THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST - TAKE TWO

I’ve had a lot of people email me asking me my feelings about The Passion of The Christ. As most of you know, this is the 2nd time I’ve seen it. The first time was at Willow Creek Community Church for the private showing. Mel Gibson was there and was interviewed live. You can read my review of that experience by clicking here.

Yesterday, I attended the movie with most of our staff and a few friends. The question that everyone asked me was, “Did the movie impact you differently the second time around?” The answer to that question is yes. And I say yes for a few reasons.

For one, seeing the movie in wide screen format was very moving (the premier was not on “film” – it was on “video” – big difference in quality.). The sound effects, music, etc… was much louder and clearer. The first “version” of the movie that I saw was a much rougher cut with not as good of effects. BUT – it still impacted me greatly.

I was moved emotionally quite a bit more yesterday than the first time I saw it, but in a different way. I cried more. My stomach was tied in knots during the entire second half of the film. I felt a slew of emotions: anger, sadness, guilt, love, joy, perplexity.

I was perplexed. Mainly because of the unbelievable amount of love seen in His (Jesus) eyes. Even in the midst of being tortured, beat and killed, he still loved. It is an amazing thing and so beyond my “human” ability to love.

Someone asked about the “ugly baby” scene. Mel explained that scene when he was interviewed at Willow Creek.

**WARNING: This is a semi-spoiler coming up!**

In one scene where Jesus is being fiercely beaten (with the cat of nine tails), he is lying on the ground and it shows Satan walking around with a little baby in her arms. When the baby turns its head, you see the ugliest looking baby you can imagine – with an old man’s face and horrible teeth. (Plus, even before the baby turns around, the hair on the back gives you the hint that something isn’t quite right here…)

Mel Gibson explained this scene as his attempt to portray evil. On the surface, evil can look pretty good and even innocent, but when you look at it straight in the face for what it is worth, it is ugly as hell.

That’s the creative artistry that is seen over and over again in this movie.

Here's a link with more info on this specific scene

Gotta go – more later…