After all the controversy and rigorous debate has subsided, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ will remain a force to be reckoned with. In the final analysis, "Gibson's Folly" is an act of personal bravery and commitment on the part of its director, who self-financed this $25-30 million production to preserve his artistic goal of creating the Passion of Christ ("Passion" in this context meaning "suffering") as a quite literal, in-your-face interpretation of the final 12 hours in the life of Jesus, scripted almost directly from the gospels (and spoken in Aramaic and Latin with a relative minimum of subtitles) and presented as a relentless, 126-minute ordeal of torture and crucifixion. For Christians and non-Christians alike, this film does not "entertain," and it's not a film that one can "like" or "dislike" in any conventional sense. (It is also emphatically not a film for children or the weak of heart.) Rather, The Passion is a cinematic experience that serves an almost singular purpose: to show the scourging and death of Jesus Christ in such horrifically graphic detail (with Gibson's own hand pounding the nails in the cross) that even non-believers may feel a twinge of sorrow and culpability in witnessing the final moments of the Son of God, played by Jim Caviezel in a performance that's not so much acting as a willful act of submission, so intense that some will weep not only for Christ, but for Caviezel's unparalleled test of endurance.

Leave it to the intelligentsia to debate the film's alleged anti-Semitic slant; if one judges what is on the screen (so gloriously served by John Debney's score and Caleb Deschanel's cinematography), there is fuel for debate but no obvious malice aforethought; the Jews under Caiaphas are just as guilty as the barbaric Romans who carry out the execution, especially after Gibson excised (from the subtitles, if not the soundtrack) the film's most controversial line of dialogue. If one accepts that Gibson's intentions are sincere, The Passion can be accepted for what it is: a grueling, straightforward (some might say unimaginative) and extremely violent depiction of the Passion, guaranteed to render devout Christians speechless while it intensifies their faith. Non-believers are likely to take a more dispassionate view, and some may resort to ridicule. But one thing remains undebatable: with The Passion of the Christ, Gibson put his money where his mouth is. You can praise or damn him all you want, but you've got to admire his chutzpah. --Jeff Shannon --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition.

DVD features
By including no supplemental features (not even the theatrical trailer), The Passion of the Christ maximizes its disc space to create one of the best-looking and best-sounding DVDs available. The picture and colors are sharp and vivid, and the soundtrack is powerful and envelops the viewer with surround effects. The original Aramaic, Latin, and Hebrew language track is available in DTS and Dolby 5.1, and there's also an audio-described track for the visually impaired (in which a narrator recounts the on-screen action in English). Subtitle options are English, English for the hearing impaired (which in addition to the dialogue describes sound effects such as "[yelling]"), and Spanish. --David Horiuchi

REVIEW

As with almost everyone, I was stunned. I know the Stations of the Cross as well as anyone who grew up Catholic, and I know the Gospels as well any Baptist. However, like Chicago Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert, I was connected with the reality of the suffering Christ went through in a very real way. It is just a movie, and the guy on the cross wasn't Jesus. But it caused me to think about Jesus in a whole new way.

I knew this was coming. I have read dozens of articles on this and tuned into every show on the movie. Not good enough. It still hit me. It wasn't the blood that spattered on my face, but the love that spattered on my heart. I sat in that theater as a Christian who believes, but I experienced something very heavy that evening. There is no separating my Christian beliefs from my reaction to the movie.

The subtitles take nothing from the experience, and add to the focus on the movie's story rather its dialogue.

The beginning sets the dramatic tone, delivering us into the Garden of Gesthemene as Jesus prays. Judas kisses him softly on the cheek, and a fight ensues between the posse of soldiers and Jesus' disciples. Jesus himself waits, and even heals the ear wounded by Peter, whom Jesus rebukes. The following events include a trial and flogging. Jesus never raises a hand or comment against his accusers, nor does he deny their accusations that he claims to be God. Pilate is torn politically, wanting to do the right thing and wanting to save his own position. Unwilling to assert a position, he lays the call onto the town's citizen who are in a blood-frenzy.

What grabbed me in the movie were unexpected scenes, like Jesus and Mary connecting sight on the Via Dolorosa. Jesus stumbles, and the movie flashes back to Mary running to a four year old Jesus who stumbled in a field. She picks him up, holds him motherly. Now, Jesus is 33, all battered and worn from a vicious, sadistic abuse by Roman soldiers. Mary runs to him. He speaks to her, whispering cryptically, "See mother, I make all things new," and does his best to press on. It is his cross to carry, and he raises to his feet.

The ending is ingeniously subtle. In some ways, they are the 30 most important seconds of the movie in which it all comes together. Every drop of blood, every rejected silver piece, and every cross-dragged furrow in the road to Golgotha comes together in probably the most understated yet complete climax to a movie I have ever seen.

I understand now why people bought tickets for friends, dragged people to see it. I expected to be blown away, but I didn't expect to be hit at my core on so many different levels.

The movie isn't perfect. Some scenes took more poetic license than can be historically supported. Herod was different than I expected, and perhaps the least like the real Herod. His reactions to the Christ situation were consistent with the Bible, and add texture to Pilate's dilemma.

Some vague scenes confused me, like when Satan carries a grimacing, sneering man-child.

A knowledge of Christian scripture will augment an understanding of the film's secondary flashback scenes. The movie does stand on its own, and meets the vision of its controversial director. Whether the audience is a devout believer, or seeing the movie as an artistic portrayal of history's most influential figure, the movie will work. I expect it to be rerun in theaters every Easter season.

I fully recommend this movie.

Anthony Trendl