The Passion or The Last Temptation

[Gremal]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rider

You do remember that Last Temptation was accused of anti-Semitism, too, right?

Most of the accusations were that it was sacreligeous, not anti-semitic.

When the Last Temtpation debuted, it opened in four theaters in America, and I was there, in Austin, on opening day. I was there for the protests, and the people with their signs, waked right past them to see the film.

That's great, but what did the signs say? I doubt any of them had a thing to do with anti-semitism. Meanwhile, do you know what a sign put up on a church near Denver said shortly after Passion hit the theaters? http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news...95/detail.html

I don't think either film is anti-semitic, I think certain people view the Christ story itself as an attack of Judaism, and any modern director who tries to tell that story in a serious and powerful way is going to be attacked as an anti-Semite. They accused Scorsese of anti-Semitism, and Gibson. Scorsese got it from all sides, the left and the right, while Gibson was celebrated by Christians and fiercely attacked from the left.

Give me a break. Scorsese never blamed all war on Jews. Scorsese's father isn't a Holocaust denier and Scorsese never rejected the reforms of vatican II. Scorsese never went off on drunk anti-semitic tirades. Scorsese did not a have hooded satanic figure in his film mingling only among Jews, which is not supported in any story or book. Mel Gibson is guilty of all those things and clearly has anti-semitism in his bones, starting with prejudices and lies drilled into his head by his father.

Originally Posted by uziel5000

I don't think you can compare both films. They are not even in the same category. The Last Temptation is a work of fiction. A "what if". People (and many christian religions) were offended by it, which I don't understand because it was never meant to be viewed as fact. It's a great film, small budget and all.

While I don't care for either film, Kazantzakis is a very interesting writer and Last Temptation is an excellent novel. I still think this book can be made into a great movie in the right hands. Maybe even Scorsese should take another crack at it. His first attempt had the wrong cast and the studio support wasn't there.

The Passion on the other hand, is a pretty realistic depiction of what Jesus of Nazareth went through during his judgement, torture and crucifixion. It is af film that shows not only what Jesus went through, but what every condemmed to be crucified person went through at the time. Gibson showed the gore because thats just the way it was. He was unflinching. The result is a very powerful film.

While that may be the Christian view, there is little historical evidence to support it. The Romans crucified about 10,000 Jews after conquering Judea. They enslaved a million Jews, killed another million and sent yet another million into the diaspora. There are many movies that can be made based on "facts" from this era. Passion is based on the gospels, which are religious books, not historical or archeological books.

As stated in previous posts, many feel that depicting the life of (or death) of Jesus can be viewed as anti-semitism because of how it went down (the Jewish priests sreaming "let his blood be on our hands" and so on) but that is simply stupid. Why would I blame Jews for something that happened 2000 years ago. Its as stupid as blaming Germans for what Hitler did in the 30's and 40's. Or Egypt for enslaving the people of Israel. It's in the past and done by specific persons. It has nothing to do with who they are as people.

While I appreciate that, the fact remains that throughout the past 2,000 years Jews have been treated rather roughly by Christians because of the story of Christ and the "blood libel" affixed to Jews by Christians. This legacy was finally addressed after WWII by the Vatican which issued a set of reforms, absolving Jews of any blame in the death of Christ. Again, Mel Gibson and a growing number of Christians are rejecting those reforms and going back to the old ways. Which, as a Jew, I find disturbing. It is not only irresponsible but it is resulting in instances of violence. We need progress and we need to learn from the mistakes of the past.