Review of The Passion of the Christ (2004) by Thequietgamer — 02 Apr 2016

Part of what works with the movie is that it's not a sermon. It's just a graphic depiction of (arguably) the most important moment in Christian faith. Yes, there is a message going on, but it's more of a "this is what happened" sort of thing as opposed to "Jesus suffered through this so you need to get saved!".

It's a very graphic and violent movie. Realism is the theme so no punch is really pulled. At times it even reaches "Saw" levels of torture porn. There's no mutilation, but we see a great deal of pain being inflicted on Jesus. Realistic wounds appear as a result and every ounce of agony is excellently captured by Jim Caviezel.

For Christians this is going to be a tough, but powerful reminder of what Jesus went through for our salvation. It will speak to our faith and makes us feel. For non-believers it's evident that Mel Gibson is trying to reach you by hoping that the gut punch of the films brutal nature hits you hard enough to touch your heart. The results may vary.

Outside of some embellishments and acts of what I guess you could call "artistic flair" this is an almost completely accurate depiction of the death of Jesus as the Bible tells it. The thing that sets it apart from other tellings of the same story is that this one does not shy away from any depiction of the violence that went on. It's brutal, violent, and bloody. Thankfully it also manages to be powerful. Not just for the Christian audience either. Those who don't believe, yet have an open mind can find this movie to be a respectable telling of the of the death of Christ almost exactly as the Bible says it happened.

The at times downright savage nature of it could be a turn off or even downright offensive to some. Mel Gibson has embarrassed Christianity a lot over the years. However this he got right.