Cinemazlowski Over a decade after its debut, 'The Passion' stands alone

Apr 3, 2015

There was a time in the 1930s through the ‘50s when Bible-based films were regularly released by Hollywood, as grand spectacles filled with moviedom’s biggest stars. Many of these became timeless classics, watched each year during the Easter and Christmas seasons.

Who doesn’t love watching “The Ten Commandments” every Easter, with an all-star cast of legends led by Charlton Heston bringing some of the most exciting stories ever recorded to life? It still plays today on ABC after 40 years of annual showings, and still draws viewers nationwide, and this year it is just one faith-filled option for viewers, as NBC starts airing the epic miniseries “A.D.” about the earliest days of the Christian church after Christ’s return to Heaven.

Yet none of those movies ever depicted the true horrors of Christ’s suffering for our sins like Mel Gibson’s film, “The Passion of the Christ.” Even more than a decade after the release of that 2004 release, I am rendered speechless each time I see it.

Under the careful guidance of writer-director Mel Gibson, the film takes an uncompromising look at the mockery and scourging of Christ, and the long walk He endured lifting the cross on the way to Calvary, and His precious Sacrifice for our sins.

I can recall the reactions of not only myself, but the packed theatre around me in a Los Angeles suburb, as we all began the movie with a celebratory mindset tied to the fact we finally had a movie that truly respected our Savior. But by the end, that mood had turned to a grim sadness as Gibson and star Jim Caviezel took us through the bloody pain of each of the lashes.

By the time the movie ended with Christ dying on the cross before emerging triumphantly from His tomb, much of the audience was in tears, and a phenomenon took form. While the movie was on its way to making more than $370 million in the US and $600 million worldwide, much of the mainstream media and Hollywood itself (Mel Gibson financed the movie himself, and chose an independent distributor outside the Hollywood mainstream) didn’t understand why the movie was resonating with so many.

“The Passion” has continued to have a hold on the minds and hearts of many believers, especially Catholics. Even if Gibson has some unusual angles to his take on Catholicism, he clearly understands and embraces the unimaginable horrors that Jesus endured for us, and the unflinching look he provided has inspired many to re-watch the movie annually on Holy Week and especially Good Friday.

Such repeated viewings reflect a desire to connect with Christ in a way that is hard to do via a mere reading of the Bible or our own personal imaginations. To see Caviezel as Jesus streaked with blood, and His skin shredded by whips, His head subjected to the crushing cuts of the crown of thorns and then to be nailed to the cross and left to die – all of these bring the story to life in a fully present fashion that makes viewers almost feel as if they were there with the Lord.

But the message of hope brought by Christ’s resurrection and re-emergence from the tomb is in the film’s last scene, of course, even more important. And the success of “The Passion” financially led the way to the current wave of Christian and Biblically-themed films – from “Heaven is For Real” and “God’s Not Dead” to “Do You Believe?” and the latest “Exodus” – that are again helping bring Heaven to earth.

Let us pray that God will continue to inspire future artists to keep making such great films, and that the world will remain open to seeing them.