The Passion Of “The Passion”

Frank Salvato

Mel Gibson’s film offering The Passion Of The Christ is more than a movie; it is an event. It is an event that people are flocking to, to witness, to experience, out of curiosity and in search of answers. The movie is powerful. It can be considered controversial and troubling but it is only anti-Semitic if the message is missed. It is a vehicle that will embrace each person on an intensely personal level. To see the movie with a crowd of several hundred people, even with those whom you love and call family, is to see it alone.

I must tell you all, I am no theologian. To that extent I have to confess that I am a believer but a non-practicing Catholic and by that I mean that I believe in all of the things that Catholicism stands for but am rather delinquent when it comes to going to church and adhering to the practices that the truly faithful find themselves compelled to perform. I have read the Bible and I attended Catholic school for a portion of my educational experience. I am familiar with the Scriptures but I have also “given up giving up things” for Lent. I am by no means the best Catholic, if there is such a thing, but I am also by no means the worst.

The Passion Of The Christ was an incredibly moving event for me. In a strange sort of way I found myself nervous to see it and rightly so. All accounts from those who had been afforded the opportunity to see it before its official release conveyed that the movie was brutal, violent, thought provoking and disturbing. But I suppose what bothered me, what haunted me the most before going into the movie was the fact that what I was about to see could very well change the way that I view religion, how I view the world, how I view those involved with some of the more serious events of the day and most importantly, how I view myself. Not only could this experience serve as an affirmation to my faith as a Catholic but it could also serve as a vehicle that would demand an examination of myself, what I stand for and who I will choose to be in the future. Having now seen the movie, having experienced it, I find that I was correct in feeling apprehensive but thankful that I had the courage to confront my fears.

Is the movie brutal? Is it violent? Absolutely, almost sickeningly so. Is Mel Gibson justified in his use of the violence, the level to which it rises? Most definitely. The level of violence that Gibson uses to tell this story of the ages is almost needed to define the kind of “ultimate crime” that was perpetrated against Jesus Christ. The violence is relentless. Mercifully, Gibson affords us some escape from time to time through the film. But like life, and death for that matter, the escape is very brief and the stark reality of the matter soon returns. Some say they grew numb to the violence. I for one did not. With every stroke of the whip, with every strike of the chains, with every nail pounded through the flesh of a man who professed that we should “love our enemies for if we do not what reward could we possibly receive,” I felt the pain, the injustice, the scourge. The level of violence that Gibson used was shocking but it needed to be shocking for we, people who have grown numb to our own enjoyment of senseless violence, needed to be shocked, we needed to be confronted with the true definition of violence.

The film was a painful film to watch in the sense that it afforded us all the chance to confront our humanity, or the weakness of humanity, face to face, one on one. We were offered the chance to see that all human beings regardless of religion can fall prey to the narcissism of opportunity, the self-absorption of power, the allure and false satisfaction of bearing false witness, the ease of propagating untruths for our own gain and the hopelessness of not being able to comprehend something larger than ourselves. We were offered an honest glimpse of just how cruel and relentless we as a species can be.

Perhaps the most intense and gut-wrenchingly painful portion of the film, at least for me, was feeling the events as they took place from The Virgin Mary’s point of view. The incredible performance by Maia Morgenstern literally devastated me, as well as a majority if not all of the others in the audience. The idea that a Mother would have to helplessly bear witness to her son’s betrayal, persecution, torment and crucifixion was inconceivable. To know that this type of relentless persecution exists still today is a testimony to our own inhumanity and our apathy toward doing what we know to be right, no matter the cost.

But for all the brutality, all the violence, all the malevolence, betrayal, pain, suffering, injustice and outrage, through all of the darkness and evil that exists in this motion picture, it was impossible to escape the true message that is delivered to us through this film. No matter what your religious background or involvement it was impossible to escape the fact that this film is about the definition of unconditional love. It is about the level of sacrifice that unconditional love can endure. Through it all, through the intense battle of good verses evil, the battle for humanity between entities that some among us cannot comprehend, a battle that dominates this film and the ideology for which Jesus Christ stands, the message that one inevitably has to take away from the experience is that of an unconditional love of The Father for all of us, for all among us, in perpetuity. Those who would charge that this film is anything else have been blind to the message and have fallen prey to the ills of humanity as mentioned above.

Mel Gibson is to be not only congratulated for producing probably one of the most brilliant and important films ever created but he is also to be thanked for having the courage to produce such an incredibly powerful medium for a message that is so in need of being heard today. Those who would attack him for his creation stand in false witness with those who stood in contrived judgment of a “man” who commanded us all to love our enemies, a “man” who accepted the brutality and injustice of those He chose to love rather than forsake.

The message is clear, as clear as it was all those years ago. For those who cannot see the message for the vehicle I say this; I will pray that one day very soon you have a revelation to what the message is, no matter what faith you choose to embrace. And please remember, that is coming from a man who admits he isn’t the best Catholic out there. To the Lord Jesus I confess in earnest that I need to thank You and appreciate You better than I have for Your passion. I am moved by You. And that is coming from a man who understands he is not the best Catholic out there but who believes.

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Frank Salvato is a political media consultant, a freelance writer from the Midwest and the Managing Editor for www.TheRant.us . He is a contributing writer to The Washington Dispatch, OpinionEditorials.com and AmericanDaily.com. He has appeared as a guest panelist on The O’Reilly Factor and his pieces are regularly featured in Townhall.com and occasionally featured in The Washington Times as well as other national publications.
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