Gibson's 'Passion' debuts worldwide
Movie gets generally positive reviews amidst controversy
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Viewers react as they watch a special screening of "The Passion of the Christ" at a theater in El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday.
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Vatican officials weigh in on 'The Passion,' conceding the pope saw it and did not reject it.
Many religious groups are buying out theaters to see "The Passion of The Christ."
CNN's Paul Clinton says Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ' is a bloody, violent and emotionally powerful film.
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) -- Mel Gibson's crucifixion epic, "The Passion of the Christ," opened to packed cinemas across the United States and around the world Wednesday, leaving many movie-goers in tears at the graphic portrayal of the last hours of Jesus' earthly life.
Viewers generally gave the movie positive reviews, calling it "amazing," "awesome" and "emotional." At some cinemas, the audience gave the movie a standing ovation at the end.
"It was horrifying, it was haunting and it was beautiful, all at the same time," said one woman leaving a theater in Kennesaw, Georgia.
The film, which has dialogue in Latin and Aramaic with English subtitles, opened on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten period leading to Easter, when Jesus' death and resurrection are commemorated.
It was being shown on 2,500 screens in the United States, including a theater in Plano, Texas, where local businessman Arch Bonnema spent $42,000 to provide thousands of people with free screenings.
"He was just so moved by the movie that he wanted everyone to be able to see it," said Pat Spackey, a spokeswoman at Bonnema's church.
Outside a packed cineplex in Manhattan, a small group of protesters picketed with signs denouncing the movie as anti-Semitic. Some protesters wore prison uniforms as reminders of the Holocaust.
At a screening in Wichita, Kansas, a woman in her 50s began having trouble breathing toward the end of the movie and later died, a theater official said.
"There were several physicians in the audience, and they attended to her until the ambulance arrived," said Ken Crockett, corporate vice president of Warren Theaters. "It was a pretty emotional thing."
An autopsy was planned Thursday to determine the cause of her death, according to the local medical examiner.
At the Vatican, officials confirmed that Pope John Paul II had seen the movie but would not describe his reaction, saying he does not make public judgments on artistic works. Off the record, they did say he did not reject or dislike the film.
Other Vatican officials who saw the final version of the movie were enthusiastic, with one calling it "a work of art."
"When you see the film, you will want to avert your gaze," said Augustine di Noia, a Vatican official. "By the end of the time of the crucifixion, you may say, 'I don't want to look at this.'"
Protestant evangelist Franklin Graham said the movie's script was "quite close" to the Gospels' accounts of the death of Jesus.
"I think it's a great film, it's a powerful film," Graham said on CNN.
Some Jewish leaders expressed fears Gibson's portrayal of Jews -- particularly Jewish mobs demanding that Roman governor Pontius Pilate send Jesus to the cross -- could fuel anti-Semitism.
"The Jews look unintelligent, they look mean, pushy and shovey," Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, said on CNN.
"Pontius Pilate looks very good, timid. And therefore it sets up the audience for a conclusion that it must have been all the Jews [behind the crucifixion.]"
Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, said the film was "an unambiguous portrayal" of Jews as bloodthirsty, angry and vengeful, while the Romans who actually issued the order to crucify Jesus came off as "kind and loving and sensitive."
"Pontius Pilate comes out as a sweet young guy, when history recalls him as one of the cruelest proconsuls, who had to be recalled to Rome because of his cruelty," Foxman said.
"But in this movie, he is so loving, so kind and so tender that he is forced by the Jews to crucify Jesus."
Graham said the film's portrayal of a Jewish mob demanding that Pilate crucify Jesus is faithful to the accounts in the Gospels. He also said he thinks the film makes it clear that Jews were not at fault for the death of Jesus.
"We must not forget that it wasn't the Jews that put him on the cross, and it wasn't the Romans. It was my sins, it was your sins, the sins of this world," Graham said.
"It was Christ who willingly went to the cross, and it was our sins that took him there."
Hier said the Christian teaching that Jesus died for the sins of mankind was merely a "footnote" in Gibson's movie that would be obvious only to ministers or others well-versed in the Biblical narrative.
Mel Gibson directs a scene in the movie.
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"I'm afraid the millions that will see this [film] will just not see it," he said. "They will see mainly that it was the Jews."
Gibson, who invested millions of dollars of his own money in the film, has strongly denied it is anti-Semitic, saying his intention was "to inspire, not offend."
He adheres to a traditionalist strain of Roman Catholicism that still celebrates Mass in Latin and rejects recent reforms in the church.
In marketing the film, Gibson held advance screenings for clergy and church leaders, many of whom have organized efforts to provide subsidized tickets so that as many people as possible can see "Passion."
William Donahue, president of the Catholic League, a conservative Catholic group, said he joined with other religious leaders in buying more than 3,200 tickets.
"This is the most powerful movie I've ever seen in my life," Donahue said.
CNN's Alessio Vinci and Eric Phillips and CNN.com's Thom Patterson contributed to this report.
