Review of The Passion of the Christ (2004) by Hannah J — 10 Jul 2016

This is a look not at the life of Jesus as a whole, nor Christianity as a whole. This is a piece. This piece is crucial as it is the catalyst from what separates Christians from Muslims, and Jews, both of which have similar "background stories." The crucification and subsequent resurrection are not just toppings on some religious salad bar some concoct these days. This event did happen. Is is exact? Probably not. Is it close enough, absolutely.

I am NOT a Mel Gibson fan, but he did the event justice. It is gory, as others have written, but seriously... what did you expect? The tradition of hanging people and shoving a crown of thrones on their head isn't something you can do as a nice children's cartoon.

It is the same amount of blood, gore, and raw violence as the Wolverine movies. If your 13 year old can watch those, they will be fine with the Passion. It makes you uncomfortable because it is convicting to admit that someone literally died on the cross in the name of the sins of humanity. He didn't have to die. He didn't have to be crucified. But Jesus made a choice. He was offered many opportunities to walk away unharmed. As the movie points out graphically, Jesus chose the cross. And that is the point.