I have no real idea of what I think of Mel's new movie. Not that I think that he cares. He made the movie that he wanted to make and it's going to make a pile of money and it might even change some people's lives. Not mine. Let's see if I can try to write down some of my impressions of the film.
While in New Zealand I overheard a couple of film snobs complaining of LOTR:FOTR and the fact the Peter Jackson made an uber-orc to lead the orcs in the final fight of the movie. "Stupid Hollywood movies NEED an easily identifiable enemy, so the audience knows to cheer when he dies." I thought they were annoying whinging prats back then, but now I kind of see their point. The devil didn't need to be in this film. S/he made for some neat visuals (especially with that freaky evil baby. That baby was freaky and evil, man) but didn't add a whole lot to the film. I typed film there. At first I was going to write movie, but then I thought film was more appropriate. Back to Satan There are scenes of horrific violence in this film. Scenes that made my eyes leak. Scenes that made me despair for the human race. But I only turned away from the screen once. A scene with no violence or anything like that. After Jesus dies/ gives up the (Holy) ghost the film cuts to Satan in hell screaming in rage. I couldn't watch, it was just so lame. Why not have Satan shake his fist and go, "Curse, you JEEZUUUUUUUSSS!!!!!" or "I'll get you next time Jesus, next time."
And the stuff with Judas was kinda crap too. The evil apparition under the bridge rubbed me the wrong way. And the evil children that chased him to his death were lame too. They weren't necessary. The dude sold out the Son of God/ the Son of Man. That would guilt a lot of people to their death. No demon kids necessary. Get rid of all the cliched representations of evil. You don't need to see the devil gliding through the crowds that are cheering Jesus' prolonged death to know that they are under the sway of not nice things. Groups of people are scary things, easily swayed to violence. No pale androgynous beelzebub is needed.
And the scene where Jesus carpents a tall table? Lame. Forced humour. Also not needed. The rest of the flashbacks are well done, shot in an entirely different way. And it nicely contrasts the beaten and bloody Jesus of the bulk of this film with the magnetic messiah that so frightened the high priests.
Good God does this guy get gorey. Jesus is beaten. And beaten. And flayed. And flayed. And FLAYED. Then beaten some more. And more. Then crucified. And the audience is treated to graphic close ups and details of all of the above. There is some cringe inducing stuff here. Like I said, it made me cry. But. BUT. That's the point of the film. That Jesus suffered and died for us. Was crucified, died, and was burred. Those were just words before this film. This film does a great job of showing what Jesus went through. That's what Mel's goal was, so yay him. But he added a whole bunch of stuff that I found silly.
And yay for this film inspiring actual debate and intelligent discussions about religion. Not everybody likes religion (hey Carla!), but I'd much rather hear about The Passion than a nipple.
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