Review of The Passion of the Christ (2004) by Allen G — 20 Feb 2013

I'm not religious- I'm proudly atheist but there's some perfectly good stories from various religions and this film is an interpretation of one of them. The subject matter to me is nothing more than a story- the violence in this would bother me only because of it's prevalence not because of who it is supposed to be inflicted on yadda, yadda, yadda.

Lots of people call this one torture porn which makes me laugh because it's simply a violent depiction of a violent story- if this is torture porn then the Bible is the shady director telling the performers to take their clothes off and handing them whips. The message this movie is trying to make is pretty clear- Jesus suffered... a lot. There's really nothing else to it which, in some very bizarre way, makes the whole thing quite funny to watch. It's all pretty much just people laughing at a guy as he gets beat up. Not exactly a complex script.

This film really doesn't touch me at all, as I've already said, this is simply a story in a film it has no personal meaning to me whatsoever- I have no connection with the character of Jesus. I think it's pretty lazy film making to not even bother creating a connection for the viewer- it simply assumes I give a crap about this Jesus character despite very little being conveyed about him- the occasional flashbacks to him teaching his disciples is the only insight into the character. Of course I know the story and understand what Jesus represents but it's still lazy film making.

If this was a film about the life of any famous politician or something similar then it wouldn't just concentrate on their death- it'd tell you about them, no matter how well-known they may already be, but by failing to do this most simple of tasks this film is really just Hostel but based in Roman times and it's less interesting too.

I have no issue with the violence and I don't think it's any less barbaric than what's in the Bible anyways- I don't see how the rules should suddenly change when it comes to films over books. I just don't think there's anything more to it- it's just a guy getting brutally tortured and the whole time you know what's gonna happen to him and everyone laughs at him- it really is so strange and bemusing that it almost seems funny- not the violence itself of course but the situation.

I don't think my dislike for the film comes from being atheist and having no personal connection with the story- as I said earlier, I think plenty of great stories come from religion and I think the story of Jesus is one of them but it doesn't change how uninteresting this telling of that story is.

Visually this film is very well done and I like the use of the ancient Aramaic- not that there's much dialogue really. The acting is strong and I also like that it is uncompromising, brutal and harsh as the Bible certainly is and I think it's the right way to make a movie with depth. It can't just be uncompromisingly violent though- there has to be more and there's simply nothing more here, it's all empty and weak.

It may be the passion of the Christ but it's not an example of any passion for good film making or for telling a story with any depth. It's pretty passionate about pain though and about being quite ridiculous. Braveheart shared those passions (I'm Scottish so it's ridiculousness is not lost on me) but it also cared about presenting it's story and giving the audience something to connect to without just assuming they will have a personal connection from the get go.