth. To a Christian, the belief that Jesus willingly sacrificed himself is certainly important. But it is not everything. It's not even the most important thing (the Bible explicitly states that what sets the Christian apart is not the belief that Jesus died, but that he was resurrected, thus defeating death). I don't think there's anything wrong with exploring the suffering Jesus went through, and it's an important part of spiritual growth. But the way Gibson fetishises it, seems to revel in it, and then tries to latch onto that with a persecution complex of his own... yikes. Anyways, thank you for the great video, keep up the good work!
I lament what could've been if Jim Caviezel hadn't become such a lunatic, because he was considered a very promising talent in his early years. And for all of the horrific shit he did behind the scenes during post-Passion productions like Person of Interest, there was still signs of the old Caviezel in there, at least until staff and crew grew tired of his deteriorating state (which btw, Sound of Freedom was shot in 2017 for an original 2018 release before it was shelved due to the Disney-Fox merger).
Yeah I used to like him. The Thin Red Line, Frequency, and The Count of Monte Cristo made me notice him in my late teens. Then at some point I learned he was from Mount Vernon, WA (I lived there for a few years) and naturally wanted to root for him more... Until I found out he's a complete lunatic and zealot. In other news, Hillary Swank grew up in Bellingham...
"Look, he's not antisemitic or racist. It just so happens he says the same things and explicitly acts exactly like an antisemitic racist" - every chud who still thinks he should come back as Mad Max
He is what you get if Lemmy Kilminster was a stupid fascist. Motorhead's political trilogy of Orgasmatron, March or Die, and 1916 are works everyone should listen to.
In relation to considerations of religious belief and film: I would be interested to see you consider the films of Krzysztof Kieślowski. He was someone who resonated deeply with me, as someone raised in an intolerant fundamentalist context. The contrast on so many levels is high with this work.
Favorite religious film is absolutely Cuaron's Children of Men, a near-future retelling of the birth of Christ As for the Satan in the garden of Gethsemane, the crushing of the snake was probably an obtuse reference to Genesis 3:15 "And I [God] will put enmity between thy seed [Satan or the serpent] and the her [Eve] seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" The homoeroticism was an odd choice on Gibson's part, but I'm sure we can all guess why he chose to depict the devil like that
There’s no denying the power of what’s depicted here. It’s a film that has been lodged in my brain for years, but this analysis was incredibly insightful and cleared up a lot of things in regards to just how antisemitic some of its images are. While I’d still argue there hasn’t been anything like this made before or since, I obviously have to knock it down a peg now that I’ve watched this. I didn’t even clock the implications of portraying Satan as androgynous until this video. Excellent video. Great channel as well!
I may be wrong but I think androgynous Satan was a thing long before this. Fellow Catholic Paul Scharder had just done the same thing with the demon in his Exorcist prequel.
One thing about languages. The Mediterranean lingua franca wasn't latin, but Greek. Pontius and Jesus would most likely exchange in Greek rather than latin, because it's the language they're most likely to both understand.
Mel Gibson - this film is for Christians everywhere! Also Mel Gibson - almost all you are going to hell because you don't read the bible with the same hateful inflection as me. Thanks for the money though!
What really gets me about this movie is that in hindsight, you realize just how manipulative the cinematography is. I list this movie as one of the few films that can make me cry, but now I realize it was basically designed in such a way to compel the audience to shed tears. It doesn't come from any kind of genuine story, but shock value.
To be fair the violence of Jesus crucifixion is even worse than the movie showed. The bible describes him as not even looking human anymore and being lashed so hard that you could see one of his organs
My first words to my friend after we came out of the cinema was along the lines of "That was one of the most emotionally manipulative movies i've ever seen."
@@simonjward9782Well it’s the guy who made Braveheart and Hacksaw Ridge. He didn’t save it for this movie. A guy runs with a torso as a shield in Hacksaw Ridge.
I remember my grandma (devote Catholic) taking me to see this when I was 11, she ended up walking out with me during the crucifixion because of the brutality. I don't remember much of the film but I do remember the veritable chorus of weeping as we left. "Jesus Chainsaw Massacre" is so real lol
If you want a comedy about faith, that doesn’t rely on cheap gags or the lazy “blating out the answer” writing, go watch “Oh God!” by Carl Franklin. It’s corny, but the overall message and dialouge has a good heart to those who never seem themselves, or devoting themselves to believing.
Very good video. I like the way you account for Gibson's weird tradcath views; that's often not sufficiently appreciated in discussions of this film. I used to be Catholic & for a few years hoped to become a theologian. From that perspective, I do think you mostly hit the nail on the head, apart from a few very minor issues. One thing I would add is that Gibson's portrayal of the passion relies heavily on various traditional devotional images, in addition to Emmerich's writings (and I suspect a few other similar works). The medieval devotional and mystical emphasis on Jesus' blood got turned into some very gory imagery in modern (i.e., post-Trent) Catholicism. When the Shroud of Turin started being analysed in the early 20th century, and paintings started to be made of Jesus based on interpretations of what the Shroud depicts, you get basically the image of Jesus in Gibson's movie -- lots of blood, lots of deep wounds covering every inch of his body. I never liked those depictions, but when I saw the movie, I instantly recognized them in it. It's a long way from the gospels to Gibson, but sadly, its admirers think it simply depicts them without mediation. When they read the texts themselves, Gibson's movie is what they see in their minds' eye. It's sad, and if anything is blasphemous, it is this.
Funny, but I grew up in a Puerto-Rican Catholic family in the Lower East Side of New York, and while many in the church I went to liked the film, I couldn't help but notice that a lot of them - very pious, devout, conservative people - were like, "yeeaaaaah, something smell bad here." These people would clash with the Jewish community in the area over property rights, gentrification, etc., but even THEY thought Gibson's anti-semitism was too much.
@@Andyanddiana467 Anti-semitism is central to Christianity. That's why I and many others refer to it as a Nazi death cult. While every religion is a death cult, only Christianity has Anti-semitism as central to its teachings.
I tried to watch this while doing my film studies A Level because I'd watched Apocalypto the week before and while it was not the best movie I'd ever watched, it was a good enough action movie. I think I got about half way through the torture before I just couldn't sit through it anymore. It felt gratuitous. I'm not sensitive to graphic violence like but this almost felt silly. Then I learned that some fundamentalists make their children watch it every easter. I've heard of the same group of parents who condemn videogames, horror movies and books while showing graphic extended torture porn to primary school aged children. Anyway, a part of my brain decides to pretend that Gibson is that goofy dude from Lethal Weapon who ate dog biscuits and adopted an entire black family as his own.
If Mel wanted to show what exactly happened and to display how bad Roman crucifixion was it would not have been allowed to happen. Flogging- Was done by a Roman flagrum this would have literally torn the skin off it’s muscles . The whole back / legs of Jesus would have been torn apart. . In the Passion we see long cuts in the skin / muscle but this is still far from how it would have looked like . The crown of thorns was a bush instead of a crown and the romans would not have had the time to make a proper neat crown so they would have grabbed some thorns and with a piece of wood they would have “ smashed ” it on his skull . The cross he carried was not the full cross as it was impossible for a beaten man to carry . The gospels talk about how Jesus could not carry his cross and needed help from a man named Simon of Cyrene . This shows just how weak Jesus was and how beaten he was . As it was JUST the beam he carried. the ( the beam / patibulum ) was carried and not the stake . Another thing to add is he would have literally have naked with No loin cloth to cover him while nailed to the T cross . This would have been the most embarrassing way to die . I acknowledge and praise your efforts throughout this video . You got the over violent nature of the Jews correct . The film definitely over exaggerated the way Jews acted especially the high priests . They did not want to kill their own / hand him over to the romans . They only did this cause jesus was accused of “ blasphemy ” . He also claimed to be the Son of Man / ( son of God / messiah ) A Jewish way to kill someone was to stone them to death . According to the law of Moses they had to die if they committed sin of the highest .
Not seen this one. I saw Apocalypto and, while I enjoyed it enough, it was kinda perverse in its violence and, while I'm not Christian myself, I didn't really want to see Jesus put through the same kind of fetishistic violence. Don't mean to sound glib or anything but I kinda like Jesus, you know? I think his life and teachings are more interesting than his death. Historical or Biblical Jesus. What a shame we never got the Paul Verhoeven Christ movie eh?
I saw this movie at the peak of my time in the evangelical scene and even then, it rubbed me the wrong way. RoboCop is the superior messianic story. While watching the Passion all I could think was, “Somebody Wanna' Call A Goddamn Paramedic?”
I remember seeing this when it came out when I was young. It was weird but I don’t remember much…. When it comes to religious films I much prefer The Prince of Egypt lol
I don't even hate it. Despite the many accurate criticisms I just find the filmmaking too strong. But there are so many better films about Christianity and/or the Bible. Scorsese's Silence might be among his best. Aronofsky's Noah is fascinating despite him being an atheist. Hell, Gibson himself managed to make a movie just as violent that more or less did what South Park suggested with Hacksaw Ridge.
Amazing video, as always. I have an unusual request. Could you review, "The Amazing Truth about Queen Raquela" ? I would love to hear your take on that movie.
I watched this film recently because I wanted to see the gore, I don't really care about the scriptures and so on, the movie could've taught someone like me something about the faith, but aside from the gore, what I saw was a clearly biased take on a religious text, I don't even know the source material well and It was visible that the film was clearly trying to depict certain groups in certain very specific ways In the end, it's a movie with some really good gore effects, In that regard I left the movie satisfied.
Mary Magdalene was released in 1988? Thats news. No but seriously I hated this movie, I hated that they took us to the cinema during school hours to watch it (I was around 14 and really questioning my catholic upbringing back then), and I hate how this movie put me off watching Apocalypto which I thought was great when I finally got around to it.
I watched this with my parents whenever it had hit home video back in the day. I remember the visceral reactions I had to the violence, but of course I didn't catch the antisemitism. It really is a striking film, so I'm glad you covered the unfortunate underpinnings infused from Gibson's politics.
As a fan of the film. (Many of the criticisms listed here are accurate, the filmmaking is just too strong in places for me to not appreciate it). I appreciate the earnest effort to talk about some of it's virtues. Would you ever discuss Scorsese's Silence or Aronofsky's Noah? I've really come around to thinking both are among their best work.
I might broach "Silence" at some point (as I think it's an underappreciated masterpiece), and as for Aronofsky, I've been thinking about doing a video on "The Fountain" for some time
@@inframeout You are correct about Silence and I'd watch a video on the Fountain in a heartbeat! For me, I was just fascinated by how much of a 180 I've personally done on Noah. It easily has my favorite stuff he's ever done.
I have to disagree with your homophobia criticism because Jesus stepping on the head of the snake is a call back to the curse God put on the serpent in the Garden of Eden. "He will bruise you in the head. You will bruise Him in the heel". I might have gotten it backwards. And I don't really adhere to the events of the Garden of Eden being truly documented history. But I do believe you either forgot that part of the Garden of Eden story or don't know it? I'm not trying to be mean or catty. And I'm sorry if I'm coming off that way. That's not my intention. But Jesus crushing the snake beneath His foot in the movie probably has more to do with His defeat of Satan than anything homophobic. At least, that's what I saw in that scene (the aforementioned call back to the specific part of the Garden of Eden story). I hope I'm making sense. I'm not saying Mel Gibson isn't homophobic because I do know he's said some obviously questionable things. I just don't agree with your interpretation of that scene in the movie 😅
The South Park episode about Passion of the Christ summed up my feeling about the film, that it was anti-Semitic gorno. It is my most hated film. On a technical level, Passion of the Christ is too good because of the cinematography and music. I liked idea that the film was using historic languages and it was used to great effect in Apocolypto. It actually is a film. But it fails on so many levels for me. Obviously there's the blatant anti-Semitism which blamed Jewish people as a group and institution for the death of Jesus, ignoring major factors like the Romans seeing Jesus as a challenge to their authority. It wasn't just the priests that were painted in a bad light, the Jewish community as whole showed they wanted the death of Jesus, as shown with the release of Barabbas. Whether if you're religious or not, there's more to his story than a violent death. Gibson's film was just two hours of torture, both watching a man being tortured and watching the film. I admit my view of Gibson as a filmmaker is blinkered because I detest Braveheart. He made William Wallace in a Christ-like figure who was fighting the cruel pagan English which really irked me since I have a history degree. The lens is blurred further by Gibson's drunken rants about people from other races. Oddly I do like Apocolypto and Hacksaw Ridge as films.
I'm not defending The Passion, - it's gratuitous, malicious, sadistic, heretical, and disrespectful - but I do want to add that a lot of people ignore that the flogging depiction is consistent with very easily accessible historical documentation of what Roman flogging was like. The gospels don't go into detail about the process, yes, but that's because it's assumed their first century audience would already be familiar with the process.
Okay but have you considered that just because something happened a certain way historically, you don't actually have to spend 20 minutes of your movie in slower-than-realtime depicting it? Master and Commander also has a flogging scene, but it isn't overly long or violent because that scene is made with intent and knows when to stop so as to leave an impression on the viewer. Mel Gibson as a filmmaker has never learned the difference between something being Real and being Effective. Between his desire for visual realism and his love of melodrama, all of his movies just end up wallowing in blood with no real sense of purpose other than to experience it.
@@mixmastermind oh I totally agree, it's just that the historical realism of the events depicted is often ignored, overlooked, or simply missed. The *way* that historical realism is depicted is still gratuitous and gross, however
There's a tradition in Christianity called the Harrowing of Hell, where during the three days between the crucifixion and Easter Sunday, Jesus traveled to hell and freed all the souls trapped there. A friend of mine told me once that her childhood Sunday School teacher had told her this story after she started to cry upon hearing about Judas's suicide and presumed one-way trip to hell. Judas didn't stay in hell, she explained; Jesus went and got him within days, because Jesus loved him just as he loved everyone, no matter who they were and what they did. The fact that this aspect is entirely ignored in this movie is telling, I think. Jesus came with a message of love for one's fellow man, radical equality under God, and the divine commandment to both offer grace to our enemies and fight tirelessly for the oppressed. I often go back to the line from the Battle Hymn of the Republic, "As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free." Mel's interpretation of the Bible isn't unique, unfortunately, but it's certainly not mine. Mine is the faith of John Brown, Martin Luther King Jr, and Gustavo Gutiérrez. Jesus didn't ask us to ruminate endlessly on how he died; he wanted us to learn from how he lived. (My dad, on the other hand, LOVES this movie. He also has a persecution complex that can be seen from space regarding his Christianity - Starbucks holiday cups are a direct attack on Christians by *those people* - so your theory about this movie being driven by Mel's conviction that conservative Christians are the most persecuted people on earth - tracks with my experience.)
I’m sorry to say but think it is absolutely important to tell you that Jesus did NOT go to Hell to free everyone there but to minister (1 Peter 3:19). Hell is real and it is permanent. That is why Christ died on the cross that whosoever placed their trust in His sacrifice for our sin would be saved
It's amazing how much social and historical subtext gets lost in the Christianization of Jesus' life. He was basically a radical rabbi preaching to other Jews about reforming Judaism which he thought had become too elitist and obsessed with purification rites that excluded the poor and disenfranchised from being able to worship at the temple that coincided with the perilous political backdrop of Roman occupation. Once you move past the four gospels, in Acts, the apostles are still preaching Jesus' message exclusively to Jews. It is only with the conversion of Saul to Paul that the concept of preaching Jesus' version of reformed Judaism to gentiles is adapted with all the evolving ramifications it has come to mean for the acidic perception of Judaism once Christianity became the dominant religion of Europe. Unfortunately, expecting this kind of historical nuance from Mel Gibson is a fool's errand.
Yeah, a film or a series about all this is what would be interesting. Jesus the man is actually an interesting figure, and I say this as a pagan. Alas, he's very rarely found in fiction. Maybe sometimes in books, but that's all.
If "The Passion Of The Christ" is like someone telling the same offensive joke over & over again until it's no longer shocking, are you saying it's basically a live action film adaptation of "Family Guy".🤣
@@inframeout While were on the subject, even if you happen to think that Matt Stone & Trey Parker are edge lords, you still have to admit that they're twice the comedic writers that Seth MacFarlane & his merry band of creatively bankrupt hacks could ever dream of being.
That's probably for the best. Let's just say he and Mel Gibson probably share some opinions on some stuff you really don't want to find common ground on
"coalition for canceled priests" OMG lmao. seeing the way israel is genociding palestinians right now, i'd say gibsons portrayal of judaism isnt all that far off. I remember watching this in a theater (I literally watched anything in the theater back then) I've never seen so many people crying in a theater at one time
The wretched and unconscionable actions of the Israeli government and military do not speak for all those of Jewish faith or lineage, just as the actions of any military and government sanctioned violent campaign does not speak to the citizens of their country. I stand with Palestine and deplore antisemitic rhetoric.
Shout out to of Gods and Men as a fantastic faith based movie about dogma put it practice. Pontius Pilate's actions are depicted as they are in the bible. Mel Gibson didn't invent all of this suffering fetish out of whole cloth. There's centuries of tradition of the depiction of the via crucis and recreations of it during easter. Signed a person who was taken to church and Holy week throughout his childhood. (Reluctantly)
Editorial Note: While I spent as much time researching, reading variations on scripture (in some cases, multiple translations of the Gospels as they carry key differences) and consulted those of many Christian affiliations in the making of this video, I'm a fallible person and may have failed to account for certain cultural or contextual signifiers. For this I humbly apologise and encourage healthy discussion and respectful diagloues in the comments.
This does not include calling anyone - be that other commenters or me - names, slurs or other insulting language.
This video represents my interpretation of the information, film, dogma and artistry presented and - as such - will undoubtedly take on my subjective inclinations and personal readings. These may differ from yours, and thats the wonderful thing about art.
Thankyou for being kind and understanding, and please love one another.
IFO x
Nothing to do with Gibson and his film per se (apart from the source material) but it just occurred to me that Lynch's "Fire Walk With Me" is a Passion film, in the religious sense. Laura Palmer undergoes her own Passion, and achieves her own kind of Divinity. Lynch is fond of reading the Bible and had said he does get some ideas from the scriptures, so it tracks.
Caleb Deschanel also directed an episode or two of the TV series, so that's a nice connection to the Gibson film.
I've never actually seen it. I may have to rectify that, if only for Deschanel's excellent work.
You've made an extraordinary video. Kudos.
This was a really interesting video and (I think) the first and only serious critique I've seen of TPotC from a non-Christian. You were respectful and articulate and I really appreciate it. As a devout Christian, I've never seen this movie, because something about it didn't sit right. One too many anti-semitic accusations, one too many people bragging about how it was the most violent film they'd ever seen... It was very much caught up in (or an intentional part of) the culture war at the time, and that's just... eh. That leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
To a Christian, the belief that Jesus willingly sacrificed himself is certainly important. But it is not everything. It's not even the most important thing (the Bible explicitly states that what sets the Christian apart is not the belief that Jesus died, but that he was resurrected, thus defeating death). I don't think there's anything wrong with exploring the suffering Jesus went through, and it's an important part of spiritual growth. But the way Gibson fetishises it, seems to revel in it, and then tries to latch onto that with a persecution complex of his own... yikes.
Anyways, thank you for the great video, keep up the good work!
Thank you for such a wonderful conscientious comment and sharing your story and perspective with everyone here
I lament what could've been if Jim Caviezel hadn't become such a lunatic, because he was considered a very promising talent in his early years. And for all of the horrific shit he did behind the scenes during post-Passion productions like Person of Interest, there was still signs of the old Caviezel in there, at least until staff and crew grew tired of his deteriorating state (which btw, Sound of Freedom was shot in 2017 for an original 2018 release before it was shelved due to the Disney-Fox merger).
There's a phenomenal podcast about this whole thing by QAnon Anonymous titled "Enter the Cavortex"
Yeah I used to like him. The Thin Red Line, Frequency, and The Count of Monte Cristo made me notice him in my late teens. Then at some point I learned he was from Mount Vernon, WA (I lived there for a few years) and naturally wanted to root for him more... Until I found out he's a complete lunatic and zealot.
In other news, Hillary Swank grew up in Bellingham...
Mel Gibson will cap off his Passion/Resurrection trilogy with "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion."
"Look, he's not antisemitic or racist. It just so happens he says the same things and explicitly acts exactly like an antisemitic racist" - every chud who still thinks he should come back as Mad Max
Don't give him ideas. He will probably produce it and it becomes required viewing for every megachurch in America.
Oh no I thought you were joking about the Resurrection sequel movie but it's real 💀
He is what you get if Lemmy Kilminster was a stupid fascist.
Motorhead's political trilogy of Orgasmatron, March or Die, and 1916 are works everyone should listen to.
@@inframeoutI hate those chuds so MUCH
In relation to considerations of religious belief and film: I would be interested to see you consider the films of Krzysztof Kieślowski. He was someone who resonated deeply with me, as someone raised in an intolerant fundamentalist context. The contrast on so many levels is high with this work.
The Jon Tron remark made me laugh my drink out my nose.
Favorite religious film is absolutely Cuaron's Children of Men, a near-future retelling of the birth of Christ
As for the Satan in the garden of Gethsemane, the crushing of the snake was probably an obtuse reference to Genesis 3:15
"And I [God] will put enmity between thy seed [Satan or the serpent] and the her [Eve] seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel"
The homoeroticism was an odd choice on Gibson's part, but I'm sure we can all guess why he chose to depict the devil like that
There’s no denying the power of what’s depicted here. It’s a film that has been lodged in my brain for years, but this analysis was incredibly insightful and cleared up a lot of things in regards to just how antisemitic some of its images are. While I’d still argue there hasn’t been anything like this made before or since, I obviously have to knock it down a peg now that I’ve watched this. I didn’t even clock the implications of portraying Satan as androgynous until this video. Excellent video. Great channel as well!
I may be wrong but I think androgynous Satan was a thing long before this. Fellow Catholic Paul Scharder had just done the same thing with the demon in his Exorcist prequel.
One thing about languages. The Mediterranean lingua franca wasn't latin, but Greek. Pontius and Jesus would most likely exchange in Greek rather than latin, because it's the language they're most likely to both understand.
The historical Jesus could probably not even speak Aramaic without a thick galilean accent, not to mention Greek or Latin.
This is one of the best put-together video essays (on this film) I have seen here. Well done, I/F/O, and thank you.
Wow, thank you!
22:12 I can't wait to not have to be around Mel Gibson when I die.
Mel Gibson - this film is for Christians everywhere!
Also Mel Gibson - almost all you are going to hell because you don't read the bible with the same hateful inflection as me. Thanks for the money though!
Y'know, if you squint, Mel Gibson without the beard kind of looks like Rodney Dangerfield nowadays.
...and both of them constantly complain about getting no respect!
Pedro the Lion. Now there’s a name I hadn’t heard since the halcyon and questionable days of youth group summer camps.
"Control" by Pedro the Lion is a top ten album of all time for me
What really gets me about this movie is that in hindsight, you realize just how manipulative the cinematography is. I list this movie as one of the few films that can make me cry, but now I realize it was basically designed in such a way to compel the audience to shed tears. It doesn't come from any kind of genuine story, but shock value.
Titanic... I shed tears and was mad about it afterwards.
It was porn for evangelicals.
Manipulative cinematography or directing?
I have trouble differencing the two
To be fair the violence of Jesus crucifixion is even worse than the movie showed. The bible describes him as not even looking human anymore and being lashed so hard that you could see one of his organs
My first words to my friend after we came out of the cinema was along the lines of "That was one of the most emotionally manipulative movies i've ever seen."
I remember seeing this with my quite religious parents and they were both apalled. My dad wanted his money back and basically called it "tortue porn."
He’s not wrong, Mel Gibson seems to take a peculiar prurience with explicit violence, it’s something to do with that branch of Catholicism of his
@@simonjward9782 South Park nailed it lol
@@simonjward9782Marianites
@@simonjward9782Well it’s the guy who made Braveheart and Hacksaw Ridge. He didn’t save it for this movie. A guy runs with a torso as a shield in Hacksaw Ridge.
It really is just torture porn
been dying for your take on this! very glad for another deeply informative video
I thought the banner that said "The Collation for Cancel Priests" was a great gag, and then I googled it and... 😬
If I could write a joke that funny, I'd be very proud of myself
"Critical-drinking rage bait"... I wonder who that's a jab at?
The Cynical Alcoholic
That dude is a hack.
A much happier man.
I remember my grandma (devote Catholic) taking me to see this when I was 11, she ended up walking out with me during the crucifixion because of the brutality. I don't remember much of the film but I do remember the veritable chorus of weeping as we left. "Jesus Chainsaw Massacre" is so real lol
If you want a comedy about faith, that doesn’t rely on cheap gags or the lazy “blating out the answer” writing, go watch “Oh God!” by Carl Franklin. It’s corny, but the overall message and dialouge has a good heart to those who never seem themselves, or devoting themselves to believing.
Very good video. I like the way you account for Gibson's weird tradcath views; that's often not sufficiently appreciated in discussions of this film. I used to be Catholic & for a few years hoped to become a theologian. From that perspective, I do think you mostly hit the nail on the head, apart from a few very minor issues. One thing I would add is that Gibson's portrayal of the passion relies heavily on various traditional devotional images, in addition to Emmerich's writings (and I suspect a few other similar works). The medieval devotional and mystical emphasis on Jesus' blood got turned into some very gory imagery in modern (i.e., post-Trent) Catholicism. When the Shroud of Turin started being analysed in the early 20th century, and paintings started to be made of Jesus based on interpretations of what the Shroud depicts, you get basically the image of Jesus in Gibson's movie -- lots of blood, lots of deep wounds covering every inch of his body. I never liked those depictions, but when I saw the movie, I instantly recognized them in it.
It's a long way from the gospels to Gibson, but sadly, its admirers think it simply depicts them without mediation. When they read the texts themselves, Gibson's movie is what they see in their minds' eye. It's sad, and if anything is blasphemous, it is this.
4:28 Mary Magdalene came out in 2018 right? I had to look it up because I suddenly felt like I was going crazy
Yup - it's a typo. Sorry!
It borrows heavily from Pasolini’s The Gospel According to St. Mathew. Sometimes using the same shots. Just as a cinema history note.
Funny, but I grew up in a Puerto-Rican Catholic family in the Lower East Side of New York, and while many in the church I went to liked the film, I couldn't help but notice that a lot of them - very pious, devout, conservative people - were like, "yeeaaaaah, something smell bad here." These people would clash with the Jewish community in the area over property rights, gentrification, etc., but even THEY thought Gibson's anti-semitism was too much.
@@Andyanddiana467 Anti-semitism is central to Christianity.
That's why I and many others refer to it as a Nazi death cult.
While every religion is a death cult, only Christianity has Anti-semitism as central to its teachings.
Fantastic video!
Thank you very much!
I tried to watch this while doing my film studies A Level because I'd watched Apocalypto the week before and while it was not the best movie I'd ever watched, it was a good enough action movie. I think I got about half way through the torture before I just couldn't sit through it anymore. It felt gratuitous. I'm not sensitive to graphic violence like but this almost felt silly. Then I learned that some fundamentalists make their children watch it every easter. I've heard of the same group of parents who condemn videogames, horror movies and books while showing graphic extended torture porn to primary school aged children.
Anyway, a part of my brain decides to pretend that Gibson is that goofy dude from Lethal Weapon who ate dog biscuits and adopted an entire black family as his own.
It borrows heavily from Pasolini’s The Gospel of St. Mathew. Sometimes using the same shots. Just as a cinema history note.
If Mel wanted to show what exactly happened and to display how bad Roman crucifixion was it would not have been allowed to happen.
Flogging-
Was done by a Roman flagrum this would have literally torn the skin off it’s muscles .
The whole back / legs of Jesus would have been torn apart. .
In the Passion we see long cuts in the skin / muscle but this is still far from how it would have looked like .
The crown of thorns was a bush instead of a crown and the romans would not have had the time to make a proper neat crown so they would have grabbed some thorns and with a piece of wood they would have “ smashed ” it on his skull .
The cross he carried was not the full cross as it was impossible for a beaten man to carry .
The gospels talk about how Jesus could not carry his cross and needed help from a man named Simon of Cyrene .
This shows just how weak Jesus was and how beaten he was .
As it was JUST the beam he carried.
the ( the beam / patibulum ) was carried and not the stake .
Another thing to add is he would have literally have naked with No loin cloth to cover him while nailed to the T cross .
This would have been the most embarrassing way to die .
I acknowledge and praise your efforts throughout this video .
You got the over violent nature of the Jews correct .
The film definitely over exaggerated the way Jews acted especially the high priests .
They did not want to kill their own / hand him over to the romans .
They only did this cause jesus was accused of “ blasphemy ” .
He also claimed to be the Son of Man / ( son of God / messiah )
A Jewish way to kill someone was to stone them to death . According to the law of Moses they had to die if they committed sin of the highest .
Mary Magdalene (1988)? 😂
Very cool video, a real insight into a film I hadn't thought about for the longest time
Not seen this one. I saw Apocalypto and, while I enjoyed it enough, it was kinda perverse in its violence and, while I'm not Christian myself, I didn't really want to see Jesus put through the same kind of fetishistic violence.
Don't mean to sound glib or anything but I kinda like Jesus, you know? I think his life and teachings are more interesting than his death. Historical or Biblical Jesus.
What a shame we never got the Paul Verhoeven Christ movie eh?
Well, "Robocop" is pretty much a retelling of the resurrection of Christ...but with more 80s and badass cyborgery
@@inframeout Heh heh, American Jesus!
@@TheBeirdI mean, that’s literally how Verhoeven describes RoboCop in various interviews
I saw this movie at the peak of my time in the evangelical scene and even then, it rubbed me the wrong way. RoboCop is the superior messianic story.
While watching the Passion all I could think was, “Somebody Wanna' Call A Goddamn Paramedic?”
@@SuperSweetBoy Oh I know. All his additions to the film to my knowledge. Member of the Jesus Seminar too I think.
Jesus was described as being brutally beaten in Isaiah.
+3000 for including the Chris Morris clip
I remember seeing this when it came out when I was young. It was weird but I don’t remember much…. When it comes to religious films I much prefer The Prince of Egypt lol
I don't even hate it. Despite the many accurate criticisms I just find the filmmaking too strong. But there are so many better films about Christianity and/or the Bible.
Scorsese's Silence might be among his best. Aronofsky's Noah is fascinating despite him being an atheist. Hell, Gibson himself managed to make a movie just as violent that more or less did what South Park suggested with Hacksaw Ridge.
Amazing video, as always. I have an unusual request. Could you review, "The Amazing Truth about Queen Raquela" ? I would love to hear your take on that movie.
I'll check it out!
I watched this film recently because I wanted to see the gore, I don't really care about the scriptures and so on, the movie could've taught someone like me something about the faith, but aside from the gore, what I saw was a clearly biased take on a religious text, I don't even know the source material well and It was visible that the film was clearly trying to depict certain groups in certain very specific ways
In the end, it's a movie with some really good gore effects, In that regard I left the movie satisfied.
Mary Magdalene was released in 1988? Thats news. No but seriously I hated this movie, I hated that they took us to the cinema during school hours to watch it (I was around 14 and really questioning my catholic upbringing back then), and I hate how this movie put me off watching Apocalypto which I thought was great when I finally got around to it.
I watched this with my parents whenever it had hit home video back in the day. I remember the visceral reactions I had to the violence, but of course I didn't catch the antisemitism. It really is a striking film, so I'm glad you covered the unfortunate underpinnings infused from Gibson's politics.
Who outside of Sean Hannity and the staff at Liberty University thought Hitchens was a jerk...?
As a fan of the film. (Many of the criticisms listed here are accurate, the filmmaking is just too strong in places for me to not appreciate it). I appreciate the earnest effort to talk about some of it's virtues.
Would you ever discuss Scorsese's Silence or Aronofsky's Noah? I've really come around to thinking both are among their best work.
I might broach "Silence" at some point (as I think it's an underappreciated masterpiece), and as for Aronofsky, I've been thinking about doing a video on "The Fountain" for some time
@@inframeout You are correct about Silence and I'd watch a video on the Fountain in a heartbeat!
For me, I was just fascinated by how much of a 180 I've personally done on Noah. It easily has my favorite stuff he's ever done.
I have to disagree with your homophobia criticism because Jesus stepping on the head of the snake is a call back to the curse God put on the serpent in the Garden of Eden. "He will bruise you in the head. You will bruise Him in the heel". I might have gotten it backwards. And I don't really adhere to the events of the Garden of Eden being truly documented history. But I do believe you either forgot that part of the Garden of Eden story or don't know it? I'm not trying to be mean or catty. And I'm sorry if I'm coming off that way. That's not my intention. But Jesus crushing the snake beneath His foot in the movie probably has more to do with His defeat of Satan than anything homophobic. At least, that's what I saw in that scene (the aforementioned call back to the specific part of the Garden of Eden story). I hope I'm making sense. I'm not saying Mel Gibson isn't homophobic because I do know he's said some obviously questionable things. I just don't agree with your interpretation of that scene in the movie 😅
That's absolutely fair enough! Thanks for being civil and sharing your perspective
well done
For me, Herod looks distractingly like Toecutter from Mad Max. Maybe Mel was going back to his roots?
Pedro the lion. Nice 👍
"I Spit on your Jesus", was fucking hilarious.
Just a heads up - Gethsemane is pronounced gheth-sem-ə-nee
Dang this marble mouth of mine. Sorry about that!
Oh not at all, you do absolutely stellar work on this channel, truly
The South Park episode about Passion of the Christ summed up my feeling about the film, that it was anti-Semitic gorno. It is my most hated film.
On a technical level, Passion of the Christ is too good because of the cinematography and music. I liked idea that the film was using historic languages and it was used to great effect in Apocolypto. It actually is a film. But it fails on so many levels for me. Obviously there's the blatant anti-Semitism which blamed Jewish people as a group and institution for the death of Jesus, ignoring major factors like the Romans seeing Jesus as a challenge to their authority. It wasn't just the priests that were painted in a bad light, the Jewish community as whole showed they wanted the death of Jesus, as shown with the release of Barabbas.
Whether if you're religious or not, there's more to his story than a violent death. Gibson's film was just two hours of torture, both watching a man being tortured and watching the film.
I admit my view of Gibson as a filmmaker is blinkered because I detest Braveheart. He made William Wallace in a Christ-like figure who was fighting the cruel pagan English which really irked me since I have a history degree. The lens is blurred further by Gibson's drunken rants about people from other races.
Oddly I do like Apocolypto and Hacksaw Ridge as films.
I'm not defending The Passion, - it's gratuitous, malicious, sadistic, heretical, and disrespectful - but I do want to add that a lot of people ignore that the flogging depiction is consistent with very easily accessible historical documentation of what Roman flogging was like. The gospels don't go into detail about the process, yes, but that's because it's assumed their first century audience would already be familiar with the process.
Okay but have you considered that just because something happened a certain way historically, you don't actually have to spend 20 minutes of your movie in slower-than-realtime depicting it?
Master and Commander also has a flogging scene, but it isn't overly long or violent because that scene is made with intent and knows when to stop so as to leave an impression on the viewer.
Mel Gibson as a filmmaker has never learned the difference between something being Real and being Effective. Between his desire for visual realism and his love of melodrama, all of his movies just end up wallowing in blood with no real sense of purpose other than to experience it.
@@mixmastermind oh I totally agree, it's just that the historical realism of the events depicted is often ignored, overlooked, or simply missed. The *way* that historical realism is depicted is still gratuitous and gross, however
There's a tradition in Christianity called the Harrowing of Hell, where during the three days between the crucifixion and Easter Sunday, Jesus traveled to hell and freed all the souls trapped there. A friend of mine told me once that her childhood Sunday School teacher had told her this story after she started to cry upon hearing about Judas's suicide and presumed one-way trip to hell. Judas didn't stay in hell, she explained; Jesus went and got him within days, because Jesus loved him just as he loved everyone, no matter who they were and what they did. The fact that this aspect is entirely ignored in this movie is telling, I think. Jesus came with a message of love for one's fellow man, radical equality under God, and the divine commandment to both offer grace to our enemies and fight tirelessly for the oppressed. I often go back to the line from the Battle Hymn of the Republic, "As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free." Mel's interpretation of the Bible isn't unique, unfortunately, but it's certainly not mine. Mine is the faith of John Brown, Martin Luther King Jr, and Gustavo Gutiérrez. Jesus didn't ask us to ruminate endlessly on how he died; he wanted us to learn from how he lived.
(My dad, on the other hand, LOVES this movie. He also has a persecution complex that can be seen from space regarding his Christianity - Starbucks holiday cups are a direct attack on Christians by *those people* - so your theory about this movie being driven by Mel's conviction that conservative Christians are the most persecuted people on earth - tracks with my experience.)
Believe it or not Gibson keeps threatening a sequel and there are rumors that's what it's going to be about.
I’m sorry to say but think it is absolutely important to tell you that Jesus did NOT go to Hell to free everyone there but to minister (1 Peter 3:19). Hell is real and it is permanent. That is why Christ died on the cross that whosoever placed their trust in His sacrifice for our sin would be saved
That was fantastic frankly I enjoyed the South Park episode more than I hated horrible movie!
The Mary Magdalene movie with Joaquin Phoenix as Jesus was from 2018. Why does it say 1988? 😂
Because of a typo made in error
Favorite Christian Films? Andre Rublev, Stalker, Jesus Christ Superstar
It's amazing how much social and historical subtext gets lost in the Christianization of Jesus' life. He was basically a radical rabbi preaching to other Jews about reforming Judaism which he thought had become too elitist and obsessed with purification rites that excluded the poor and disenfranchised from being able to worship at the temple that coincided with the perilous political backdrop of Roman occupation. Once you move past the four gospels, in Acts, the apostles are still preaching Jesus' message exclusively to Jews. It is only with the conversion of Saul to Paul that the concept of preaching Jesus' version of reformed Judaism to gentiles is adapted with all the evolving ramifications it has come to mean for the acidic perception of Judaism once Christianity became the dominant religion of Europe. Unfortunately, expecting this kind of historical nuance from Mel Gibson is a fool's errand.
Yeah, a film or a series about all this is what would be interesting. Jesus the man is actually an interesting figure, and I say this as a pagan. Alas, he's very rarely found in fiction. Maybe sometimes in books, but that's all.
Just to let you know, you dated "Mary Magdalene" as coming out in 1988 (epic Facepalm).
Yup. Typos happen
If "The Passion Of The Christ" is like someone telling the same offensive joke over & over again until it's no longer shocking, are you saying it's basically a live action film adaptation of "Family Guy".🤣
😂
@@inframeout While were on the subject, even if you happen to think that Matt Stone & Trey Parker are edge lords, you still have to admit that they're twice the comedic writers that Seth MacFarlane & his merry band of creatively bankrupt hacks could ever dream of being.
Last temptation of christ
Was way better
Me and two friends got super high before we saw this..... Bad choice
Jontron is not a name I’ve heard in a long time
That's probably for the best. Let's just say he and Mel Gibson probably share some opinions on some stuff you really don't want to find common ground on
God: [literally tries to smite Jim with lightning twice on set]
Jim Caviezel: Nice try, jackass! Next time, bring your A-game!
"coalition for canceled priests" OMG lmao. seeing the way israel is genociding palestinians right now, i'd say gibsons portrayal of judaism isnt all that far off. I remember watching this in a theater (I literally watched anything in the theater back then) I've never seen so many people crying in a theater at one time
The wretched and unconscionable actions of the Israeli government and military do not speak for all those of Jewish faith or lineage, just as the actions of any military and government sanctioned violent campaign does not speak to the citizens of their country.
I stand with Palestine and deplore antisemitic rhetoric.
Shout out to of Gods and Men as a fantastic faith based movie about dogma put it practice.
Pontius Pilate's actions are depicted as they are in the bible.
Mel Gibson didn't invent all of this suffering fetish out of whole cloth. There's centuries of tradition of the depiction of the via crucis and recreations of it during easter.
Signed a person who was taken to church and Holy week throughout his childhood. (Reluctantly)
David Bazan and Pedro the Lion! Let’s be friends