THE EDITOR, Sir:I WAS sceptical about seeing Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ.' I just did not like the hype surrounding it. But my curiosity got the better of me and so 'I went, I saw, I was conquered'. Because the movie is 'bilingual' (Aramaic and Latin), perhaps for the first time in my life my appreciation of the English (not the cricketers! But my second language) rose to 90 per cent! (Thanks Mom for sending me to school. And you're right; shouldn't have dropped Latin).
The first thing that impressed me was the opening line from Isaiah 53: 5 undoubtedly, one of the best commentaries on the Cross. This was what many previous Jesus films lacked; a solid commentary from the Bible of Jesus. Another plus for the movie is its realistic Gethsemane scene with which it begins. Here is where the Christ experienced a significant victory through prayer, a victory that is effectively depicted by the crushing of a serpent's head. To locate this 'crushing' in a garden is evocative of the scene in ancient Iraq where Gen. 3: 1-15 was played out.
The gruesomeness of the crucifixion procedure that the Gospel writers were reticent to emphasise or simply took for granted is unabashingly highlighted by Gibson. In my view, this was brilliantly done by way of interpretive clues such as flashbacks, powerful exploitation of symbols and, at points, scriptural citations and allusions. The dialogue between Jesus and Pilate in Latin (and not the common language) will cause some New Testament scholars to pause.
INTERESTING EMBELLISHMENTS
There are also interesting embellishments. A humorous one shows Christ, the woodworker, building a table for a rich man. The scene gives the impression that it was the carpenter's son that was responsible for the invention of the conventional dining table. His mother, Mary, is sceptical it would catch on (yeah, right!). The boyish demons that tormented Judas, as well as the maggot-infested carcass at the site of his gallows are also graphic symbols of the betrayer's asinine behaviour and tragic end. Some say that the Gospels are really passion narratives with long introductions. 'The passion of the Christ' brings out this point admirably.
ANSWERING THE QUESTION
All in all I think Gibson managed to answer the question: Who delivered up the Christ to such a brutal punishment? His answer is in line with a citation from another source: 'Not Pilate for fear; not the Jews for envy; not Judas for money. But God for love.' To benefit from this love one has to hear Pilate's words in one's own context Ecce Homo! 'Behold the man!' The movie ends with the gravestone rolled away to let in the viewers, so that they may see not an empty tomb but the naked truth of the resurrection.
I am, etc.,
D. PALMER
delanov@cwjamaica.com
4 Grove Park Avenue
Kingston 8
Via Go-Jamaica
