"The Passion of The Christ"--anybody else seen it?
It was discussed heavily prior to the release...now that it's out, who has seen it, and what do you think?
I'm posting this directly from my LJ, which I wrote down right after I saw the movie:
"I just saw this movie tonight.
For weeks, everybody has been telling me that this movie would change me--that I would finally appreciate what Christ suffered for us.
I have to disagree.
The movie is a very powerful and intense one--Mel Gibson tells the story well, and I applaud him for that. It was well done, and I did watch every second.
But it does not change me.
It *reminds* me--very powerfully. It is the emotional equivalent of a swift kick in the pants.
I never had a problem with appreciating what Christ did for us--and I have to admit, I am resentful that many seem to think they know better than I myself do about how I feel about His suffering. Quite frankly, you (general you) don't. I *do* know what I understood, ever since I was little.
The movie changes nothing for me--however, it serves as an extremely powerful reminder. It helps strengthen my resolve, and makes me feel less alone in an uncertain world--that there are others out there who feel what I feel.
The story has been told many times, but I doubt many have done it as well as Mel Gibson has just done. I did mourn for Mary, Mary Magdalene, Peter, Judas, Pilate, Herod (weird moment--the actor playing Herod looks like my friend Bear. It was a little creepy), Dismas (aka The Good Thief), and all the others who had known and loved Him while He walked this earth--this was their friend, son, and some of them I think suspected, their hope. That they saw this happen to somebody they loved...there are no words.
Mel Gibson managed to put a more realistic human element in it than most. The people weren't all good/all bad, as so often depicted in most tellings. This time 'round, no matter how right everybody thought they were, you saw the element of doubt and fear (of being wrong) in all of them. For once, they were real people, not just cardboard cutouts going through the motions. Mary, for example, telling Jesus to take off His dirty apron and wash His hands before eating--that was a classic 'mom' thing and quite frankly, confirms my opinion of what sort of person Mary was. I never swallowed the meek, mild, unquestioning handmaiden of the Lord bit--I figured any woman charged with raising the Son of God was going to be made of sterner stuff than *that*. That was the true brillance and heart of this movie, for me."
Like to hear from anybody else who has seen it...
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