I'm starting my chapter in the life of this blog with two entries about Mel Gibson's new film,
The Passion of the Christ. This is the first entry, written before I've seen the movie. It's just to establish a few things.
First of all, I am a Christian. If you are not, you may not want to read all this. But then, you may.
Second, one of the issues about this film is that it supposedly will spur anti-Semitism by depicting Jews killing Jesus. This is the most inane thing I've ever heard. If the death of Jesus can be pinned on a specific person or group, it's meaningless. The whole point is that we all killed Jesus. If you had been there, you would have been shouting "Crucify Him!" And if you're going to be mad at the Jews for killing Jesus, let's remember the Jews who followed Jesus, the Jew who gave birth to Jesus, and, oh yes, the Jew who WAS Jesus.
Third, this film is going to make a lot of money. I heard a statistic somewhere that just the presold tickets amounted to more then Titanic grossed. That's likely wrong, but we're still talking big cash. I don't think that's why Gibson is making the movie. After watching his interview with Diane Sawyer, I'm convinced he's making this film for spiritual reasons. But I would be more convinced if some of that money ended up going to charity. After all, the movie isn't making money because Mel Gibson wrote it, it's making money because Jesus is in it. He deserves a substantial share of the profit.
That's all for now, I'll be back next time with the post-movie analysis and possibly some follow-ups.
