Is Mel Gibson a faux Christian?

[Deja Q]

His Passion movie, which he directed and spent his own money on, and so on, is just 2 hours of watching Christ getting turned into a bloody pulp... and that's long before the crucifiction takes place. The amount of violence, as having been mentioned by every single movie reviewer this side of Jupiter II, is beyond staggering.

What's his POINT with this movie? It's his money, his idea, his vision. How Christian is this movie? Does it exude the true ideals of Christ? Does Gibson spend even one minute acknowledging Christ as being a compassionate being and showing how compassionate He is, or summing up his life before the "final 12 hours" (which are hardly final since He had risen from the grave and is destined to return...)? Or is it nothing more than "He says He is the Son of Gd, let's mutilate him and then kill him, moo-hahahahaha!" x( If Christianity is about compassion and peace, concentrating a movie on anything but peace isn't going to do much good.

More importantly, if Gibson is doing this for the edification of the audience, how much time is necessary to show the actual life of Christ before concentrating on those final 12 hours?

It seems to be nothing more a vulgar, derogatory insult against Christ, let alone all the other negative comments I've heard. The only thing it seems to portray is violence. Excuse me, but Christ was not a man of violence. He was a man of peace. And I've read nothing that says this was sufficiently acknowledged, if acknowledged at all. Have I missed the right reviews? (Given how too many people have said the movie is anti-Semitic, that alone is keeping me from going to watch the film. I don't need to inflate Gibson's ego.)

While the crucifiction is inevitable, wouldn't telling more about His life and His good intentions be a bit more important than making him into a walking punching bag?

The film also strays from the Bible, notably with the single line pertaining to Caiaphas commenting that the death of one man could save an entire nation. (Been there, done that, far more effective in "Star Trek II".) I also gather he's been creative, adding some dialogue between Judas and Satan (Who is a woman, apparently... is Gibson a sexist pig as well, or is there a point to using a woman - apart from the obvious that Satan can change his appearance.) Where does the truth end and his fiction begin? Omitting the truth also adds to the fictitious element. And Gibson is hardly original in re-writing sections of the Bible for personal or political gain.

Also, for the violence, which sounds as if it puts "Gladiator" to shame (indeed, is Passion trying to do a one-up on Gladiator?), I'm not going to watch the movie and add to Gibson's wealth. Using Christ as a means to become wealthy is disgusting. There's also enough to suggest this guy doesn't dig Jews, so why should I spend some money just so he can get off with his anti-Semitism?

As Roger Ebert said, "It is a film about an idea. An idea that it is necessary to fully comprehend the Passion if Christianity is to make any sense. Gibson has communicated his idea with a singleminded urgency." If I knew nothing of Christ, what would I learn from watching a 2 hour bloodbath, akin to a meat processing plant? That some guy who I know nothing about gets kicked about before being hung on a cross and then stabbed in the chest just to ensure he's "done"? (another fictitious element? Since when do crucification victims get stabbed in the process?)

</bewildered ignorance>

[meti57b]

1. Actually, it's two hours of watching a Jewish guy get beat up.

It's not something I would want to see.

[LiberalFighter]

4. I'm not about to pay to watch it either.

As one article in the newspaper.. don't remember if it was USA Today or our local was pretty much labeling it a S/M movie.

Just think all of the people enjoy watching this type of movie.

How much liberty was taken in the whipping of Jesus? Was it done that way with Jesus? Or if it wasn't done to Jesus was that the standard used for most crucifixions?

The people who are enthralled with Jesus going thru the crucifixion and all the suffering that he did for everyone... I question the extent of the suffering. He is suppose to be mortal yet he is suppose to be god. Even if just a mortal there is a point where pain and suffering does not increase. The extent of the torture doesn't have to go that far in that type of situation when he is on the cross nailed to it and having to deal with the his flailed body against the cross and his hands and feet pulling down from the spikes.

[meti57b]

7. The Romans probably did do that to Jesus, but they also did the same thing

to tens of thousands of other people, and other civilizations did it before the Romans.

[RoBear]

2. It's all about

Mel Gibson, not Christ. Notice everything you read says something like "Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ." Sorry, I'll not support this shit.

[Must_B_Free]

3. all about terror

you're supposed to think - "Geez all that sacrifice? for me?" - i guess i'll give my life to Christ and let others tell me what to think, believe and do.

[LiberalFighter]

5. And much easier to do with people back in those days.

It was all a matter of control of the people.

[Bertha Venation]

6. re your title question: it's not for me to judge

whether he's a Christian or not. It's between him & his god.

Not having seen the film, I won't offer an opinion of it. But having been a fundamentalist evangelical Christian (FEC), I can tell you why I think Christians are flocking en masse to see it.

FE Christians believe that God loves humankind so much that he couldn't bear to see us suffer for our sins. For God to be able to redeem us so we wouldn't have to suffer, he had to sacrifice his own life in place of ours (so says their doctrine). To do that he had to be a human being. So they believe that God became a man -- Jesus -- and lived among us.

FE Christians go to see the film so they can see what their God went through out of love for them. To the FE Christians seeing this film, it is all about the love of God and God's sacrifice for them/us. (I didn't need it but I got reaffirmation of this opinion while discussing the film w/ my FEC brother-in-law the other day.)

They WANT to see the blood and gore, they revel in the torture, because it affirms for them that God loves them -- that they are lovable.

IMHO, people need to love themselves. Also IMHO the whole sacrifice/redemption thing boils down to some humans thinking they're worthless shit and needing something bigger than themselves to lift them up. A lot of people think they'd be nothing without Jesus Christ. They see this film to reaffirm that. "Look what Jesus did for me -- I must be worth something for him to suffer like that."