This is a movie that can be reviewed objectively, so let's lay out the numbers, shall we? Here is the percentage of time the movie dwelled on important movie devices:So as you can see, the vast majority of the movie was watching Jesus be tortured to death which at its very best is tedious and boring, but given how graphic and brutal it was, I think it'd better be described as "numbing." By my reckoning, the film was filled 96% with insanely negative imagery and plot exposition. This is not a movie you go to during a bad week nor a movie you go to if you want to learn anything. Well, that last jab isn't entirely fair. I learned they pronounced "Caeser" like "Kaiser" back then, and it was kind of cool to hear the word "Adonai" used in common speech. --
- 4% -- Positive plot exposition. The teachings of Jesus, flashbacks of him doing happy things with people.
- 4% -- Cheesy "thriller" hollywood devices. Eery sustained music followed by a loud noise and sudden movement on screen to make you jump in your seat.
- 8% -- Negative plot exposition. Judas' betrayal, Peter's denial, Herod, Pilate, weird scenes of Satan wandering around looking at people.
- 14% -- Women crying, people moaning about how Jesus is being treated.
- 70% -- The tedious brutal torturing to death of Jesus.
PhiloVivero
Update: 15 March 2004 Well, it's amazing. This movie has been the top grossing movie for the last few weekends, and everyone swears they like it. This is a very, very curious phenomenon. What possible reason could someone have for liking this film? As someone who was raised Christian, I have a fair bit of knowledge of the teachings of Christ. You know, the things that were important about the man (god, phrophet, whatever noun you choose to describe him). This movie barely hinted at those things and instead decided to concentrate on the most negative aspects of Jesus' life. I feel this movie had a whole lot more to say about Roman soldiers and Jesus' contemporary serfs than it did about Jesus himself. Jesus was little more than a supporting role in this movie. As someone who is now atheist, this movie is just an annoying reminder of how shallow most Christians' belief in their god is and how desperately they'll cling to any symbol rather than something deep, thoughtful, or meaninful. But I'm lucky. Were I an actual practicing Christian, I think I would be deeply offended by this movie. There seems to be a direct parallel to the political climate of the United States here. The vast majority of Christians look to this movie the same way the vast majority of patriots look to the current (2004) government of the United States. They somehow see something good when a simple objective analysis of the facts will reveal that something horrible is happening. As we watch Jesus' teachings reduced to a mere few minutes in a gory bloodfest that trivialises all which Jesus stood for, at the very same moment, Bush, Ashcroft, and their cronies reduce the constitution to a bare vestige of what it used to be, trivialising everything the veterans of this Once Great Country fought and died for. The self-same Christians that watched this movie and gushed over its deceptive positive traits are the same ones who fearfully vote away their rights each election in the name of preventing terrorism. I guess. It would be curious if it wasn't sickening. --
PhiloVivero
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