Available at Amazon.com
Directed by
Mel Gibson
Cast:
James Caviezel …. Jesus
Maia Morgenstern …. Mary
Christo Jivkov …. John
Francesco De Vito …. Peter
Monica Bellucci …. Magdalen
Mattia Sbragia …. Caiphas
Toni Bertorelli …. Annas
Luca Lionello …. Judas
Hristo Shopov …. Pontius Pilate
Admittedly, The Passion of the Christ is a difficult film to critique. In the years since its release, the film became a grass roots phenomenon and one of the greatest financial successes of the new century, and yet it is also a work of great controversy. Also, add to that the public storm surrounding the movie’s creator, Mel Gibson, and it becomes difficult to separate this piece from the man who spawned it. Then again, to watch The Passion of the Christ is to see a film with a tremendous attention to detail, and a bravery shown by its director in that he would put up part of his own fortune, and his reputation on the line, to see this story told.
This film, of course, is an account of the last hours of Christ’s life. Giving us only short flashbacks into the events from the Gospels such as “The Last Supper” and the “Sermon on the Mount:, the movie focuses mainly on the events of Jesus’ last day on Earth from his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane to his crucifixion. Make no mistake; this is a grueling and two and a half hours, filled with sights that are ghastly and gory on a level to rival any George Romero film that happen to get progressively more harrowing as the movie marches on. Yet, to me at least, this isn’t an exercise merely trying to punish his audience and film goers in general, this is a work of great love, trying to show how much pain Jesus went through for his followers souls.
The odd thing is, though the film’s violence is so horrible, the film’s cinematography and performances are so grand that it’s tough to take your eyes off of it. Cinematographer Caleb Deschanel does maybe his best work on this picture, taking queues from several prominent artists to make this film look like a moving painting, with one iconic shot after another showing moments that had never quite been caught on film like this before. The film is stunning on this front, somehow softening the blow of the naked brutality of Gibson’s direction.
Jim Caviezel does a convincing job in a role that probably no one would really want to take on. Having to learn dead languages, go through hours of makeup, actually get hit by overzealous extras, and then get struck by lightning doesn’t exactly seem like a walk in the park. Perhaps all of these hardships helped the actor really get into character, because this is a truly moving portrayal of Christ’s sufferings. I’m not going to say that he’s eclipsed every other actor that has attempted to portray such an important figure, but to say that he’s wonderful here would be an understatement.
Also great is a host of supporting players, especially Maria Morgenstern as Mary. Displaying a pain only a mother could feel; Morgenstern puts a human face on Mary, finally showing how important a role she fills in this story. This is a part that features one heartbreaking moment after another, as she wipes up the blood of her son after his scourging, and another when she helps him back up as he falls along his road of condemnation. Her eyes do so much of the work for her, seemingly making us a part of the story as she stares into the camera at film’s end, holding Jesus after he is taken down from the cross.
Indeed it is visuals that make this film what it is, as Gibson constructs this movie as a series of mostly wordless sequences to tell this story that many already know by heart. Every frame seems to have the director’s obsession with details all over it, but that is what makes this adaptation that much more memorable. You would think a director would almost have to be insane to put his movie in Aramaic, Latin, and Hebrew, but the language in Passion makes the whole proceeding seem more organic and real.
Unfortunately, Gibson’s telling of this event doesn’t have enough of Jesus’ philosophy in it. The short flashbacks aren’t enough to truly assuage the suffering we have to go through as an audience to make this a watchable film more often that once every five years or so. There’s so much agony throughout this picture, but it’s the moments of watching Christ in his teachings that bring the greatest profundity. So much went into this movie, that it’s too bad that this flaw keeps Passion from reaching the highs of Biblical epics such as Ben-Hur and The Ten Commandments.
Still, in 2004 I put this film on my “10 Best” list for that year and I still feel that way about it, seeing it now on DVD. Looking at just the film without all the hype surrounding it, Passion of the Christ is a powerful experience that shows just as much as Braveheart and Apocalypto that Gibson is well versed in the art of film making. The movie isn’t perfect, but is made with so much care that it commands your attention, even if it’s such an exhausting experience that its difficult to take in more than a few times.
The Video
Fantastic work by Fox on this disc, as the transfer here is wonder. The movie is presented in both the cut scene in theaters as well as the toned down version, which uses a branching feature instead of actually having both as separate tracks on the disc. The result is a print that is wonder to behold. The film is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen with an aspect ratio of 2.40:1
The Audio
This is a pretty stunning soundtrack on this disc, capturing every bit of info that the movie had for me when I saw it in the theater. Again, Fantastic work by 20th Century Fox on this DVD edition. The Audio track is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Commentaries, Documentary, Featurettes, Deleted Scenes, Galleries, Trailer
Disc 1
Audio Commentaries – This 2-disc DVD is packed with Features, including four audio commentaries including a Filmmaker Commentary (Director Mel Gibson, Cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, and Editor John Wright), a Production Commentary (Producers Stephen McEveety, Ted Rae and Keith Vanderlaan), a Music Commentary (Composer John Debney), and a Theologian Commentary (Mel Gibson, Father William J. Fulco, Gerry Matatics, and Father John Bartunek). Of all of these tracks, the best is the Theological Commentary which goes into great detail regarding scripture and their own particular viewpoints as to the events taking place in the film.
A funny aspect of the track is how it seems that Gibson is kind of out of his element, popping in every so often just to say what his techniques or intentions were in certain sequences. I love the discussion that takes place during the scene in which Simon of Cyrene (Jarreth J. Merz) helps Jesus up on his path after he has fallen from exhaustion. In the scene, Simon talks to Christ, saying lines like “We’re almost there”, as if the end of the road is the high point of the journey, not the point where he will meet his death. Its little things like this that are pointed out in the commentary that adds a depth to the picture that I hadn’t realized. The Fathers will also call out when the movie is not completely accurate to scriptures and tries to defend the picture against its many critics. Overall, while all the tracks are informative, this one is the most enlightening and entertaining.
Disc 2
Disc 2 is separated into three different sections; Filmmaking, The Legacy, and Galleries
Filmmaking
By His Wounds We Are Healed: Making the Passion of the Christ – This is a terrific, multi-part documentary on the making of this film, beginning at the conception by Gibson that had been going on in his head for years, till his proposal at around the time of the production of We Were Soldiers to the film’s eventually financial victory. Some of the sections are really short going only a couple of minutes, but still remain quite interesting, while others, such as the section Make-up and Visual Effects, which are quite long and bristling with detail. Though its not very long, I really like the section entitled Evil Personified, where they discuss how they developed the look for Rosalinda Celentano’s Satan. Making the character beautiful, and yet sinister, womanly, and yet androgynous, was a stroke of genius in my opinion. Overall, the documentary goes about an hour and forty minutes.
Below the Line – This goes about 13 minutes and has many of the people that worked on the film such as Editor John Wright and others discussing their experiences on the picture. There’s a tidbit in this discussion that I had forgotten about where the panel talks about how Gibson wanted originally for the film to not even have subtitles and how he wanted the images to carry the film by themselves. Thankfully, someone talked him out of this line of thinking.
Deleted Scenes – You get two deleted scenes here, the first, entitled Pilot, extends the scene in which Pontius Pilate (Hristo Shopov) washes his hands before sending Jesus to be crucified. Its easy to see why the second scene, Don’t Cry, was cut. As Jesus and Simon of Cyrene walk with the cross, Jesus utters lines that border on sounding vengeful, which I think would really go against the tone of the rest of the picture.
The Legacy
Through the Ages – This is a terrific Featurette dealing with the role of art in telling the Christ’s tale throughout the years. Different artists have had different takes on this story, which has changed how we perceive the story in our minds.
Crucifixion: Punishment in the Ancient World – Experts and historians discuss the role of the crucifixion as a punishment and trace its history throughout the ages, from the Persian Empire to the Romans. I think its awesome when a disc can present you not only info on the movie it’s about, but about the time period the film takes place in, and that is exactly what this piece is doing. This goes about 17 minutes and is a really fascinating insight into this horrible practice.
On Language – Father William J. Fulco discusses his role in translating the picture from English in to Aramaic, Latin and Hebrew and what a difficult process it was. Some words were not even found in Aramaic, so in some instances he had to take modern words from other languages and transpose them into the ancient language. There’s some crossover in this documentary with the section on this in the Making the Passion of the Christ documentary, but not enough to take away from the information here being interesting.
Paths of the Journey – This follows many modern days priests and pilgrims in Jerusalem that take the same path that Jesus took on his way to be crucified. Its interesting to note how many of these places still exist. The Featurette even shows a place that may be the sight of Jesus’ burial. Again, just from a historical perspective to see what may have been the very same places is pretty fascinating.
Anno Domini – Another interesting Featurette, this one gives theories and historical information on the fates of all that were around Jesus at the time of his death. You learn o what became of Pilot, John, Mary, and and many others here. The Featurette goes about 10 minutes.
The Galleries
Theatrical Trailers – You get tow Theatrical trailers, one R-rated and one G-rated. You also get two TV-spots.
Production Art
Historical Texts
Art Images
The Inside Pulse
Wow, this really shows how important the rewatchability factor can effect a DVD score. At any rate, The Passion of the Christ is a powerful, yet still flawed film, and this DVD is packed with extras. If you weren’t happy with the original release of this picture on DVD, then this is the one to pick up.
