{"id":12877,"date":"2003-08-28T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2003-08-28T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?p=12877"},"modified":"2014-01-28T21:59:06","modified_gmt":"2014-01-29T05:59:06","slug":"comment-passion-softened-and-john-comes-to-the-screen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2003\/08\/comment-passion-softened-and-john-comes-to-the-screen.html","title":{"rendered":"Comment: Passion ‘softened’, and John comes to the screen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>IS MEL Gibson yielding to criticism over his death-of-Christ movie The Passion<\/a><\/i>? In some ways, it seems he might be.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Gibson told reporters Holly McClure<\/a> and Raymond Arroyo<\/a> in on-the-set interviews that his film made significant use of the visions of Sister Anne Catherine Emmerich, a 19th-century stigmatic nun. He even cited his seemingly accidental discovery of The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ<\/a><\/i>, a published record of her visions, as a sign that he had been specially called to make his film.<\/p>\n

But after Jewish and Catholic scholars expressed concern over the allegedly anti-Semitic contents of Emmerich\u2019s visions, Paul Lauer, the director of marketing for Gibson\u2019s production company, denied that Gibson had based his film on them.<\/p>\n

Lauer also told the New York Times<\/i> there was \u201cno way on God\u2019s green earth\u201d that Gibson would invite any of the film\u2019s critics to the invitation-only screenings of a rough cut of his film that he was conducting around the country. But then, just a week later, one of those critics \u2014 Rabbi Eugene Korn of the Anti-Defamation League<\/a> \u2014 was allowed to see the film at a screening in Houston. (\u201cWe still have grave concerns,\u201d said Korn.)<\/p>\n

Lauer later told the Religion News Service<\/a> that Gibson has \u201csoftened the story\u201d and edited his film to place a greater emphasis on Jews who are more \u201csympathetic\u201d to Jesus. Pointing to Matthew 27:25, in which a Jewish mob says Jesus\u2019 blood will be \u201con us and on our children,\u201d Lauer said, \u201cThat\u2019s in the Gospel. It\u2019s not in our film.\u201d<\/p>\n

For my part, until I see the film when it comes out next year, I am quite willing to believe that the cry of anti-Semitism amounts to little more than oversensitivity on the part of people whose job it is to be very sensitive. What does concern me, though, is the thing that Gibson keeps pitching as the film\u2019s main selling point: its graphic violence.<\/p>\n

As evangelical broadcaster Michael Coren<\/a> noted in the National Post<\/a><\/i>, the medieval church was \u201cobsessed with gore\u201d and even had \u201ca virtual blood cult within it,\u201d and elements of that persist today.<\/p>\n

The depiction of violence for its own sake has become all too common in modern cinema, even in films that purport to take it more seriously, and I would say this is especially evident throughout Gibson\u2019s career<\/a>. I hope he will be able to take his audience beyond the physical torment to some deeper spiritual place. But we\u2019ll just have to wait and see.<\/p>\n

Not graphic, just Visual<\/b><\/p>\n

While Gibson\u2019s celluloid passion play dominates the headlines, another movie based on the life of Christ has been quietly added to the schedule of this month\u2019s Toronto International Film Festival<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Gospel of John<\/a><\/i> is the first film to be produced under the banner of \u2018The Visual Bible<\/a>\u2019 in almost a decade.<\/p>\n

Remember them? Launched nearly a decade ago with straight-to-video adaptations of Matthew<\/a><\/i> and Acts<\/a><\/i>, the Visual Bible was the series that stayed so true to the text that characters paused in the middle of their lines just so the narrator could say, \u201cHe asked,\u201d or, \u201cShe said.\u201d<\/p>\n

The franchise is under new management now, and the text of choice is no longer the New International Version but the Good News Bible; what\u2019s more, the new film has been shot in Ontario and Spain, not South Africa.<\/p>\n

In addition to the narration of Christopher Plummer (who is no stranger to Bible movies, having played Herod Antipas in Zeffirelli\u2019s Jesus of Nazareth<\/a><\/i>), The Gospel of John<\/i> stars Henry Ian Cusick as Jesus and is directed by Philip Saville, both of whom have worked almost exclusively in television; however, it is slated for a September 26 theatrical release.<\/p>\n

Given that some people have been quick to criticize John for the way he depicts the Jews \u2014 remember the controversy<\/a> a few years ago when, in an article on Bach\u2019s St. John Passion<\/i>, the National Post<\/i>\u2019s music critic called his gospel a \u201cnasty piece of work\u201d? \u2014 it will be interesting to see whether a faithful adaptation of this gospel will get the sort of unwanted attention that Gibson\u2019s film has been getting.<\/p>\n

Oh, and note to the producers: If you\u2019re really serious about filming the entire Bible, perhaps you could include John\u2019s epistles on the DVD as bonus features. They\u2019re a little too short to be released on their own.<\/p>\n

\u2014 A version of this article was first published in <\/i>BC Christian News<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IS MEL Gibson yielding to criticism over his death-of-Christ movie The Passion? In some ways, it seems he might be. Earlier this year, Gibson told reporters Holly McClure and Raymond Arroyo in on-the-set interviews that his film made significant use of the visions of Sister Anne Catherine Emmerich, a 19th-century stigmatic nun. He even cited […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[827,1154,1815,909,1812,424,1816,189,1814,1813,690],"class_list":["post-12877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bcchristiannews","tag-anne-catherine-emmerich","tag-christopher-plummer","tag-eugene-korn","tag-gospel-of-john","tag-henry-ian-cusick","tag-mel-gibson","tag-michael-coren","tag-passion-of-the-christ","tag-paul-lauer","tag-philip-saville","tag-visual-bible"],"yoast_head":"\nComment: Passion 'softened', and John comes to the screen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"IS MEL Gibson yielding to criticism over his death-of-Christ movie The Passion? In some ways, it seems he might be. 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