The Passion of the Christ was directed by Mel Gibson and released in 2004. Briefly, the movie follows the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus of Nazareth who has proclaimed himself as the Son of God. In the movie, Jesus is condemned for spreading his monotheistic beliefs in the Roman Empire of 33 A.D. The Passion of the Christ shows many aspects of Roman civilization throughout the movie including roman government at the time, how large a role religion plays in the civilization, and class distinctions among the people. The film attempts to follow the writings of the New Testament and aside from exaggerations and fictional representations of the devil, I felt it does so accurately. The basis of the movie is the extreme suffering that Jesus is put through and the movie does so well with very visual, graphic, and intense scenes that help the audience to connect with and feel sorrow for Jesus. Through this extreme suffering The Passion of the Christ is saying to the contemporary world that many Christians today need to be reminded of the basis of their religion, that even today Christians are being persecuted in the world outside of America and need help, that in these persecutions today people can be just as vicious as they were in the past towards people of different beliefs, and that we all need to strive to be more like the person Jesus exemplifies in the movie.
In the time of the Roman Empire you can clearly see how largely religion controlled what people thought and did in this civilization. As seen in one scene in the film, Pontius Pilot gives his citizens the option to choose to free one of two men. Either Jesus, who was condemned for preaching and proclaiming himself as the Son of God and as a king, or Barabbus, who ...
... middle of paper ...
... temptations. Even when he is in extreme suffering and pain he never shows any type of anger or resentment towards anyone. As he hangs on the cross he forgives them all and prays for them. I think this movie is trying to tell us all we can all be better people and to strive to be more like the kind of person Jesus exemplifies in the film.
The Passion of the Christ was an excellent film that showed different aspects of roman civilization, made a deep connection with the suffering of Jesus as it followed the writings of the New Testament. It says to the contemporary world today that Christians need to understand the basis of their religion, that persecution of Christians is a horrible thing that continues today as people in the world can still be the same way as they were towards people of different beliefs, and that we all should all strive to be better people.
Written by Ethan and Joel Coen and released on DVD by Touchstone Pictures and Universal Pictures in 2001, O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? is supposed to be the first professional film in history to be digitally enhanced, in its entirety. The movie is a loose adaptation of the epic poem The Odyssey in which three escaped convicts; Everett Ulysses McGill (George Clooney,) and his two partners Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) and Pete (John Turturro) experience the adventures of “Ulysses” (Homer) in varying ways. The actors meet along their way: “the Blind Prophet, the Cyclops, and the Sirens,” (Homer) all members of The Odyssey. This is intermixed with characters from the 1930’s including Baby Faced Nelson (Michael Badalucco,) a KKK mob, and a Governor (Charles Durning) running for reelection, which sets the period of the film. The period depicted, the Dust Bowl, gave Joel Coen director of the film rise to the need for digital manipulation of the production to achieve consistency in appearance and feel. The idea of using digital manipulation, and digital mastering of an entire film, has allowed the process of creating a film to be forever changed enhancing the pleasure of the viewer.
...er reading the book it made me more conferrable with this side of Jesus. I loved the character of Andreas and I seek to become more and more like that Galilean from Nazareth that he was searching for Jesus. I loved his passion and constant anxiety to need to learn more about Jesus that something I aspire to have.
All comes to show, that Christianity took hold on the ancient world because it was easy, convenient and powerful. Christianity is a strong religion seeming as it still stands
...ude the controversial issues about Jesus. Andreas seemed to have been on the border line with following Jesus and believing he was some guy that was telling lies around the cities. It’s not until Jesus is up for execution when he becomes a follower of Christ. Once Andreas returns, he learns that Barabbas and two zealots were arrested. Barabbas is Andreas’ friend, so he decides to propose ways of rebellion to the Romans. Pilate decides to have a meeting with Andreas about his proposal leads. Pilate manipulates Andreas’s proposal by giving the people of Jerusalem the decision which criminal to keep from execution: Barabbas or Jesus. In the end the people chose Barabbas which meant Jesus, including two other criminals, was sent to be crucified. The story concludes with Andreas recognizing Jesus’ power after so many of the people in his life have been changed by Jesus.
achieving his goal of placing doubt into the minds of the religious. Making this a poorly-argued film due
...e toward him as well, since at one point he felt he deserved to die for what he had done. This grace gives him a purpose and strength to go on living, even though he may never completely overcome the hurt and pain.
The director succeeded in giving us enough information to gain an accurate depiction of Christianity during this period of time and to provide a literary aspect that could be analyzed. Direct Christian references are present as well as some less obvious undertones. There is two times where we are presented with people reading from the bible. When Ford read to his slaves it was with good intentions. When Epps read to his slaves he distorted the messages in order to subjugate his slaves. Through this we can see negative consequences of people being illiterate and how people can be exploited through religion. There was also the depiction of Patsey as a Christ like figure. One final religious aspect that I would like to touch on is that no other religion was present in the movie. It’s common knowledge that Christianity was pushed on slaves to replace their pagan beliefs. The absence of their old religion speaks loudly to the subjugation that was imposed on
Throughout the film "Apocalypse Now " by F.F. Coppola, there is a parallel between the Indian wars and the Vietnamese war. We can compare the Vietnamese with the Indians and the American soldiers with the cowboys.
To conclude, the movie is filled with hatred, evil, faith, doubt, love and so on. While watching the movie, we see how the director has involved transcendence, metaphors, and striking images that the viewer is drawn to. Helen had something to accomplish with Matthew, which is the need for redemption and the sacraments of the Christian church. We notice the religious people and there actions throughout the movie. It shows us how different faith is to each individual and the way they see the Old and New Testament. Surprisingly, many follow the Old Testament but do not chare any thoughts with the New Testament.
... that the whole Earth experiences the consequences of his crucifixion and death. Also, in the gospel of Luke, it is noted that one of the thieves being crucified asks of Jesus, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom", and Jesus accepts his recognition. In the movie, the other thief just laughs at this conversation, and a raven lands upon his cross and pecks out his eyes. This is not detailed in the gospels, but is added into the movie as a sign of karma.
The unity and ease of travel between many different people which the Roman Empire provided greatly aided in the sharing of the Christian message. The Roman Empire is the prototype for domination; many hundreds of peoples were under its control. Roads led from Rome to every part of its territory. Travel wasn’t impossible for these people. This communication made it possible for disciples to spread the Christian message all over the ancient world. If the Roman Empire had not e...
...o Pilate, JesusÆ main enemy, or trouble, was the Roman Empire. Their religion was polytheistic; they had, among many others, a god of war, (Mars), a god of wine, (Bacchus), and a goddess of love, (Venus). They also believed that their Emperor, at the time Caesar, was a living God. This included Jesus, one of his titles being "King of the Jews". At the time of JesusÆ death, this number was sizeable, and as the early church grew, after the resurrection, the followers grew in number too. Literally. All of the people who attended these secret meetings, to tell or listen to the tales of Jesus Christ, were disciples. They were risking their lives to spread the good news. Stephen was viciously stoned to death after his great speech at the Sanhedrin (Acts 7), and Peter was crucified. There are many examples of modern day disciples around. Oscar Romero was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of El Salvador. Endangering your own life by fighting oppression, injustice, and going up against bigger powers, or giving your life to helping others. There are still some people today who take the faith as seriously as the first Christians do, but not many. TodayÆs society is too materialistic.
Love/hatred, redemption/forgiveness, power/faith are only examples of what the film represents. It shows that religion and politics definitely do not mix what so ever. Both can either empower or bring doom to a country and its people. The film kept me on my toes for which the Portuguese and the Spanish viewed the natives as “animals” and as slaves while the Jesuits didn’t. The Jesuits viewed the natives for what they are, humans. Since both views of both parties did not correlate, there was a lot of tension that kept me intrigued with the film. Another aspect that made the film interesting is the fact that the Jesuits live for love and peace while the Portuguese live for power and wealth no matter the cost. Even in our own current time, nothing has changed when it comes to that. I’m very glad to have had the chance to watch the film and get a glimpse into
Christianity what form it takes in the story. It is also sort of a history of
Because Christ was human he experienced all the trials and temptations that we experience. Christ, however was strong enough to resist all temptation and lived a life without sinning - that is without disobeying God."[Jesus Christ] was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4:15). Christ was "obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.". (Philippians 2:8)