The Passion of the Christ Sivakumar: I watched the much-publicized movie 'The Passion of the Christ'! and walked out of the cinema hall numb. There was passion, yes, of those who
tortured Christ till there was not an inch left on his body to be bloodied. But they reminded me more of the demons, in 'Ramayan' TV episodes, who invariably had to laugh out aloud before committing massacre! There was blood in plenty, bruises, more blood, dangling flesh, still more blood, flowing blood, red, black and blue blood, all throughout the two hours, in a typical Hollywood style picturisation of violence. But was this what one wanted to see? Did it make you feel sympathetic to Christ's suffering? Did it honestly make you think of his life or his teachings? When the film got over, I didn't know why I took the trouble to sit through expecting something brilliant to be shown to me!! What was the idea of this movie? Gilbert responds: Sivakumar makes some very valid points. Most theatrical depictions including the ones in Omeramagaum, Bavaria, Germany and in Eureka Springs, a small town in western Arkansas, USA ends the depiction of the Passion with the glory of the Resurrection and the Assumption. Scenes of the excessive torture and suffering could have been eliminated to make room for some of the more defining moments of the life of Christ. After all the Passion without the Resurrection and Assumption misses the whole point of the mystery of the Passion and why Christ came to this earth, suffered, died and why he is the son of God. This end to the life of Christ also highlights the importance of Easter and why to Christians, Easter is the first day of the religious year. In this respect the movie 'Gandhi' has a very good balance between the life of Gandhi, the independence movement of India and the Hindu-Moslem violence. Most movies of India's independence or the period there-about mainly concentrate on / overplay the violence. But then perhaps the individual who makes the movie and desires to convey a message feels that considering the way society continues to behave, past attempts of conveying a message was a "total waste to time" and perhaps nothing is excessive considering today's fast paced society. Not that I agree with this perspective. Form a historical perspective, given that the movie was in authentic Aramaic, the movie should have described what ever happened to the other principle players- Pilate, Herod, Caiphas etc. Regards ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
