Faith through Film and Fiction

This week, i watched Passion of the Christ, a fitting movie for easter time. It's funny how conflicting this movie is with what easter has become. The movie is absolutely brutal, which is faithful to how the real events of Jesus's death are portrayed in the Bible, in contrast with how pure Easter has become as a symbol for our forgiveness and Jesus's resurrection from the grave. To emphasize this, Mel Gibson uses a lot of slow motion to make each shot linger on. Overall i didn't hate the movie for anything in particular but it didn't engross me too much. I think part of that can be credited to it being a dramatic retelling of a story i already know, rather than a brand new story that develops as it goes on. I think this movie is good enough to merit watching for anybody, especially around easter time. Is it my favorite movie? No. Was is astronomically better than Jack and Jill? Yes. i'd rate it somewhere between a 5 and 6 out of 10

The Nativity Story (2006)

I know this isn't exactly about Jesus himself, but it is from the gospels and  I believed it would be more interesting than some of the other movies in this genre.  This movie is largely from the perspective of the women in this story and how specifically Mary was challenged with carrying Jesus despite not yet being wed to Joseph.  I found the movie to depict a very trusting, intimate relationship between Mary and Joseph that brings to life our stereotypical perspective of the two simply following God's orders on a donkey to Bethlehem.  It was, from my knowledge, a very realistic presentation of a timeless story.  I thought it was interesting because of that, but it really wasn't any much greater than that.  The movie had a dusty filter through out it that kept the colors dull and warm, so it felt fairly stagnant cinematically.  The three wisemen/magi still felt very unrealistic to me, but they tried their best.

5/10

Passion of the Christ

This Easter, my family and I went to an Anglican church in Dayton. There, we were greeted with a liturgy that lasted over 90 minutes and a preacher that was yelling throughout his 15 minute sermon. To make up for this failed Easter service, I decided to watch The Passion of the Christ. Instead of finding a better telling of Easter, I was met with a similar, lengthy, drawn-out film that did not interest. You'd think it would difficult to be bored by a man being slowly executed but the hour mark, I had had enough. One aspect of this film I found incredibly annoying was Gibson's constant use of slow motion. While this was effectively during the garden scene and Jesus's whipping, it had to have been used at least 50 times. During the whipping scene, the slow motion along with some close-up and medium shots allow viewers to feel very connected to Jesus. However, this really is the only the scene that this works effectively in because Gibson just repeats his tricks. This was a cheap ploy to affect viewers on Gibson's part and lost all subtlety after the whipping. In addition, while trying to be true to the real thing, the gore and violence of this film was over-the-top. In particular, Jesus's dripping blood from his chest when they flip his cross around and the blood shower from Jesus's stab are excessive and a bit indulgent. This violence detracts from any significance or meaning that can be garnered from this film. Another small issue that I had was with the rain/teardrop from Heaven when Jesus dies. If Gibson is trying to remain true to the actual event, I doubt that God in Heaven is crying a singular tear, a tear that causing an earthquake throughout the city. One aspect of the film that I did enjoy was the structure. While I felt a little out of place at the beginning of the film, the flashbacks allowed for an interesting viewing. In addition, the makeup and set design were stellar, allowing viewers to feel a part of the setting. Finally, some of the key themes of Jesus's life come through excellently in this film: his belief in forgiveness and that he is 100% God while also being 100% man. I think my main issue with this film is my problem with a lot preachers and Christian speakers. Too often, we focus on the terrible death of Jesus and the problems and fall of man. The film only offers a glimmer of Jesus leaving the tomb and the hope of his resurrection. While there is time to focus on his death on the cross, this film spends an exorbitant amount of time on this aspect of Jesus, pulling the focus away from the hope of the empty tomb.
3/10

For my Jesus Film I  chose to watch "He is Risen." Honestly I do not normally watch Jesus films because I do not always find them interesting or I feel like they are all the same. I believe I watched "Passion of the Christ" a little while ago but don't remember much from it. The movie that I watched was a retelling of Jesus' death and  resurrection. It was a neat film because it was told from another persons point of view. The only thing that I did not like very much about the film was that it was very long. But the film was very descriptive and showed well what things might have been like back then at the time of Jesus. It came out of the category of Jesus films in that I do not think it was like all of the other movies. I believe this is mainly because it is told from a different perspective than most. And the best part of the movie is the ending and how the  narrator changes how he feels about Jesus and his disciples's. Rating  5/10.

          I decided to watch The Passion of the Christ this week for the theme, which fit in nicely for Holy Week. This is one of Mel Gibson's most well-known films and is very controversial. There is controversy surrounding this film for good reason. It is extremely graphic. Outside of the Saw movies, this film may be one of the most graphic I have ever seen. It shows close-up shots of Jesus being beaten to near death and his bloodied, wounded body in the aftermath. It stays true to the Bible, and the graphic nature is supposed to show the level of sacrifice Jesus went through, so the graphic nature was not gratuitous. As far as I could tell, the story was mostly Biblically accurate. There were a few scenes involving the devil that I thought were maybe unnecessary, but I am not Mel Gibson.
         This film did a great job of showing the forgiveness of Christ, and did a great job showing the darkest last part of Jesus' life. I was especially impressed by the scene near the beginning where Jesus begins sweating blood as the scripture says. The cinematography in this film was great. As a "Jesus film", it would be reasonable to assume lower camera quality, as this has sadly become the standard for many films like this today. However, this movie showed camera angles exposing the worst aspects of Jesus' final hours. It also helped reveal emotions of bystanders, both Marys, John, Peter, and Judas. I liked the acting in this film, especially that of Pilate. The make-up and costuming in this film won an Oscar, and rightfully so. It must have taken hours for the make-up teams to make Jesus' body look so honestly bloodied and beaten. I was impressed by the realism of the film. In all, I would say that all who have heard the story of the Crucifixion should see this film at least once just to experience it, and would rate it 8/10.