MUMBAI: It's not very often that parish priests urge their flock towards the questionable riches that cinema halls have to offer. But all of last month, ever since it was known that The Passion of the Christ was due for release in Mumbai, the clergy has been exhorting parishioners to make that trip to the theatre.
On Sunday, cinema halls across Mumbai filled up with those who had the stomach to view Mel Gibson's brutal faith offering.
A sizable section of the audience was Christian (the last time a movie drew a community audience in Mumbai was Rituparno Ghosh's 'Chokher Bali' which had the Bengalis out in full strength) but many came as students of cinema, keen to catch this zealous grosser that has been dogged by hype and controversy.
Many, unnerved by tales of the violence levels, stayed away.
While the cinematography drew uniform praise, the film's violence-the scourging at the pillar, especially-provoked extreme reactions, with watchers either being moved to tears or bored and repulsed by what they thought was gratuitous gore.
"It was an excellent film," says Alwin D'-Souza, a young banking executive who watched the film at Mulund, where the hall was packed with Christian families, with many youngsters accompanying their mothers since it was Mother's Day.
"It was very touching and I found it hard to sleep at night, because the images kept reappearing." Fr Pravin Fernandes, spokesperson of the Archdiocese of Bombay, says that though the film is violent, and horifically so, "it is only by confronting Christ's agony in such detail that one truly begins to feel what he went through".
"Gibson has squeezed new wine from old wineskins. It is his faith that gives shape to the movie."
"Brilliantly shot, but I like cinema to be escapist and happy," says Abbas Tyrewala, scriptwriter of Munnabhai MBBS and Main Hoon Na. "I have no idea why people make suchcinema. It's exploitative beyond belief. It's one man milking others' faith for his indulgence and profit."
S Balan , who caught a pirated version on DVD, said that even though one knew it's a movie and that the violence was simulated, one can't help being moved. "Christ is supposed to be the epitome of compassion but I ended up feeling compassion for him," he says.
Agrees Sujit Sengupta, who saw it in Mulund with his family, "I was so moved that in the interval we remained glued to our seats. The last thing on our minds was popcorn. Four hours after watching the film, it was still imprinted on our minds."
"Technically, he does a great job, the cinematography is excellent, the creation of the walled city and all that," says advertising executive Elvis Sequeira.
"But the brutalising goes over the top. It goes on and on and finally gets boring. As a story it didn't leave you fulfilled. Perhaps the mother's anguish could have lasted longer, there could have been more on the disciples and on Satan. Thanks to the use of Aramaic you just don't get into the story, you just listen to the lashes and nailing and people crying. You start to wonder what Gibson's intentions were. Was it to reaffirm his faith or to make money?"
Others in the audience engaged themselves spotting recognisable Latin words. "When Pontius Pilate asks Christ 'Are you king?' he says 'Rexus tu?"' says S Mody who watched the film at Regal.
"'Veritas' is used for truth. Idiot was idiot even in the film. And 'mort' or death is so similar to the Hindi word 'maut'. I don't think Mel Gibson meant for us to make all these linguistic connections, but one did."
(courtesy: www.timesofindia.com)
- Forwarded by www.goa-world.com
