The Passion of the Christ (Jesus Film)

          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.