Long-awaited 'Passion' hits screen
Movie earns mixed reviews from critics, patrons
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James Caviezel as Jesus in "The Passion of the Christ."
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CNN's Paul Clinton says Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ' is a bloody, violent and emotionally powerful film.
CNN's Beth Nissen reports on the historical accuracy of 'The Passion of the Christ.'
Actor Jim Caviezel talks with CNN's Paula Zahn about the challenges of portraying Jesus in 'The Passion of the Christ.'
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(CNN) -- After months of debate, speculation and curiosity, Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ" opens Wednesday.
The film -- reportedly funded by $25 million of Gibson's own money -- reflects the Oscar-winning "Braveheart" director's passion for his interpretation of the Gospels.
But it has also sparked controversy, with concerns about the film's graphic violence and whether it will inflame anti-Semitism.
Some who have seen it say the movie blames the Jews for Jesus' crucifixion.
"We were troubled ... that it portrayed the Jews, the Jewish community, in a manner that we have experienced historically," said Anti-Defamation League Executive Director Abraham Foxman. "Seeing passion plays [dramatizations of Jesus' last days] used to incite not only a passion of love in terms of Christianity, but at the same time, to instill and incite a hatred of the Jews because of deicide."
Media names such as columnist Cal Thomas and Web personality Matt Drudge have said the film is "beautiful" and "magical."
Gibson told ABC News that the R-rated film -- which portrays the violent and bloody hours surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus -- is not anti-Semitic and that he is not an anti-Semite.
An avowed so-called "Traditionalist Catholic," a splinter movement that believes in celebrating Mass in Latin and rejects changes in the Church made by the Second Vatican Council, Gibson has said the film is intended "to inspire, not offend," according to a statement he released last June.
Gibson said he wanted "to create a lasting work of art and engender serious thought among audiences of diverse faith backgrounds (or none) who have varying familiarity with this story."
Tuesday, a day before its Ash Wednesday release in thousands of U.S. theaters, there were reports of churches renting out entire cinema complexes so their congregations could preview the film.
Initial reviews by filmgoers and professional critics have been mixed.
Brother Chad, a member of the St. John Cantius Society of Chicago -- "a Roman Catholic religious community of men dedicated to a restoration of the sacred in the context of parish ministry," according to its Web site -- told Reuters "The Passion" was a very powerful movie, adding that "Gibson portrays everything very well. He's done a great service to the world."
One man who saw the film Tuesday in Columbia, South Carolina, was unimpressed. "I wanted to leave," he said. "I didn't want to dissect this movie and dissect my faith."
A woman in the Columbia audience commented on the amount of blood and violence in the film.
The movie has been criticized for its graphic display of Jesus' torture and crucifixion.
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"I think it is, in a way, Hollywood's interpretation of something," she said. "And I'm not quite sure of the ultimate purpose, because I do feel it is extremely graphic and somewhat biased."
Film critic Michael Medved believes the bloody beating scenes and the crucifixion itself made the film better than a more restrained version might have been.
"Look, this is not a movie for kids," Medved said. "It is a movie that does put that violence in context and it shows the idea of sacrifice, and it emphasizes -- in a way that I think a lot of people don't expect -- that this sacrifice, this death, this suffering was chosen by Jesus, at least according to the Gospels account."
Not one word of English is spoken in "Passion"; the entire film is in Latin and Aramaic with English subtitles.
"The subtitles work very well and what it creates is a feeling of authenticity which is extremely unusual in any sort of biblical account," said Medved.
Other critics focused on the movie's violence. Time magazine (a unit of Time Warner, as is CNN) headlined Richard Corliss' review "The Goriest Story Ever Told"; The New Yorker magazine's David Denby said the violence overwhelmed the film. "One of the cruelest movies in the history of cinema," he wrote, calling "Passion" "a sickening death trip."
The Chicago Sun-Times movie critic duo of Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper gave "The Passion" "two thumbs up" on their television show, "Ebert & Roeper and the Movies."
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Gibson said he wanted "to create a lasting work of art and engender serious thought among audiences of diverse faith backgrounds (or none) who have varying familiarity with this story."
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"Mel Gibson is a masterful storyteller, and this is the work of his lifetime," Roeper said.
The movie, which will open on more than 2,500 screens, is expected to do well at the box office in its opening days, thanks to church bookings and heavy viewer interest.
Already, merchandise associated with the film is on shelves and moving swiftly. A companion book to the film was at No. 20 on Amazon.com's list as of Tuesday afternoon, and movie tie-ins range from replica crucifixion nails to Sunday morning sermons.
The
Associated Press &
Reuters contributed to this report.
