Walking the Tightrope: The Passion
Sally Codman weeps silently as she watches Mel Gibson's film The Passion Of Christ. Be brave, she says, see it for yourselves.
Sally Codman weeps silently as she watches Mel Gibson’s film The Passion Of Christ. But be brave, she says, see it for yourselves.
When friends phone to invite us out to the cinema we don't usually hesitate, it's a case of 'count us in' - unless we're already busy. Last week it was a different story because the film everyone was going to see was the film everyone's been talking about 'The Passion of The Christ.'
Now, like most people I suspect, I enjoy a night at the cinema but I usually go to be entertained, amused, scared, uplifted or occasionally educated - 'taken out of myself' as the saying goes. I pay my money to escape for a couple of hours, to forget about the euro ironing mountain taking over my kitchen, to have a good laugh and 'leave my worries on the doorstep' as the old song says.
From all the reviews and warnings from friends I knew The Passion would be very different. Sitting through this film would not be entertainment, it would be something of an ordeal and yet I felt compelled to see it.
Eight of us from our church met up at our usual venue, the UCI cinema on Leeds Road and there was the usual banter, wisecracks, teasing and stocking-up on coffee, Cola, sweets and popcorn, before we took our seats.
We came out silently, sweets uneaten, pockets full of soggy tissues, shocked, moved, unable to say much, with no heart for our usual après-film drink, so you can tell how deeply we'd been affected.
The general consensus was that we were glad we'd seen this film - but we wouldn't be hurrying back for a repeat performance, the experience was too painful.
Most reviewers were disturbed by the graphic violence in the film, especially during the horrific scourging scene, in which two sadistic brutes of Roman soldiers whip Jesus until his back and legs are as raw as rare steak. And then proceed to turn him over and do the same to the front of his body.
This is the scene in which the blood flies, spattering his torturers and the crowd and most of us agreed that the camera lingered on this flogging for much longer than necessary.
Some critics have argued that a man could not have survived such a flogging and lived to suffer crucifixion and I'm inclined to agree - until you remember that this was no ordinary man.
The film deserves an 18 certificate and is dark, brooding, raw and violent for much of the time. Yet that flogging scene and the following trials of Jesus, as he staggers through the streets, carrying his cross until his final ordeal as he is nailed to it, are relieved by flashbacks to happier times in his life.
We glimpse him as a small boy, laughing and playing. As a man, plying his trade as a carpenter and being teased by Mary for making a new style of dining table. We see him at the last supper with his disciples and all these scenes are full of warmth and love and life.
And of course The Passion ends with the ultimate triumph - Jesus walking from his tomb, resurrected.
I was weeping silently long before the flogging scene, disturbed by Judas's betrayal and the disciples’ desertion. Also upsetting was the portrayal of his mother and friends, who could only watch helplessly as Jesus was tormented and crucified.
Another aspect of the film that fascinated me was Gibson's portrayal of the Devil as an androgynous shadow in a black cloak, appearing first in the Garden of Gethsemane and tempting Jesus to escape the suffering he knew was in store for him.
This Devil figure along with the demons, in the form of children who tormented Judas until he hung himself, were a timely reminder that this was a battle against evil - not just the might of the Roman Empire and the Jewish religious leaders of the day.
Later I thought that this is a very Catholic portrayal of Jesus's sacrifice 2,000 years ago. Today, especially in my own evangelical-style church, we concentrate on the joy and triumph of the resurrection.
Good Friday seems the only time we remember Jesus' sacrificial heroism. If The Passion does nothing else, it reminds us of Jesus's heroic physical and mental suffering. It reminds us that celebrating Easter isn't just about Spring, chocolate eggs, Easter bunnies and daffodils.
Be brave, see for yourselves - but don't forget the hankies and a friend with a comfortable shoulder to cry on!
Copyright C Sally Codman 2004 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
