The Passion Of The Christ

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Penguin

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I have finally managed to obtain a copy of this film and thought I would watch it last night. Just wandering what people make of it? I'm not sure what to make of it to be honest but I can imagine the roman soldiers taking great delight as they did in skinning jesus alive in the flogging sequence, in which I felt real sadness and sorrow for jesus. I'm not afraid to admit that it bought a lump to my throat especially for Mary having to watch her son die in such a brutal way. I imagined I was jesus in that and the anguish and pain my mum would have felt watching me go through that. The flogging and crucifixtion parts of the film have stuck in my mind and it's going to take awhile for them to go away whilst at the same time it's made me think about things more. Do you think it was really like that? or did Mel Gibson go over the top on the blood. Many thanks.
 
Even if Mel Gibson did overplay it, remember brutal deaths were a pretty common hazard of humanity throughout history and pre-history.

Sometimes people speak of the scene in that film as if Jesus were the only person stated to have died by that method, but there are thousands more. Spartacus anyone?
 
Hi,
When I asked in my previous post "was it really like that?" I was referring to the whole film in general and not just the flogging & crucifixtion scenes. How accurate do people feel the story was? Sorry, bad english on my part!:)
 
Penguin :

I believe that you had the right phrase..."over the top". But then... it is a Hollywood production meant to sell admission tickets and DVD's.

Imposed deaths were brutal then, and they still are. But we still don't know if the many stories regarding Jesus were/are metaphor or based upon factual truth do we ?

I agree with Brian. Spartacus, which was Stanley Kubrick's first big film, is based upon factual history, and still stands the test of time as one of the most moving portraits of what lives trapped in slavery were really like back then.

IMHO the crucifiction scene at the end of the film is unsurpassed in evoking empathic feelings in the viewer regarding the plight of those who lived their lives in bondage. Amistad, which is an historically accurate film by Speilberg, would be another example of a portrayal of this "special" kind of suffering that so many have endured.

flow....:)
 
Kindest Regards, Penguin, welcome to CR!

When I asked in my previous post "was it really like that?" I was referring to the whole film in general and not just the flogging & crucifixtion scenes. How accurate do people feel the story was?
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I vaguely remember an interview with Mel Gibson about the time the movie came out. There was some artistic license, such as the androgynous "satan" figure with a snake wrapped around his/her legs. There was also a scene I recall wherein the young Jesus is shown building a table for his mom. These are not quite straight from the text, but are artistic images to convey a point. (Movies in general tend to do these kind of things to save time, better to tell the story with pictures than a hundred pages of dialogue, you'd never get past the first chapter in a 2 to 3 hour film!) Most of the dialogue was pretty close, and the story did stay pretty well true to the synoptic gospels telling. Was it exact? I wasn't there, I can't say, but I know Hollywood seldom tells the "real" story anyway. But it was close enough to make the point. The graphic imagery of the crucifiction really brought home just what the man, and many many other men and women, went through at the hands of Roman executioners.

My two cents.
 
Kindest Regards, Flowperson!

IMHO the crucifiction scene at the end of the film (*Spartacus) is unsurpassed in evoking empathic feelings in the viewer regarding the plight of those who lived their lives in bondage.
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Spartacus is definitely one of the best films in the last 50 years, but the crucifiction scene at that day and time was necessarily toned down. Besides not having the effects artistry available today, the public was not prepared at that time for the blood bath that was in Passion of the Christ. The way to that was paved by movies like Bonnie and Clyde, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Saving Private Ryan.

Amistad, which is an historically accurate film by Speilberg, would be another example of a portrayal of this "special" kind of suffering that so many have endured.
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Another good one, along with Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List and Band of Brothers.
 
it was bad enough to shed his blood and make him die, he died before the two thieves. the roman soldiers were masters at inflicting pain and death and with their horrible weapons. a punishment so bad that roman citizens were spared the same fate.

Isaiah says about christ:

I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
 
Penguin said:
I'm not afraid to admit that it bought a lump to my throat especially for Mary having to watch her son die in such a brutal way. I imagined I was jesus in that and the anguish and pain my mum would have felt watching me go through that. The flogging and crucifixtion parts of the film have stuck in my mind and it's going to take awhile for them to go away whilst at the same time it's made me think about things more.
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I am not a Christian, but I feel the touchiest part of the Bible is reading the incident of Crucifixion in the Gospels, tears roll down the cheeks uncontrolled, one cannot resist.
The incident of killing of seven sons, one by one, before the very eyes of their mother when the king ordered them to eat forbidden flesh of pig as reported in the Book of 2-Mucabiyyin, Chapter 7 in the Catholic Bible (the name of the book has been written from Urdu Catholic Bible and this book is placed after the Book of Malachi and it is the last book of the Old Testament; the name of the book in English would be slightly different in spelling) neither the sons nor their mother budged from their principled stance.
It is not a small thing and should not be considered usual though it happened in the remote past.
As far as your question, "Do you think it was really like that?” is concerned the agony and gravity of the incident remains as it is but it is a matter of solace that in reality though Jesus got swooned on the Cross yet he did not die a cursed death on it and was saved by God. This is my view others may think differently.
 
inhumility said:
I am not a Christian, but I feel the touchiest part of the Bible is reading the incident of Crucifixion in the Gospels, tears roll down the cheeks uncontrolled, one cannot resist.
The incident of killing of seven sons, one by one, before the very eyes of their mother when the king ordered them to eat forbidden flesh of pig as reported in the Book of 2-Mucabiyyin, Chapter 7 in the Catholic Bible (the name of the book has been written from Urdu Catholic Bible and this book is placed after the Book of Malachi and it is the last book of the Old Testament; the name of the book in English would be slightly different in spelling) neither the sons nor their mother budged from their principled stance.
It is not a small thing and should not be considered usual though it happened in the remote past.
As far as your question, "Do you think it was really like that?” is concerned the agony and gravity of the incident remains as it is but it is a matter of solace that in reality though Jesus got swooned on the Cross yet he did not die a cursed death on it and was saved by God. This is my view others may think differently.
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That would go against everything the Gospels state (the part about Jesus not dying). According to such Jesus Died, the temple veil ripped in two, and people in the vicinity knew something strange and unsettling happened.

By the way Inhumility, that is the fourth or fifth time you've pointed out that you are not Christian. What then is your point (to that end)?

v/r

Q
 
Quahom1 said:
By the way Inhumility, that is the fourth or fifth time you've pointed out that you are not Christian. What then is your point (to that end)?
Q
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I believe in Jesus,the Man,the Prophet,his charismatic character,his sacrifices and his teachings in his own words that are in conformity with Old Testament and Quran.
Thanks
 
inhumility said:
I believe in Jesus,the Man,the Prophet,his charismatic character,his sacrifices and his teachings in his own words that are in conformity with Old Testament and Quran.
Thanks
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That's fine. However the majority here in this particular forum believe in the Nicene creed, and in the Holy Bible, to which the "Passion" get most of its "truth" from, therefore to declare something like Jesus not dying here, is a bit over the top.

Second, you profess to claim Jesus' sacrifices are in conformity with the Old Testament. If so, then you contradict yourself when you state that Jesus did not die. The Old testament is specific about Jesus dying for us, not of old age, or natural causes. Nor was His death on the cross an illusion. His was the ultimate sacrifice.

Now, I'm not here to convince you one way or the other. But neither is the Christian forum here to discuss Islam either. That forum of thought is two over. ;)

v/r

Q
 
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