The Passion of the Gibson

It's happened more than once where I work. Somebody has a CD or DVD that's too 'weird' or too intense for them and they lay it on me to see if it even redlines the "Smith-o-meter". I got a Kid Rock CD that way(still enjoy it from time to time, whether or not it's my actual thing as far as style), and watched a Lars Von Trier movie I ended up finding kinda static and boring(but not too weird!). Can't remember the name of it, but it was English-speaking and had some pretty well-known thespian folk in it. Of Von Trier, I do like "The Kingdom" and "The Idiots", but not that one..

This time it was the Mel Gibson film "The Passion of the Christ". I must say he's turned out some fine films- Braveheart and The Patriot among them. This one may require another viewing to really take everything in, but there were definitely some things that caught my eye first time around.For one thing, there seemed to be a great care in giving things and folks some degree of historical accuracy. I didn't see anyone wearing a wristwatch--as in Ben Hur--or anyone with a flattop haircut(like Kirk Douglas in Spartacus), which was a plus right off the bat. And no one spoke English. Taras Bulba was a cool movie to me as a kid, but as a grown-up, Tony Curtis's Brooklyn accent just shot it to hell.. I guess language coaches came later.

One little detail seen to, as far as 'historical accuracy' was right down to the teeth. At the time of Christ, dental care was about a millenium away. Many of the characters had scummy, rotten teeth, as you'd figure in the absence of toothpaste and dental floss. The first you noticed in this regard was Barabbas, as he was released from his cell. One eye missing, and a gnarly set of choppers. Probably stunk to high heaven too, but fortunately this isn't able to just waft through the TV screen(not yet anyway.). Dinner was hard enough to down lookin' at them teefers...

As far as the 'metaphysical' special effects, they're employed subtlely. No grandiloquent Cecil B DeMille stuff here, more of a flicker than a flame. Judas's demons of guilt(after he's betrayed Jesus) appear first as a duo of young boys offering assistance, the gargoyle nature within them flashing occasionally across their otherwise innocent features. Much scarier that way.

Likewise, Christ's messages to humanity were beautifully stated, without the heavy-handed moralism that would be all too easy to fall into(that some older directors, with a more bombastic approach, would have a field day with). The film probably could've used more of the speeches.

What it did labor over, though, was the ass-whipping Christ received at the hands of the Roman guards. It was a powerful image though, albeit in an overly long scene, of Christ, solid-red body shredded by whipping, being dragged across a white marble floor. On the whole, though, I could've done with much more talking(more 'speechifyin', if you will)and much less ass-whuppin'.Anyway, those are things I noted in a first viewing. Definitely worth a second one.