As many others, I do not claim to know what happened more than 2000 years ago on Gethsemaneh, I do not claim to have understood the bible and its message in its entirety, and I do not think that I can tell other people what they should believe - I think no man can do either of these things.
What I can say is that this movie is remarkable, impressive, different.
Firstly, there is no real storyline: the characters are not introduced, the events are not self-explanatory, and the quotations are not explained; if you do not know the bible or other stories on this subject, you are not going to understand anything.
Secondly, the movie is brutal. Violent. Bloody. I do understand that a movie on the crucifiction of Christ has to be brutal somehow, but what we see here is more than many people can bear. I have to admit, the violence has its effect: the spectator feels with the poor, wretched guy whipped out and tortured over and over again. But wouldn't that be the case in any other surrounding? I understand violence in films as a means to tell the audience something; so what is the message behind this bloodshed? That Jesus suffered a lot for us? I personally can't really get any sense out of that.
To me, this movie does not further the religious feelings of anybody. The graphics are impressive, the score generates an authentic atmosphere, the acting is good, but in the end - what is all this about? The flashback quotations lose their meaning without further explanations what Jesus and his deeds, his love mean to the other people; the fact alone that beautiful Monica Bellucci sympathetically watches him die with a painfully distorted face is not enough to give the audience a feeling of what all this really means.
In short, the Passion could be a powerful movie, but it misses the opportunity to transport any content and thus runs the risk of being just the pretentious work of a person who doesn't really know what he wants to tell us - at least that's my personal impression.
What I can say is that this movie is remarkable, impressive, different.
Firstly, there is no real storyline: the characters are not introduced, the events are not self-explanatory, and the quotations are not explained; if you do not know the bible or other stories on this subject, you are not going to understand anything.
Secondly, the movie is brutal. Violent. Bloody. I do understand that a movie on the crucifiction of Christ has to be brutal somehow, but what we see here is more than many people can bear. I have to admit, the violence has its effect: the spectator feels with the poor, wretched guy whipped out and tortured over and over again. But wouldn't that be the case in any other surrounding? I understand violence in films as a means to tell the audience something; so what is the message behind this bloodshed? That Jesus suffered a lot for us? I personally can't really get any sense out of that.
To me, this movie does not further the religious feelings of anybody. The graphics are impressive, the score generates an authentic atmosphere, the acting is good, but in the end - what is all this about? The flashback quotations lose their meaning without further explanations what Jesus and his deeds, his love mean to the other people; the fact alone that beautiful Monica Bellucci sympathetically watches him die with a painfully distorted face is not enough to give the audience a feeling of what all this really means.
In short, the Passion could be a powerful movie, but it misses the opportunity to transport any content and thus runs the risk of being just the pretentious work of a person who doesn't really know what he wants to tell us - at least that's my personal impression.