Jesus and Hollywood
Gibson's controversial movie collides with Oscar
By Todd Leopold
CNN
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James Caviezel as Jesus in "The Passion of the Christ."
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(CNN) -- Film can be a powerful medium -- but sometimes its power is overwhelmed by hype.
Yes, "The Birth of a Nation" helped bring about the rebirth of the Klan, and "The Thin Blue Line" got a man freed from jail.
But "The Right Stuff" didn't get John Glenn elected president, as some pundits believed it could. After all, it was only a movie.
And that's the thing -- very few films exercise an historic pull. Most end up "only movies," as if that's so terrible.
Into this arena -- and a theater near you -- arrives Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," Gibson's movie about the last hours of Jesus.
"Passion" has been vilified by some, hailed by others. Some commentators worry that it could foster anti-Semitism. Others hope that it may lead to a renewed religious dialogue. Many churches have booked outings to see the film in the hopes it will inspire congregants.
It also arrives in the middle of Hollywood's holiest week, the days preceding the Academy Awards. The hype surrounding both events is far beyond their impact on the world.
Indeed, there are ironies upon ironies at work here, given that "Passion" is considered the most un-Hollywood of Hollywood movies -- paid for out of Gibson's pocket, performed in Aramaic and Latin with English subtitles, and yet in its own way the heir to a tradition of Bible films (and it's expected to make a bundle of money, always Hollywood's bottom line).
And what are the Oscars? It's an event at which Hollywood celebrates the best it produces but also tries to celebrate its own -- and there's often conflict between the two.
After all, this year the leading best picture candidate is the New Zealand-shot conclusion to a $300 million trilogy nobody wanted to make, full of relatively unknown actors and about a mythical land. Talk about your miracles.
Eye on Entertainment takes a faithful look.
Eye-opener
"The Passion of the Christ" premiered Wednesday to wildly differing reviews. Some critics thought it powerful and grand; others thought its graphic gore overwhelmed the story and the message.
CNN's Paul Clinton liked the movie, though he cautioned that it isn't for everybody.
He added that, at bottom, the film is an artist's vision, which is all a film can aspire to (or sink to, depending on the quality of the artist[s] involved).
And that's what the Oscars, at their best, also highlight: an artist's vision.
After all the hype, after all the salaries have been paid, and the merchandising has been contracted, and the grosses have rolled in, and the DVD Special Version has been released, you're left with a movie.
If it's a fulfilling movie, a powerful movie, simply a good movie, people will return to it again, regardless of how many Oscars it earned.
As always, the Academy's picks are flawed. But for the most part, they're better than the cookie-cutter, CGI hooey that often hits the megaplex. Whatever wins, it will almost certainly be distinctive.
As is "The Passion." For all of that, we can utter a small prayer of thanks.
The Oscars air on ABC Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET.
On screen
• "Twisted" has a good cast -- Samuel L. Jackson, Andy Garcia and Ashley Judd -- and a good director (Philip Kaufman, who did "The Right Stuff" among others). But the advance buzz on the movie hasn't been good. Maybe it's the plot: daughter of a serial killer becomes a serial killer suspect herself. Opens Friday.
• Nobody puts Baby in a corner, but nobody can bring back Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze, either. So "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights" goes back in time -- to 1958 Cuba -- and features an entirely different cast. Which is a shame, because it's always nice to see Jerry Orbach on the big screen. Opens Friday.
• By coincidence, the wacky Broken Lizard guys sort of combine "Twisted" and "Havana Nights" with "Club Dread," a comedy about a serial killer at a Latin American resort. Opens Friday.
Sound waves
• All the Hootie and the Blowfish songs you could want, from "Hold My Hand" to the band's recent cover of "The Goodbye Girl," are available on "The Best of Hootie and the Blowfish." Due Tuesday.
Paging readers
• Imagine a battle between James Patterson and Danielle Steel. Imagine Patterson's hard-whittled prose going up against Steel's flowery, convoluted syntax. Imagine Patterson's cranky criminals meeting Steel's cardboard heroines. English teachers would collapse on the spot. Fortunately, the two haven't written a book together -- but both have new works out next week, Patterson's "3rd Degree" (Little, Brown; written with Andrew Gross) and Steel's "Ransom" (Delacorte; written with a lavender-coated sledgehammer). Patterson's is due Monday; Steel's comes out on Tuesday.
