Jesus Film

This week I honestly completely forgot about having to watch a film until I checked the assignment list and saw we were supposed to have watched a 'Jesus Film'. Luckily my family forced me to watch "The Passion of the Christ" with them Saturday night in preparation for Easter. By forced, I mean to say I did not want to watch the movie, as I have never liked 'Christian movies' or anything about the death of Jesus, as the production quality is often low, and they make me sad as they depict the brutality of the death of Jesus. "The Passion of the Christ"was, however, of a higher production quality than most other 'Jesus Films', and therefore I was able to somewhat enjoy the movie. The movie starts off with probably one of the most important scenes as Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane, praying and questioning God as the disciples sleep off to the side. As Jesus confronts God about his future of bearing all the sin in the world, Satan (who is played by a women, which is pretty cool) appears creepily in the background covered in all black and whispers to Jesus, trying to convince him that bearing everyones sins will never work. As a snake slithers out from under Satan and over to Jesus. The scene ends by Jesus getting up, looking Satan dead in the eye, and stomping on the snake. The lighting in this scene creates the mood for the rest of the movie, as the lighting is dark and creates a feeling of mysteriousness, as the only light illuminates Jesus. The symbolism in this scene is also huge, as it shows Jesus confronting the reality of his death for the first time, accepting it, and crushing Satan. This scene also establishes the theme of good vs. evil, as well as man vs. himself, as Jesus struggles with facing the reality of his painful demise. Satan also appears in the scene of Jesus being beaten by Roman soldiers, smirking in the background holding a disfigured baby that represents something I'm assuming, possibly sin but I'm still confused and a little disturbed by that. Satan then appears lastly as Jesus finally dies on the cross, screaming out and collapsing on the ground, realizing that he has been defeated. The film had a lot of flashbacks, which helped to add on the the overall story development.  I really liked how the film wasn't in English but instead in Aramaic, because it added to the authenticity of the film and helped me to imagine the movie as actual events. I also liked the music used throughout the movie as it added a sense of mysteriousness and suspense to the mood. While I do think that the beating and crucifixion scene was very long and gory, I do think it was a realistic depiction and addressed the pain Jesus went through in order to save mankind, something that I often forget. Overall, this is definitely the best 'Jesus film' I've seen, and I would give it a 7 out of 10, though I probably wouldn't choose to watch it again for entertainment.