478: The Passion of the Christ

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: 185. Let's get to another random selection, which is The Passion of the Christ from 2004.

[00:00:11] [SPEAKER_00]: It's directed by Mel Gibson, stars Jim Caviesal, Monica Baluchi, Maya Morgenstern, Christo Jivkov,

[00:00:21] [SPEAKER_00]: and a few others. And the synopsis is, depicts the final 12 hours in the life of Jesus of

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Nazareth on the day of his crucifixion in Jerusalem. So anyone familiar with this one knows that it has

[00:00:38] [SPEAKER_00]: quite the controversial reputation. It, as far as I could find out, is still the biggest independent

[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_00]: film of all time based on the rankings and records that I looked at. Could be wrong there, but

[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_00]: it's at least one of the top-grossing films in that way.

[00:00:57] [SPEAKER_00]: I only got around to seeing it in the last year or so for the first time had been meaning to watch it for a while, just never did.

[00:01:05] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm not a religious person myself, but I still find many aspects of religion interesting and I like the historical

[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_00]: context, the societal impact. So usually when it comes to religious films like this, I will

[00:01:22] [SPEAKER_00]: watch them, at least give them a try. Because there's something about it that peaks my interest,

[00:01:27] [SPEAKER_00]: even though I don't fully indulge in the faith itself. I've kept up with Mel Gibson's

[00:01:34] [SPEAKER_00]: directed works over the years. I've seen, I think, all the films that he's directed. And I know that

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_00]: he is next year, I think, there is the Passion of the Christ Resurrection,

[00:01:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Part One coming out, and then there's going to be Part Two, I guess a year or two later. So this

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_00]: story is coming back in one way or the other. And I'm curious about that more so just because of the

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_00]: historical epic aspect, but I will definitely check it out at some point and cover it on the show.

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_00]: But for this movie itself, I haven't really talked to many people over the years who have

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_00]: seen it. Like I know a lot of people have various opinions on it, but I haven't really had a lot of

[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_00]: in-person conversations. And so I don't know how a lot of people feel about it now

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_00]: in that way. So this is just talking about it blind. I like the movie Alright,

[00:02:36] [SPEAKER_00]: but there are some big issues. I think for one, visually, I don't think the movie looks very good.

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Even from the opening scene, I think it looks, I hate to say it, I think it looks terrible.

[00:02:50] [SPEAKER_00]: There's just something about the early 2000s aesthetic that does not benefit this movie at

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_00]: all. And I don't know the exact reason for that, but considering it had a $30 million budget and

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_00]: a decent production behind it, I still maybe it looked better at the time, but I think it's one

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_00]: that visually does not hold up very well. And while the crucifixion sequence, which is most

[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_00]: of the movie in the second half, I think that for the most part is effective. It takes a long time

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_00]: to get there. And while I know that you don't want to just present this story with no context,

[00:03:34] [SPEAKER_00]: no matter who is watching it, you want to have some backstory, you want to have

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_00]: some world building and all that, I still find that that pacing, that overall story feels

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_00]: pretty dry. And it's not that I want to get to the violence of it all, like I'm not bored with

[00:03:53] [SPEAKER_00]: normal conversations in this era. I'm just finding purely from a direction, a writing standpoint,

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_00]: it's not that interesting, it's not that engaging. So I don't know if that's a hot take or not,

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_00]: but it does feel a lot longer than it is, especially in that first hour or so. Performance

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_00]: wise, pretty good. I like Monica Baluchi a lot. I guess the production design and the costume

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_00]: design is good. I will say that even though I don't like the movie aesthetically, like from a cinematography

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_00]: lighting standpoint, it does look good in the production part of it. Now getting to the most

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_00]: controversial part obviously, which is how violent this movie is in depicting the crucifixion,

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't have an issue, especially considering I'm not attached to this story or am an expert on

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_00]: anything in this way, or on this subject. But knowing Mil Gibson as a director does hurt how

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_00]: the violence is depicted because maybe it's crazy to say but I think it's true he has

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_00]: an obsession with violence. And it's not a bad thing if you want to portray violence or extreme

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_00]: violence on screen, but there's a point with how you choose to present that violence in what context,

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_00]: in what story and time after time after time after time that makes me feel like

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_00]: is this Mel Gibson indulging in his seemingly violence bloody obsession or is it him saying

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00]: I want people to know the visceral nature of this crucifixion. And so that was a constant

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_00]: battle for me internally while I was watching this because it is so long and it's so brutal.

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER_00]: So I think that that I mean overall I think it still worked more than it did it.

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Also one thing that this movie did which I'm glad that they chose to do it in this way

[00:06:11] [SPEAKER_00]: is it is entirely in Aramaic, Latin, Hebrew. So it's not like in English but people are

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_00]: talking in accents and on that I read that Mel Gibson he originally wanted this movie to not even

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_00]: have subtitles which I think in theory I appreciate that but I think this being a mass released

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_00]: commercial movie that would have been a horrendous mistake. I don't mean that in a

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_00]: you know giving respect to the story I think from a audience standpoint that would have

[00:06:54] [SPEAKER_00]: catapulted this movie out of its now success. I think it would have plummeted that box office and

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_00]: would not have the same reputation or following that it seems to have so I'm really glad that

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_00]: the producers, the studio whoever made him add subtitles because that is something I don't speak

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_00]: those languages you know but even so it's helpful for the context of the story and who you're following

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_00]: to know what they're saying. It shouldn't just be a visual story I think there's a lot of discussions

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_00]: and backstory that most people would probably need to know in order to get the desired effect

[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_00]: of the movie so that was an interesting little factoid that I discovered. I will be curious to see

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_00]: where they take this story next in the resurrection film and I feel like also on that

[00:07:54] [SPEAKER_00]: it is worth watching regardless of what religion or lack thereof that you hold personally.

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's worth a watch there definitely are a lot of interesting shocking powerful moments

[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_00]: try it out you just got to be in the right mood it's obviously a very grim viewing so you

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_00]: really got to sit with it that is a light four out of five