The Passion of the Christ
Feb. 28th, 2004 10:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kiralamouseHere follows a detailed review of the oh-so-controversial movie, and my impressions thereof. Summarized by the phrase:
Wow.
Well, for starters, I cried harder and longer than I've ever cried before in my life.
I walked out of that movie thinking the only false step it made was a rather vengeful swipe at the unrepentant thief next to Christ. There were other inaccuracies, other places where it was more Catholic than generally Christian, but I expected that and actually found it worked, maybe because Catholicism works through the mythic, iconographic format that most speaks to me.
I walked out thinking, "Wow." And not thinking much else. It doesn't even give you enough room to feel much. I'd been through so much intense emotion during the course of the movie that I couldn't feel much besides intense and tense afterward. Went out for a hot chocolate with my friend and fellow-viewer and the conversation shifted into technotalk about whether they should have subtitled a few more odd phrases or whether they should have used classical rather than ecclesiastical Latin pronunciation.
Then came back and posted in the Christian Star Wars Fans thread on the SW Message Boards as follows:
I just got back, and I hope no middle school youth group chooses to see this. There is no group of middle schoolers I know ready for this movie. Precious few high school groups, either.
I saw this movie, and one thing was driven home: Christ's sufferings were something more than a bit of string hitting the back and hanging on a plank. We don't usually let a fraction of Christ's suffering hit home. We like to talk about how even the Incarnation was a huge indignity, then to compound it by taking the position of poor craftsman, then to go homeless, then to do this... further humiliation upon humiliation. And here we look at the physical suffering -- which we're taught was nothing to the spiritual suffering -- and aching (literally in my case! I was so tense and crying so hard I'm still cramped up) in sympathy for the tiniest fraction.
And all I could think was singing:
"Amazing love... how can it be?
That You, my KING!...would die for me?"
Before the conversation shifted, I was going to follow up:
You know what? We're coddled. Early Christians heard the story and then they looked out the window and saw the criminals being lead out for crucifixion. Some knew that they might be on the list. And here we sit with "God is good, God is great!" It's been noticed before, we twenty-first century American Christians do not have much depth to our faith. Strength, fervor, fire maybe, but not depth or resonance. No understanding of suffering. And yeah, maybe sometimes we feel too guilty about that, maybe sometimes we obsess too much or let the guilt drive us to making mountains out of molehills just to fight something, but when we can find that depth, that sympathy, that understanding that our faith is about things vastly beyond our comprehension...
I can't imagine anyone seeing this movie and then having a trivial debate soon after. It doesn't bear trivia. It seems to me to bear all the tradition of Christianity gloriously rendered. It reminds us that we were bought at a staggering price -- though we don't deserve it in the least.
I was startled, naturally, when I talked with my friend later about the emotional impact and she disagreed. What?! How is that possible? But evidently, it strikes different people in different ways. Still trying to figure out this mystery... Anyone else know someone less than utterly overwhelmed by this movie? Anyone able to figure out how to put the reason into words? Please Post Here!
Wow.
Well, for starters, I cried harder and longer than I've ever cried before in my life.
I walked out of that movie thinking the only false step it made was a rather vengeful swipe at the unrepentant thief next to Christ. There were other inaccuracies, other places where it was more Catholic than generally Christian, but I expected that and actually found it worked, maybe because Catholicism works through the mythic, iconographic format that most speaks to me.
I walked out thinking, "Wow." And not thinking much else. It doesn't even give you enough room to feel much. I'd been through so much intense emotion during the course of the movie that I couldn't feel much besides intense and tense afterward. Went out for a hot chocolate with my friend and fellow-viewer and the conversation shifted into technotalk about whether they should have subtitled a few more odd phrases or whether they should have used classical rather than ecclesiastical Latin pronunciation.
Then came back and posted in the Christian Star Wars Fans thread on the SW Message Boards as follows:
I just got back, and I hope no middle school youth group chooses to see this. There is no group of middle schoolers I know ready for this movie. Precious few high school groups, either.
I saw this movie, and one thing was driven home: Christ's sufferings were something more than a bit of string hitting the back and hanging on a plank. We don't usually let a fraction of Christ's suffering hit home. We like to talk about how even the Incarnation was a huge indignity, then to compound it by taking the position of poor craftsman, then to go homeless, then to do this... further humiliation upon humiliation. And here we look at the physical suffering -- which we're taught was nothing to the spiritual suffering -- and aching (literally in my case! I was so tense and crying so hard I'm still cramped up) in sympathy for the tiniest fraction.
And all I could think was singing:
"Amazing love... how can it be?
That You, my KING!...would die for me?"
Before the conversation shifted, I was going to follow up:
You know what? We're coddled. Early Christians heard the story and then they looked out the window and saw the criminals being lead out for crucifixion. Some knew that they might be on the list. And here we sit with "God is good, God is great!" It's been noticed before, we twenty-first century American Christians do not have much depth to our faith. Strength, fervor, fire maybe, but not depth or resonance. No understanding of suffering. And yeah, maybe sometimes we feel too guilty about that, maybe sometimes we obsess too much or let the guilt drive us to making mountains out of molehills just to fight something, but when we can find that depth, that sympathy, that understanding that our faith is about things vastly beyond our comprehension...
I can't imagine anyone seeing this movie and then having a trivial debate soon after. It doesn't bear trivia. It seems to me to bear all the tradition of Christianity gloriously rendered. It reminds us that we were bought at a staggering price -- though we don't deserve it in the least.
I was startled, naturally, when I talked with my friend later about the emotional impact and she disagreed. What?! How is that possible? But evidently, it strikes different people in different ways. Still trying to figure out this mystery... Anyone else know someone less than utterly overwhelmed by this movie? Anyone able to figure out how to put the reason into words? Please Post Here!
