Passion Of The Christ Film Analysis

Film Essay: The Passion of the Christ

From the opening scene of “The Passion of the Christ”, director Mel Gibson establishes a foreshadowing of what this film encompasses. Appearing onto a black screen are white words, from Isaiah 53, “He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; by His wounds we are healed” (Gibson, 2004, scene 1). Alluding to Jesus being the “He” this passage is referring too, a message is immediately established by Gibson to his modern day audience of Jesus being the “one who suffers” (Powell, 2009, p. 472), sent by God to fulfill this Old Testament passage. Depicting the last several hours of Christ’s life, the film distinctly portrays the abovementioned foretelling through grotesque, disturbing,

With little focus on the actual life of Christ, or His resurrection, confusion arises about any greater purpose to the horrific affliction and death He endured, portrayed throughout the film. Certainly, inclusion of pieces of Christ’s Passion from each of the canonical Gospel are depicted, alongside the integration of several scenes containing material not found within the written Gospels, perhaps for the purpose of dramatic effect. Nevertheless, from a historically critical viewpoint, questionable elements do arise throughout. Presented by Gibson as a graphic theological interpretation of Christ’s sacrificial suffering and death, with inclusion of mixed elements from each canonical Gospel in a somewhat literal fashion, conjoined with artistically licensed material, the film does bear misleading historical inaccuracies

Limited examples of accounts of what possibly occurred to the Ancient Mediterranean World audience are found in the film, while many components are questionable in their historical accuracy. Scholars generally agree that the authors of the Gospels were not eyewitnesses to encompassing events throughout, but rather they were part an already established, growing Christian community (quote prof). With that frame of reference, the film’s production takes place some 2,000 years after the written Gospels of Jesus death, which are based largely on oral and written accounts about the historical Jesus. Therefore, it is conceivably inevitable that inaccuracies would surface.

From a supportive perspective, during the courtyard scene with Caiaphas a couple of examples present themselves. Keeping in mind the importance of honour being of the highest value within the Ancient Mediterranean World (Rohrbaugh ????), some moments in the film loosely reflect the hierarchal context attached to honour. Ones position in society was determined by ones honour ranking. When people were entering this secret meeting of Jesus before Caiaphas, one temple guard throws an observer out saying “This is not your party, you toothless