The passion of Christ

Synopsis

The last twelve hours of the life of Jesus of Nazareth , the Passion : Jesus prays at the Mount of Olives and resists the temptation of Satan . Captured by the Jewish authorities, Jesus is flogged after his denunciation by Judas to the High Priest Caiaphas and his court. We then see his judgment by the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate and his passage before Herod resulting in his death sentence. The film is interspersed with flashbacks on key moments in the public life of Christ, such as the Sermon of the Beatitudes . The film ends with the rise of Jesus on Calvary, hiscrucifixionwith Mary and Mary Magdalene as witnesses, then her resurrection.

The question of anti-Semitism

According to historian Geza Vermes , this Mel Gibson film would stir up anti-Semitic hatred . This historian criticizes the director for having ignored the historical context in which the gospels were written without, however, questioning the veracity of the elements portrayed in it; this context sheds light on some New Testament statements that may be considered antisemitic today, and that responded to other intentions. Thus, the Gospels mitigate Pontius Pilate’s responsibility in the killing of Jesus, and place this almost entire responsibility on the Jews., which is stricto facto true. But, says the historian, the writers of the Gospels were extremely suspect in the eyes of the Roman authorities, they should therefore spare ³ . Moreover, according to the historian, Jesus, judged according to the Jewish laws, was in no way liable to the death penalty; he was not guilty, in particular, of blasphemy. On the other hand, Jesus did worry about the Roman colonial power. Thus, according to G. Vermes, Mel Gibson’s film does not take into account the achievements of historical research and merely reproduce anti-Jewish Christian discourse two thousand ^four .

Jewish organizations have accused Mel Gibson of evoking old anti-Semitic stereotypes in his film The Passion of the Christ , which is part of a long list of accusations against Mr. Gibson for the same reason, which he defended and explained, according to Reuters ⁵ .

The question of the historicity of the facts mentioned in the film

According to the historian Geza Vermes , the film The Passion of Christ is “historically wrong” ( ” Historically wrong ” ) ⁶ .

The historian Antoine de Baecque titles an article devoted to The Passion of Christ : “an absolute stupidity from the historical point of view” ⁷ “.

Critic

Paul Verhoeven , filmmaker and member of the Jesus Seminar , says the film lacks historical realism in The Passion of Christ : “we do not learn to know Jesus, we do not know what he was defending” . According to Paul Verhoeven, Mel Gibson bases his film on “a dogmatic religious thought : non-Christians will end up in hell ” . Verhoeven also considers Mel Gibson’s Christianity to be ” psychotic Catholicism ” in the sense that “in the Passion of Christwe do not meet a benevolent God or mercy. His God is not very far from the cruel Mexican deity Quetzalcoatl , who constantly demanded human sacrifices ” ; Dutch filmmaker highlights the extremely bloody character of the scene of the crucifixion ⁸ .

Success

Mel Gibson’s film is a worldwide success. In July 2010, it is ranked fourteenth most profitable film in the history of American cinema with more than 370 million dollars in revenue ⁹ and 51 ^th in the world with nearly 612 million ¹⁰ . He is nominated for three Oscars, Oscar for Best Photography , Oscar for Best Film Music , Oscar for Best Makeup , but receives no awards.

The film was released on DVD , VHS , and D-VHS in the United States on August 31, 2004 and more than 2.4 million items are sold in one day.

Technical sheet

• French title: La Passion du Christ
• Original title: The Passion of the Christ
• Director : Mel Gibson
• Screenplay : Mel Gibson, Davey Bruce , Stephen McEveety , after the work of St. Matthew , St. Mark , St. Luke and St. John
• Photography: Caleb Deschanel
• Music: John Debney and Gingger Shankar
• Editing: John Wright
• Sets: Francesco Frigeri and Carlo Gervasi
• Production: Bruce Davey , Mel Gibson and Stephen McEveety
• Production Company: Icon Productions
• Distribution Company: Newmarket Films (United States), Quinta Communications (France)
• Budget: 30 million $
• Country of origin: United States
• Shooting languages: Aramaic , Latin
• Genre: historical drama
• Duration: 127 minutes
• Release dates:
  •  United States , Canada :  February 25 , 2004
  •  France : March 31 , 2004
  •  Belgium : April 7 , 2004.
• Public: Not allowed under 12 years old.

Distribution

• Jim Caviezel : Jesus
• Maia Morgenstern : Mary
• Christo Zhivkov : John
• Francesco de Vito : Stone
• Monica Bellucci : Mary Magdalene
• Luca Lionello : Judas
• Hristo Chopov : Pontius Pilate
• Rosalinda Celentano : Satan
• Claudia Gerini : Claudia Procula
• Fabio Sartor : Abenader
• Sergio Rubini : Dismas
• Toni Bertorelli : Annas
• Roberto Bestazzoni : Malchus
• Francesco Cabras : Gesmas
• Giovanni Capalbo : Cassius
• Mattia Sbragia : Caiphas , the high priest
• Olek Mincer : Nicodemus
• Jarreth J. Merz : Simon
• Matt Patresi : Janus
• Giacinto Ferro : Joseph of Arimathea
• Pedro Sarubbi : Barabbas
• Luca of Dominicis : Herod

Production

Filming locations

The film was shot in Italy at Cinecittà Studios ( Rome ) (where Jerusalem was restored) in Craco ( Basilicata ) and in the Matera region (for crucifixion scenes), a 2,000-year-old city that was shot St. Matthew’s Gospel of Pier Paolo Pasolini in 1965.

Anecdotes

• The film The Passion of the Christ came out on Ash Wednesday of 2004, the day of the beginning of Lent among Catholics.
• Mel Gibson claims to have been an actor in the film, so we see his hand in the film, tending a nail to crucify Jesus.
• According to Mel Gibson , “The shooting was quite painful. Everyone got sick, Jim Caviezel took off his shoulder on the cross and even received whipping during the flogging scene. Everyone more or less suffered while shooting ¹¹ “.
• The reverend father Jean-Marie Charles-Roux was chaplain of the film crews of the movie ¹² .
• Pedro Sarubbi , who plays the role of Barabbas , finds faith during filming. He recounts his conversion in a book entitled Da Barabba in Gesù – Convertito da un sguardo ( From Barabbas to Jesus, converted by a look ), published in 2012.
• Jesus’ interpreter, Jim Caviezel had to submit to makeup sessions exceeding seven hours for the last scenes of the film, recounting the crucifixion of Christ.

Notes and references