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N.T. Wright has spoiled me. He has given such vivid portrayals of Jesus that I had difficulty getting into and appreciating Gibson\u2019s The Passion <\/i> . The film seemed so context-free that it\u2019s hard for me to see how anyone could make much sense of it without already knowing who\u2019s who and what\u2019s what. Here are some of my complaints about the movie: <\/p>\n
1) I think starting the film in Gethsemane was a big problem. You have no idea who Jesus\u2019 enemies are, or why they are His enemies. If you wanted to start in Holy Week, why not with the triumphal entry, the provocative action in the temple, and the debates that ensue. Gibson\u2019s Jesus is not a crucifiable Jesus. <\/p>\n
2) This non-crucifiability was reinforced by the flashback scenes, which to me were the worst scenes in the film. There were some nice touches here and there, but overall the teaching and Last Supper scenes could have been filmed in the 1950s. There was a holy hush over all the scenes; they could have come from some 19th-century liberal. Why would anyone want to kill Jesus, who\u2019s just preaching love and kindness to everybody? The one scene that stretched beyond the pious stereotype was the one with Jesus building a table, but that was so corny that it didn\u2019t work. There was little or nothing of Wright\u2019s shrewd, passionate, festive Jesus in the film; there was little of Jesus the \u201cfolk hero\u201d who constantly outwits the Jewish leaders. And the excuse that the film was about the last week of Jesus\u2019 life doesn\u2019t wash; the flashback scenes could have shown a more interesting and biblical Jesus, but the film goes with the Jesus of modern piety. <\/p>\n
3) Oddly, one complaint is that Gibson adhered too closely to the text of the NT. Of course, he had some legendary scenes, but overall he stuck very close to the text. That made for a poorer movie, since the text doesn\u2019t give (and isn\u2019t designed to give) a cinematic picture of Jesus\u2019 life. Making the text work as a movie requires going beyond the text. The places where Gibson did this (eg, the Roman torturers) are not only very effective as film, but also actually give insight into the text. <\/p>\n
4) I found the resurrection scene very weak. I have seen many, many \u201cresurrection\u201d scenes in film that were more powerful. The \u201cresurrection\u201d of Hero at the end of Much Ado <\/i> and the \u201cresurrection\u201d of Sebastian and Viola at the end of Twelfth Night <\/i> are both more moving scenes than the resurrection in Gibson\u2019s film. The problem, I think, was that the film stopped before Jesus actually encountered anyone. What makes the resurrection scenes in other films work is the unexpected wonder of the dead coming to life. No one on the screen was given a chance to express that wonder. The garden scene with Mary Magdalene would have been effective, a scene with Peter at the sea (who just drops out of the film after denying Jesus), the road to Emmaus ?Eany of these would have been more effective. <\/p>\n
5) Pilate\u2019s dilemma is described by Pilate himself, but I would have liked it better if Pilate\u2019s dilemma had been shown. We just have to take Pilate\u2019s word for it that the Jews are difficult to rule. We don\u2019t see much of that in action (though we see a bit). Some effort to set the political situation would have appealed to me. <\/p>\n
6) One quibble: The effects of the earthquake on the temple moved too quickly for me to tell for sure, but I wondered where the priests were standing as they surveyed the damage? Was that supposed to be the temple? <\/p>\n
In the end, I suppose I\u2019m complaining that Gibson didn\u2019t read Jesus and the Victory of God <\/i> or consult with N.T. Wright while making the film. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
N.T. Wright has spoiled me. He has given such vivid portrayals of Jesus that I had difficulty getting into and appreciating Gibson\u2019s The Passion . The film seemed so context-free that it\u2019s hard for me to see how anyone could make much sense of it without already knowing who\u2019s who and what\u2019s what. Here are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film"],"yoast_head":"\n