Mel Gibson's Passion

[galvez]

Is Mel Gibson anti-Semitic? According to The New York Times, his movie The Passion of Christ has angered some Jews in Hollywood.

It seems like a low blow for the media to hassle Mel Gibson because his father believes the Holocaust is a hoax. What does that have to do with Mel Gibson? That's guilt by association. It reminds me of the media smears against Schwarzenegger over his father's affiliation with the Nazi SS. So far Mel Gibson's movie is projected to be profitable within two weeks.

[AWAR]

The USA film critics are divided about this film:
www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ThePassionoftheChrist-1129941/

[Graeme]

I am sure Mel will make money out of his Jesus movie. I couldn't care less about Yesuah bar Yusef or his religion. You guess it - I won't be going to see that movie.

Mel's father is a bit of a nutter and so is Mel. Nothing to do with Mad Max or the policeman. The best thing about Mel is that his grandmother was an Australian opera singer. He believes in the old RC church, the use of Latin etc. Rather backward and nostalgic? One good thing about Mel, he generously emdows the acting college he attended in Sydney, NIDA. So he is not all bad, then who is?

[galvez]

I just saw the movie. I give it an 8.5 out of 10.

I will give some thoughts, altho I won't try to be too systematic. There may be some "spoilers" below so read on with this in mind.

1. The alleged anti-Semitism. Some Jews have blown this way out of proportion. The bone of contention here is historical interpretation: many Jews believe the Romans and not the Jews were responsible for the crucifixion of Christ (as the story goes), whereas in the movie the Jews are portrayed as blackmailing the Romans to punish Jesus or else face a potential rebellion in the region.

The Romans are portrayed as vicious and brutal, but the Jews are far more sadistic because the Romans are not really interested in punishing Jesus so much as placating the Jews so that they do not rebel. The Jews -- angry that Jesus has broken Jewish laws and urged his followers to do likewise, and threatened by his growing power in the kingdom -- are not satisfied by the severe lashing and scourging of Jesus, and demand his crucifixion. They are an angry and fanatical mob. They hate Jesus so much that they'd rather free a known murderer (Barabbas) than Jesus. The Romans are hesitant to kill Jesus but do so out of fear that the Jews will create instability. The Roman consul and his wife are presented as having a conscience about what is occurring to Jesus, but the consul fears for his life: if he does not prevent a Jewish rebellion, the Roman ruler (his superior in Rome) will take his life.

Since Jesus is ethnically Jewish, as well as many of his followers, I can't see how the movie can be portrayed as anti-Jewish. The Jews are not portrayed in a flattering light, but Mel Gibson is expressing his interpretation of the Bible to which he is entitled, which obviously many people (as witnessed by their filling up the theaters) are interested in.

2. The violence. The violence is persistent and arguably overdone, but it gives a feel to the movie and brings plenty of sympathy to Jesus, especially since his mother is forced to watch the brutal abuse he is subjected to for the last hours of his life.

3. The spirituality. It is not a normal movie in the sense that there is a normal storyline with a resolution. There are memorable and forceful scenes to reflect upon. The music in the background is very appropriate. The language is in Aramaic, Latin and Hebrew, with the help of subtitles. All of these elements work together to give the movie a unique feel.

I am not religious but I thought I'd see the movie to see if all of the furor about its alleged bigotry was justified. I believe the ADL and other Jewish activists have overreacted and they could lose credibility over this. Mel Gibson's popularity -- at least among the general public -- is likely to soar. It is totally self-righteous for Hollywood executives to express anger toward Mel Gibson over a religious movie, when they are known throughout the world for producing degenerate filth and movies with excessive violence and sexuality.

[AWAR]

I understand why the Jews don't like the way they're depicted in this movie, but Gibson WAS following the Bible.

The real problem is the way most people perceive Jews as some sort of secret society, this film could well spark the flame of hatred towards Jews, especially in the feeble minded audiences which do not understand the message of the film.

Of course, the way modern audiences are so dumbed down to a level where they don't use their brains is the direct responsibility of the media magnates who only produce movies, TV programs and music which influences the audiences to remain, or become braindead.

Of course, most of the media is owned and produced by American Jews, which is Ironic.

If this honest film with a strong message about human nature does spark hatred towards Jews, it will be most unfortunate, because the first target of some angry mob of imbeciles will be the average Jewish Joe

For people who spend their entire life under influences like CNN, MTV, and the most popular modern films, who are used to being braindead, things that spark an emotion ( hatred ) are very appealing.

The distance between braindead consumerism and braindead nazism is minimal. It just takes someone to point them in a direction, like an army of drones.

It's truly sad that this film will be misunderstood by a large portion of it's audience, but that's just what can be expected from crowds who have grown up surrounded by media which prevent critical thought and introspection.

[Mouguias]

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Then, I would like to address anyone interested in this Passsion thing to my reply on the Blog, www.dienekes.com/blog/archives/000501.html
I think I made some worth noting points on the subject, though it may sound arrogant.
Dodona, uh? Not a bad chosen name, the oak tree was the symbol of the god of the sky all over Europe.

[nobody you know]

AWAR said:

I understand why the Jews don't like the way they're depicted in this movie, but Gibson WAS following the Bible.

The real problem is the way most people perceive Jews as some sort of secret society, this film could well spark the flame of hatred towards Jews, especially in the feeble minded audiences which do not understand the message of the film.

Of course, the way modern audiences are so dumbed down to a level where they don't use their brains is the direct responsibility of the media magnates who only produce movies, TV programs and music which influences the audiences to remain, or become braindead.

Of course, most of the media is owned and produced by American Jews, which is Ironic.

If this honest film with a strong message about human nature does spark hatred towards Jews, it will be most unfortunate, because the first target of some angry mob of imbeciles will be the average Jewish Joe

For people who spend their entire life under influences like CNN, MTV, and the most popular modern films, who are used to being braindead, things that spark an emotion ( hatred ) are very appealing.

The distance between braindead consumerism and braindead nazism is minimal. It just takes someone to point them in a direction, like an army of drones.

It's truly sad that this film will be misunderstood by a large portion of it's audience, but that's just what can be expected from crowds who have grown up surrounded by media which prevent critical thought and introspection.

excellent post awar

[galvez]

AWAR said:

The real problem is the way most people perceive Jews as some sort of secret society, this film could well spark the flame of hatred towards Jews, especially in the feeble minded audiences which do not understand the message of the film.

I can't fathom how people who worship a Jew could hate Jews.

You are right -- the people likely to be incited by Passion are idiots who are unable to grasp what the movie is really about.

[Tecumseh]

Hmm. Perhaps it would be anti-Semitic if the actors were actually Semitic. lol. But seriously, it's not anti-Semitic, I really enjoyed it. My only beef is that Pontius Pilot is portrayed inaccurately.

[murphee]

I saw it a few hours ago. Weekday afternoon--the theater was almost empty--good time to go. I think it was an excellent movie, and I am an ethnic Jew. I am normally sqeamish about violence, and will not see any gratuitously violent movie, but like "Saving Private Ryan," the violence and the general portrayal of history rang true to me.

[AWAR]

A year and a half ago, when I first heard this movie will be made in Arameic and Latin, I said it's nonsense, because most Roman legionnaires of that era and location spoke Greek.

Yesterday I read an article where some experts said the same thing, plus that the Jews spoke both Arameic and Hebrew.

Nothing beats knowing you were right

What do our members think about this?

[murphee]

I don't know, but I did like the fact that the actors didn't speak English.

[galvez]

Box office figures for The Passion as of March 15.

[Graeme]

Most Jews of that era only spoke Aramaic, the educated ones spoke Hebrew and Greek. Greek was a lingua franca for Palestine at the time. As for Roman legionnaires, they probably only knew Latin and some Greek depending on how educated they were.

Were the actors Semitic? Are Jews really Semitic after all the years sent in non Jewish countries? Yiddish is a German dialect and Hebrew was extinct until revived by Europeans of Jewish religion in Palestine.

Mel has made a lot of money out of Jesus and all that Bible BS. I hate Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Mel is probably anti Jewish. So are lots of religious Christian, right wing conservatives. But that didn't stop him hiring Jews to make money for his film. I would love to see a film where Jesus gets flogged, tortured and nailed to a cross, but as it is a Mel film forget it.